The Five People You Meet In Heaven And Tuesdays With Morrie Essay

Mitch Albom grew up with a family who loved to tell stories. He went from listening to them at the dinner table, to telling them through music, newspapers, and later books. Albom has a very distinct way of writing. Drawing in his experiences and talking about lessons he has learned. The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie have many parallels when it comes to characters and themes. To begin, Mitch likes to write about people he knew. The the character Eddie and Morrie, are very similar in characteristics and in inspiration. Eddie and Morrie were both real people in Mitch Albom’s life. Morrie was Albom’s professor nearly twenty years ago. He was very close to him.The book is Morrie’s life leading up to his death. Eddie was inspired by another man he admired, his uncle. Eddie too always felt he did not live up to his full potential. When brainstorming ideas of what to write after Tuesdays with Morrie, he remembered something his uncle described to him as, “a handful of people waiting for you when you die

Morrie tells Mitch, "Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others (Albom pg.164).” Eddie struggle with forgiving his father. He puts so much energy into hating him that, even after his father’s death, Eddie still can not seem to be happy. Ruby then teaches him how he needs to forgive and let go so he can live a happier life.She says, “Holding anger is a poison...It eats you from inside...We think that by hating someone we hurt them...But hatred is a curved blade...and the harm we do to others...we also do to ourselves (Mitch pg 141).”

Mitch Albom’s writing is very autobiographical. He takes life lessons he learns from great minds and turns them into easy read novels so he can help people who need to hear them. Morrie may have died, but it lead to Mitch stopping writing a sports column and start teaching people. An action that is great appreciated by all who read his