Tuesdays With Morrie Research Paper

Writers need to engage the readers by having a strong opinion on their subject. In Tuesdays with Morrie, written by Mitch Albom in 1997, is a memoir about an old man named Morrie Schwartz, who was a sociology professor at Brandeis University. Morrie finds out later that he has a terminal illness called (ALS) Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Morrie wants to share his life experiences to the world. Mitch, who is Morrie’s favourite student, is essentially the messenger for Morrie’s view on the life of society. These views include; death, culture and the meaning of life. These are the three of the foremost concepts that mankind has ever faced, and it allows the audience to become engaged.

Mitch is able to draw the audience’s attention because he

Morrie said that everyone knows that they will die, but we do not believe it, and so “most of us walk around as if we are sleeping” therefore “we do not experience the world fully” and because of this we “do things we automatically think we have to do.” Morrie’s opinion is derived from the method of “detachment” from Buddhist philosophy that “one should not cling to things, as everything that exists is impermanent.”It is natural to be afraid of death because we don’t know what will happen when we lose our consciences and we don’t want to lose our loved ones, skills, and knowledge. However, most people are trying to avoid death, but people don’t understand that death cannot be stopped. For example, on Life science, there is an article called Hang in There: The 25-Year Wait for Immortality, where a researcher, Aubrey De Grey, believes that in twenty five years later, people will start to live for at least a thousand years. This is because the microorganisms will be

Morrie believed that the purpose of life “is devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning,” because “if you found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward.” This can be achieved from love, for example Morrie said to Mitch that we should “love each other or perish,” by his favourite poet, W. H. Auden, because he believes that “love is the only rational act,” as “a person can experience no higher sense of fulfilment.” Morrie’s opinion is based on Buddhist belief, for example, Tenzin Gyatso; The Fourteenth Dalai Lama considers that the purpose of life is to be happy, and love brings the greatest happiness to mankind. The author’s purpose is to tell the readers that we should not create purpose in our lives that makes us unhappy; we should follow our hearts to find the purpose that best suit for our desires. This belief about the purpose of life has influenced the reader to acknowledge Morrie’s view on the meaning of life. Although, there are many views of the purpose of life, such as (biologist) Richard Dwarkin believes that the purpose of life is to survive, breed and pass our genes to the next generation. If that’s the case, then why do we need to pass our genes to the