Tuesdays with Morrie, written by Mitch Albom, provides significant messages to the question of what makes a meaningful life. The book focuses on Morrie Schwartz’s outlook in life even though death, caused by Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS, is approaching him. It captures the important lessons on what is necessary to live a happy and fulfilled life. Mitch expresses themes relating to life’s meaning and the intricacies of the human condition and experience. In the book Morrie conveys the importance of having compassion for others and not just yourself, love is the most important and accepting death. Treat others as you would like to be treated. This is the golden rule that is seen in the book but is extended past the initial meaning as it …show more content…
Julienne Grey depicts compassion in her op-ed in the International New York Times of, “My Mother Is Not a Bird”. She would do whatever in her ability to help out her mother and her journey as she approaches death. “I could do, of what it meant for her to be my mom, and what it meant for me to her daughter.” Grey was able to find her own meaning when assisting her mother to alleviate any pain that she may have felt. As actions are louder than words, compassion is what builds and strengthens …show more content…
“As our great poet Auden said, ‘Love each other or perish’” (27) is one of Morrie’s important lessons of if love is absent, make it up through love in human relationships. Morrie clings to his life not because of a fear of dying but he wishes to share his story to Mitch and millions of others so that it could be shared with the world. Morrie discloses to Mitch that love is the essence for everyone and their relationships. This is especially seen when Morrie nears his final days that without the people who care and love him, he would have been gone, perished. For Morrie, “Death ends a life, not a relationship” (50). Even after the passing of one person, they are not forgotten as the memories and time spent are still there. This can also be seen in Julienne Grey’s opinion page of the relationship with her mother. Love is highest sense of fulfillment for the human experience, it is Morrie’s basis of what it means to have a meaningful life. As without love, they may as well be dead.
However accepting death is also one of Morrie’s significant messages for Mitch to have. Many experience the fear of aging and dying, that people try to get as much as they can accomplish before death arrives at their front door, as seen with Mitch and his work. But Morrie sees worrying about death takes away from the experiences in life and that they are not fully living as, “once you learn how to die,
Once, I had a friend who was spreading rumors about other friends including me ,and they didn’t really care about anyone’s feelings but themselves. Somebody suggested that I quit that friendship. I ended up going through with that after I had found out everything that they were doing, and I am super happy now that I followed that advice. It truly changed my life. In tuesdays with Morrie, there is a man named Mitch, who grows a strong connection to an old man named Morrie. Every tuesday he goes to his house to visit, talk about life, and get advice. Morrie is very wise, but is slowly being taken over by the disease ALS. He wants to pass on aphorisms to his kindhearted, youthful friend Mitch. Morrie wants Mitch to take this advice to make sure he lives his life with
Morrie was an old man, and he was dying of ALS or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Mitch Albom was a workaholic who loved his work too much. Mitch had kept a promise to his professor to keep in touch with him, but ever did, and sixteen years later, Mitch turned on the TV one day to find his old professor, Morrie, talking about his final project: death. This sparked Mitch to think about his old professor, and would soon be the inspiration the famous book Tuesdays with Morrie, based on the true story about Morrie’s last lesson, teaching Mitch about life.
“Accept what you are able to do and what you are not able to do”(18). Despite being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Morrie is determined to live out his life with his acceptance of death and to live each day to his full potential. Morrie discloses to the reader, “By adjusting to his muscle deterioration, Morrie indicates that his final months of
When you are unable to function without aid of someone you feel lifeless. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Morrie a retired psychology professor from Brandis University is dying from ALS. A student Mitch is back for his final lesson from his old teacher. This lessons topic is the meaning of life. When faced with his known fate Morrie refused to stay in bed and was very active. He said “When you’re in bed you’re dead.”(Albom 131). I had a life experience where I was very sick and I realized his meaning of lifelessness and your dependency on others.
“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning (43).” Mitch incorporates many uses of descriptive language like this throughout the story. Instead of Morrie just bluntly stating his aphorisms, he builds on them and incorporates them into everyday life situations. This technique helps the reader to visualize clearly what Morrie is trying to enforce. Without the descriptive language of this book, this theme would be lost among the words and would seem no more important than any other quote in the
Morrie Schwartz was determined to finish the end of the rollercoaster we call life without slowing down. Throughout the whole story we see Morrie living life as if his body is not lying on a deathbed. Morrie could have days left or years left and he’d still live life as if it was the most amazing thing anyone has ever given him. He knew he would die, though he set a daily limit of self pity. He was always the trying his best to make others laugh even when it was hard for him to do the same. He wanted to make sure everyone was on the edge of their seats throughout his last months. “For all that was happening to him, his voice was strong and inviting, and his mind was vibrating with a million thoughts. He was intent on proving that the word "dying" was not synonymous with "useless."
Not only have I learned a lesson from Tuesdays with Morrie, but also Professor Trenary has learned that Morrie’s life did not stop, neither did the world begin to stop. This meant that one must appreciate the true value of life, by facing stress head on, appreciate the greater moments, do not waste the breaths when young. The appreciation for the moments one has, not to sweat the small things, cannot enjoy these minutes because you are eventually faced with mortality, because everyone is going to die in the end. In fact, life is merely
Sogyal Rinpoche stated “When you start preparing for death you soon realize that you must look into your life now...and come to face the truth of yourself. Death is like a mirror in which the true meaning of life is reflected.” Death is imminent. Many people today fear death for various reasons. Some people are able to accept it, where others deny its existence. Some people spend their lives working towards the coming of their death, and their life thereafter, where others spend there lives doing everything they possibly can to make the most of their time on earth. In Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, the lead character Morrie Schwartz was diagnosed with the fatal disease Lou Gerrig’s Disease, also know as ALS. Although many people
“Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy” (Mencken). This famous quote by H.L. Mencken portrays an unfavorable view of Puritanism that is reflected in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is the historical tale of a young Puritan woman, the protagonist Hester Prynne, whose sin of adultery has a significant effect on the lives of three different people: her daughter Pearl Prynne, her husband Roger Chillingworth, and her lover and town clergyman Arthur Dimmesdale. Her sin exposes the cruel reality of Puritans and their society, as their societal and faithful values constantly conflict. These characteristics are emphasized in the novel, as Hawthorne expresses his beliefs of Puritanism through Hester’s
Mitch Albom’s novel Tuesdays with Morrie delves into the complexities of the human condition from the stand point of an elderly man that is slowly dying from the disease ALS, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The man, Morrie, decides to spend the last of his time on earth spreading his wisdom to as many people as possible, teaching them a lot about the importance of life, as well as what is necessary to live life to the fullest and be truly happy. What Morrie teaches these people is something great poets have been doing for a very long time. In the novel Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom expresses themes and ideas in everyday life that relate back to poetry and can be applied to one’s perspective of the human condition.
The focus throughout Tuesdays with Morrie was on life. Many might see it as the story of death, but it is actually the story life. Morrie might talk a little on how he meets death, but what he is talking about is living at the end of his life. Mitch writes, “Now here we were . . . . . . Dying man talks to living man, tells him what he should know.”(Albom, 133) When a timer is placed on Morrie’s remaining days, he obtains a dying man’s perspective on what is truly important in life, and how to incorporate in life this importance. I looked for parts of the book that pertain directly to my life; I focused on this concept while reading this book. My thesis remained elusive. There wasn’t a Tuesday that jumped out at me, and then I came to the
When was the last time that you had a true heart to heart with someone? When did you last truly feel an emotion? How many times have you sent a laugh to someone through the phone without even smirking? The world we live in is becoming less and less human. As technologies develop we develop with them and find ourselves to be lost without electronics. This is leading us down a path that will dehumanize the modern population leaving the human race more like robots. I believe that Tuesdays with Morrie may be able to help change the path that we are on.
The novel entitled Tuesdays With Morrie, written by Morrie Schwartz’s friend and student Mitch Albom, gives the reader a chance to hear Morrie’s words, thoughts and feelings as Morrie approaches his pending demise from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease (ALS), commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Through Morrie’s words entitled “The Meaning of Life” and Mitch’s “life lessons” entitled “The Thesis;” the reader is granted entry into Morrie’s evolving realm of “life, death
In an effort to share the “last class” he had with his college sociology professor, Mitch Album wrote, “Tuesdays with Morrie.” This moving account of the life lessons that Morrie taught him is a beautiful tribute to a man whose compassion and love for humanity made him a favorite among those who knew him. Though stricken with the debilitating disease ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and knowing death was swiftly approaching Morrie continued to help others until his body no longer allowed him to do so. Album uses time sequence, characterization and point of view to chronicle the experiences he had and the lessons he learned while visiting with his friend every Tuesday during that
Basically the new Golden Rule should be applied in all situations; treat others, as they themselves would like to be treated.