Passage Analysis

In Tuesday s with Morrie there are many great quotes that make a person think about the meaning of the quote. A really interesting quote that stood out was “We don’t experience the world fully, because we’re half-asleep, doing things that we automatically think we have to do…Learn how to die, and you learn how to live”(83). When Morrie says this, Mitch Albom and Morrie are having a discussion about death. Mitch Albom asks Morrie how he feels about dying. Morrie responds by saying that people need to learn how to die. This makes Mitch Albom continue asking Morrie more questions about how it feels to die. Morrie is happy to answer Mitch’s many questions. After the conversation Mitch goes home and continues to ponder Morrie’s thought, “learn how to die”.

After Mitch goes home and thinks about his conversation with Morrie, he comes to the conclusion that he needs to live life to its fullest. Embrace the beauty the world has to offer. Go out in life and have fun. Morrie is telling Mitch, “No one really believes they are going to die”(82), but when people do die, their family members accept that it was their time to pass. Therefore Morrie is telling Mitch to live his life to the fullest and when his time comes, let it come. Let death take him because he has lived his life to the fullest and he should not regret any part of it. This quote also indirectly characterizes Morrie. This is because Morrie is showing courage through this quote, when he says “Learn how to die, and you will learn how to live”. Morrie has courage because he is dying and he realizes that he must die first before he is able to live a good life.

Title Significance

In many memoirs the title has a lot to do with the story. This is the case with Tuesdays with Morrie. The literal connection between the story and the title is that the author visits Morrie on Tuesdays. Everything in the story that has to do with Morrie seems to happen on Tuesdays. When the Mitch Albom finds out that Morrie is sick he remembers all of the good times that he had with Morrie on Tuesdays and decided to visit Morrie on Tuesdays. Because Mitch Albom goes to Morrie’s house every Tuesday, Mitch Albom becomes attached with Tuesdays and they feel as if they were designated as “Morrie’s Tuesdays”. This shows how literally Morrie became a big part of Mitch Albom’s life. Therefore Mitch will always remember Morrie on Tuesday.

In many cases in memoirs that author makes the title have a literal and figurative meaning. The figurative meaning of Tuesdays with Morrie is that Mitch Albom and Morrie seem to have a special connection on Tuesdays. When Albom was in college and went to see his professor Morrie it was always on a Tuesday. When Morrie got sick and Mitch went to visit him, it was on Tuesday. The day Morrie’s funeral was held it was on a Tuesday. Every since the first day Morrie and Mitch Albom met Tuesday has been a huge part of their relationship. When Mitch is reflecting on Morrie’s death, he says that he is feeling sad and emotional. He feels this way until he recognizes it is a Tuesday: “… to my happiness, found that the imagined conversation was almost natural. I looked down at my hands, saw my watch and realized why. It was a Tuesday”(188). This shows how there is a special connection between Mitch and Morrie on Tuesdays.

On every Tuesday when Mitch Albom sees Morrie he is happy and joyous. After Morrie’s death he is sad but then sees that it is Tuesday. On every Tuesday since Morrie’s death Albom feels something special inside of him. This something special is the feeling of connection between Morrie and Mitch Albom. Every Tuesday Mitch feels something inside him that he will always remember. He is always going to remember Morrie. Mitch Albom will always keep Morrie’s memory alive by thinking of him. He will always have a special relationship with Morrie. Since Mitch Albom had this special connection with Morrie on Tuesday, that is why he named the title of his book Tuesday with Morrie.

Connections

Tuesdays with Morrie is a unique piece of writing. Not many other movies, plays or books are similar to Tuesdays with Morrie. There is one movie that is similar to Tuesdays with Morrie and that movie is The Bucket List. These two pieces of writing are similar because in both pieces there is somebody suffering from an illness. In The Bucket List the main character Carter Chambers is diagnosed with a terminal cancer. He is in the hospital and people come and visit him. While Carter Chambers in sharing his hospital room his roommate, Edward Cole is lonely and rich. Carter begins to talk with Edward about life and things he wants to do before he dies.

            In Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom sees Morrie an old college professor on T.V. and sees that he is dying. Mitch rushes over to see how Morrie is doing. Morrie and Mitch begin to talk about how life has been. Later on Mitch and Morrie began to talk about philosophy. They talk about people perspectives and Morrie teaches Mitch many new lessons.

            In both works there is a character that is going through life as if it is set up and you cannot change it. They continue through life like this until they meet or re-meet somebody special. When they get together with this special person they explore life and the meaning of it.

            Both stories have a new relationship being made. In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch is rekindling his relationship with Morrie. Mitch has to start from scratch to become very close with Morrie. In The Bucket List, Edward is in a hospital bed dying and finds a roommate that is dying as well. They become close friends and do things that they wanted to do for their whole lives. They become very close friends up until they die. Both of these pieces of writing share a deep connection with somebody else. This connection stays with the characters. It gives the characters something to remember each other by, and that is their relationships with one another.

            These stories seem to have a lot in common. They both have to do with people caring for one another and building a new relationship. These new relationships that are being made are a symbol of friendship. This symbol of friendship is shown when Mitch begins to care for Morrie all the way till the bitter end. In The Bucket List Carter and Edward stick with each other through the good times and the bad times. Both of these new and unique relationships symbolize the importance of friendship.

Emotional Reaction

A very emotional part in this book is Morrie’s death and funeral: “Morrie died on a Saturday morning… I believe that he died this way on purpose. I believe that he wanted no chilling moments, no one to witness his last breath and be haunted by it…”(187). It was oblivious that Morrie was going to die, but the way he died made me feel really sad. I felt sad, but then I remembered Morrie was happy to die. Then I felt fine. I felt as if Morrie was in a place where he belonged.

At the funeral Mitch attends and realizes that Morrie was right: “I glanced around the cemetery. Morrie was right. It was indeed a lovely spot, trees and grass and a sloping hill… to my happiness, found that the imagined conversation (with Morrie)… It was a Tuesday”(188). I was happy at this point in the story. Mitch is remembering the good time that he had with Morrie. He remembered that every Tuesday he went to Morrie’s house and had a special conversation about life. This is good, because Morrie will never be forgotten. This is because Mitch and Morrie’s family will always remember him. I find this to be good because as long as you remember somebody close they will be in the world forever. By Mitch and Morrie’s family doing this it makes me happy to see Morrie is going to never leave the Earth.

Final Reflection

Tuesdays with Morrie was a phenomenal memoir. It had a lot of interesting ideas on life. It is a good book for somebody who is interested in philosophy. This is because Morrie is a sociology professor and speaks with his student about his own ideas. This made me question my own ideas as well. The book gave me many new perspectives of life and death. This book shows that the connection that you build with somebody can last a lifetime.

Mitch Albom with Morrie Schwartz

This memoir also had great life lessons. It taught me that many new lessons. One of which being you cannot buy happiness. You must find happiness in what you do. This book also showed how some people are not afraid of death. I thought that was interesting. I always thought that death is one of the scariest things in the world. This man, Morrie, had made peace with his death and is happy to die when his time came.

Tuesdays with Morrie also had a great “love” story in the book, between the professor Morrie and the student Mitch. This relationship showed me that you must become close with a teacher because they will always help through life whether you know it or not. This book also shows how important it is to have a special person in your life that you can talk to. That really taught me something. It taught me that whenever you go to meet somebody this person could be the person that becomes your special person in life. You always should go to meet someone with an open mind. Mitch Album did such a beautiful job of conveying Morrie’s messages of life and death. 

Initial Impressions

Tuesdays with Morrie is by Mitch Albom. Tuesdays with Morrie could be about how a person spends their Tuesdays with Morrie. The main character may be a close friend with Morrie. I expect this book to be a sad book, because on the front it says "an old man, a young man, and a life lesson". I can speculate that it will be a sad book because most of the books I have read that have to do with a life lesson has turned out to be a sad novel. I chose this book because my brother recommended it to me. From past experiences, my brother has chosen excellent books for me to read. I do not expect this book to let me down. This book also intrigues me because the book is a memoir and this book deals with a life lesson. I enjoy learning new life lessons in books, because the life lessons may help me in my life. This book is also appealing to me because I am curious to discover what the author's story is. I enjoy reading books by author I have not heard of because I have no clue what I am about to read. I like going into a book completely blind. It helps me relate to the book. It also lets me figure out what kind of message, if any, the author is trying to send if I have no clue who the author is. Since I have absolutely no idea who Mitch Album is, I think that this book will be a perfect choice for me.