Eddie In John Steinbeck's The Five People You Meet In Heaven

The book “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” is about a man who is shy and and surprisingly fun. Eddie, the elderly man, works at the local amusement park at Ruby Pier. He is a man that doesn’t talk too often, however people still enjoy Eddie and feel safe that he is there.

On Eddie’s 83rd birthday, a ride breaks at the park and he is crushed by a falling cart when he pushes a little girl out of the way, saving her life. Eddie travels to heaven after his death and meets people who have impacted his life in some way. The first person Eddie encounters in the Blue Man. The Blue Man informs Eddie that he will be meeting five people whose lives were indirectly or directly affected by Eddie. As the Blue Man spoke to Eddie it was revealed that Eddie was indirectly involved with his death. When Eddie was a child he and his brother, Joe, and him were playing near a street. The ball that they were playing with bounced into the street and Eddie went after it. The Blue Man was driving down that same street when he had to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting Eddie. The Blue Man did avoid hitting him but was

Eddie’s Captain is the second person he encounters in heaven. Eddie and the Captain were taken prisoners of war along with a few other soldiers. Eddie plays a major role in their escape from captivity by when he distracted the people who imprisoned him by juggling. By doing so the men were able to kill the captors and escape and as they were leaving they seeked revenge by burning down the camp. As they were leaving Eddie thought he saw someone in the flames of the fire. Eddie went after the child and the other men tried to stop him. The Captain ended up shooting Eddie and that is why Eddie became depressed for the rest of his life, the injury. Eddie learns the lesson of sacrifice when the Captain tells of how he died trying to get all the men