Adversity In Tuesdays With Morrie

“Everyone is handed adversity in life. No one’s journey is easy. It’s how they handle it that makes people unique,” Kevin Conroy once said. Everyone faces some form of adversity within their life. Elie Wiesel in Night and Mitch Albom in Tuesdays with Morrie, both recap some of the most adverse things that they have seen or experienced and how that adversity is overcome. In each novel adversity is frequently presented within the book. Although the books have two entirely different settings they hold many similarities. To clearly see the theme of each novel one needs to first understand: how adversity is themed within each novel; how each novel handles adversity; and how the two novels relate in adversity.

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times

sealed.

Never shall I forget that smoke.Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky” (Night 34) Those are the words of a young boy who watched his entire world disappear. Elie Wiesel clearly re envisions the horrors of his childhood and growing up in the German death camps. Every minute was a struggle for survival, with considerable luck, perseverance and will Elie managed to outlive the camps and overcome the adversity he experiences within the book. Elie faced many deadly, and painful adversities which served as a painful reminder as why he was there. In Mitch Albom’s book Tuesdays with Morrie adversity shows itself in a different way. When Morrie is diagnosed with ALS, Mitch Albom makes it his mission to carry on Morrie’s final words of wisdom. Morrie is dying, and trying to tell people that they need to

make the most of their lives so when the time comes they’ll be ready for death. Morrie explains to Mitch that dying is simply one thing to be sad over, and that living an unhappy life is entirely different (Tuesdays 35). Morrie tries to explain what it is like to die after a life that you have enjoyed living while recapping on his own life. As Morrie progressively gets worse he loses the ability to walk, and do many other things that he enjoys doing. He loses control of his own body and relies entirely on other people to care for him. As he loses these things Mitch begins to see and hear the pain the Morrie feels, not only for losing his independence, and his life, but for the mistakes he’s made in the past.
The novels have many similarities to one another with the adversities that Morrie and Elie face as well as some differences. In Night, Elie handles many of his adversities on his own, but still asks for a helping hand now and then from his father. In one of his experiences Elie was being attacked on a train, someone had attacked him and began to strangle Elie in his sleep. If Elie’s father had not called for help Elie would have surely been killed (Night 102). In Tuesdays with Morrie