Comparing Forgiveness In Tuesdays With Morrie And Catcher In The

Many times in literature, the regret that characters feel consumes them. However, in both Tuesdays with Morrie and Catcher in the Rye, the regret that Morrie, Mitch, and Holden all feel motivates them to do right by their loved ones. The most important piece of advice that Morrie give Mitch in the book Tuesdays with Morrie is the importance of forgiveness. When teaching Mitch to learn from the mistake he made with his friend Norman, he tells him, “‘It’s not just other people we need to forgive, Mitch,’ he finally whispered. ‘We also need to forgive ourselves’” (Albom, 166). All three of the main characters studied: Holden, Morrie, and Mitch, struggle with this. They all wallow in their regret due to their inability to forgive themselves, but each character is able to utilize this regret to motivate themselves to do right by their loved ones. The first example of this regret turned motivation can be seen in Holden’s ability to take his guilt of not being able to save his brother Allie and turn it into motivation to save other kids who are in

In the book Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie talks about his friend Norman and how he was hurt when Norman never inquired about his wife’s health, even when he knew she was not well. On page 166, Morrie says what happened: “‘Over the years, I met Norman a few times and he always tried to reconcile, but I didn’t accept it. [...] I was prideful. [...] A few years ago… he died of cancer. I feel so sad. I never got to see him. I never got to forgive’” (Albom, 166). Morrie’s deep regret taught him the importance of forgiveness, and inspired him to prevent this pain from being inflicted upon anyone else. This desire to right by his friend is what caused Morrie to give advice on the importance of forgiveness to Mitch, so he and those he meets could be spared of this