My Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie, is flipping through his TV stations one night and he heard these words come from his TV set- “Who is Morrie Schwartz?”- And Mitch went numb. Mitch found out through the TV show “Nightline” that his life long friend and teacher is dying and Mitch knows that he has to go and see him. Mitch goes to see his old college professor and what starts out as a one-day meeting turns into a four-month “class”.
The class is conducted in Morrie’s house in the suburb or Boston, there is no books or any other students, just Mitch and Morrie. Throughout this class Morrie teaches Mitch the lessons of life; lessons such as death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness, and a meaningful life. As Morrie’s conditions worsen, Mitch’s condition is getting better, Mitch is becoming a better person with the help of Morrie. Finally Morrie’s life comes to an end, and Mitch graduates from Life 101.
“I felt the seeds of death inside his shriveling frame, and as I laid him in his chair, adjusting his head on the pillow, I had the coldest realization that our time was running out.” (Pg. 59) That is what Mitch, a journal writer for the Detroit Free Press, said as he lifted his old college teacher from his wheelchair to his recliner. His old college teacher is Morrie Schwartz, a man that is dying from ALS otherwise known as Lou Gehrig disease. As the book goes on, Morrie reaches out to people who want to talk and he teaches them about the real lessons of life, while he is lying on his deathbed. Tuesdays With Morrie is an excellent book because Morrie teaches Mitch lessons about marriage, greed, and family that young adults can learn from.
“Love each other or perish”. This quote sums up all of Morrie’s views and beliefs on the topic of marriage and love. This statement says a lot and I feel that young adults can learn a very big lesson from this short quote. Love and marriage are very important because we all need someone to love and to love back, if we don’t we are going to live a very lonely and unhappy life. There is a set of “rules” that Morrie stated in this book that I feel young adults could learn a lot from.
At the beginning of the book I found Mitch to be an aggressive white collar worker. He was extremely career driven, and spent most of his life working. He strived for bigger and better constantly, never feeling satisfied. As the book progressed Mitch became filled with compassion. The Tuesday meetings provided him with insight on the meaning of life, and how to achieve happiness without material possessions. At the end of the book I found Mitch to be relatable, and to have a great understanding of mortality.
In the movie, “Tuesdays With Morrie”, Mitch’s old professor, Morrie, is diagnosed with ALS. Mitch finds out that he is dying, and wants to fulfill the promise to visit him after graduation. Mitch starts visiting him. He talks to him and goes places with him, but when his condition worsens it is hard to go anywhere. Conflicts arise in his love life and work, but Mitch keeps visiting Morrie every Tuesday.
Most of Tuesdays with Morrie consists of replays of conversations between Mitch and his former teacher, Morrie. This may seem like a pretty boring topic, yet Mitch Albom felt the need to write this book. Mitch could have easily just gone to visit his old professor, chatted with him, and left it at that. Why do you think that Mitch Albom felt the need to share his story? What do you spend money on and how can you save for things? What does society teach us about money, wealth, and greed?
Tuesdays with Morrie is about the final lesson between a dying professor and an old college student(Mitch), who happens to be the author. Mitch used to be Morries old student in psychology, and reconnects when he sees Morrie in an interview on the show
“Challenges is what makes life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” - Joshua J. Marine. Life is difficult and people need to accept it and in someway every thing in life is a challenge and people need to know how overcome and how live life with those challenges. Morrie teaches people to live life by showing how to accept death, that money isn’t everything, and how to accept aging.
Mitch spends every Tuesday with Morrie not knowing when it might be his dear sociology professor’s last. One line of Morrie’s: “People walk around with a meaningless life…This is because they are doing things wrong” (53) pretty much encapsulates the life lessons from Morrie, Mitch describes in his novel, Tuesdays With Morrie. Morrie Schwartz, a beloved sociology professor at Brandeis University, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which most people would take as a death sentence. Morrie viewed it differently; he saw it more as an opportunity. This is because he does not follow the so-called “rules” of society. These rules come from the sociological concept of symbolic interaction, the theory that states that an individual’s
Morrie is Mitch's favorite professor from Brandeis University, and the main focus of the book is Morrie, who now suffers from ALS, a weakening, incurable disease that destroys his body, but cruelly leaves him as intelligent as ever before. He had taught sociology at Brandeis, and continues to teach it to Mitch, enlightening him on "The Meaning of Life", and how to accept death and aging. After having a childhood with out much affection shown at all, he lives on physical contact, which is rather similar to a baby. He has a passion for dancing and music, and cries a lot, especially since the beginning of his disease. He doesn’t hide his emotions, but he shares them openly with anyone, and stays in the same frame of thinking as he did before this fatal disease struck. Mitch Albom sees him as a man of absolute wisdom.
Which is why he falls under Erikson’s theory of identity achievement. Identity achievement is when a person understands who he or she is as a unique individual, in accord with past experiences(Berger pg 356). Morrie understands who he is completely so he decides to give advice on life issues that most people go through while Mitch records him. During one session Mitch asked Morrie what his perfect last day would be and he gave it in complete detail from start to finish, it started off having a lovely breakfast, then going for a swim, have some lunch with friends, sit around and tell each other how much they meant to one another, go to dinner and have pasta and duck, then dance until he was exhausted, then go home and fall asleep. He had lived his life too the fullest and he knew exactly how he would want to spend his last day.
Morrie Schwartz the lead character in Tuesdays with Morrie, receives terrible news early on that his death is near, as he is suffering from Lou G...
Morrie helped Mitch discover who he truly is, and gives views on culture and the pressures of fitting into society’s uniform mold.
I experienced a sense of pleasure as the relationship between Mitch and Morrie strengthened from acquaintances into a strong bond held together by trust and loyalty. The countless hours of dedication in giving and receiving was a mutual allegiance between two adult men who depended on one another in the pursuit of happiness and meaning of life. Morrie was well-known for his fluid use of words as well as his silence. His explanation of exploring the meaning behind silence instilled a sense of awareness of cultural norms in our
There was a student in Morrie's social phsychology class that year, his name is Mitch Albom. These two characters grew a bond to one another where they spent their lunches together, talking for hours. unfornatuely when Mitch graduated, he did not keep his promise to keep in touch with is loving professor. Based on the reading, Mitch gets lost in the work field and becomes a work alcholic. When his uncle dies of pancerous cancer, Mitch decided to make something of himself, he felt "as if time
Wisdom is a part of this story because morrie has very good judgement, and experience. Morrie is very aware and responsible, morrie told some very great life lessons to morrie and to the class that he taught. More is a very wise man who has been thr0ugh a lot of rough stuff in his life, these hard times he has been through has taught him many new and helpful things that he tries and shares with those around him. He is clever and discerning. An example of wisdom in tuesdays with morrie is, “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.” (Albom, 42). This quote is an example of wisdom because morrie is very aware 0f this culture and how it works, morrie shows intelligence and respect. Morrie tells it how it is to mitch and gives him some good advice that if the culture doesn't work don’t buy it. Morrie also said, “Everyone knows they’re going to die but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently.” (Albom,81). By this quote morrie is saying that the best thing is to not live life in denial. There is as bit of pressure in life to make it count. Don’t be complacent about life. Be aware and try to make something matter in the time you are here. If you don’t know where to start, it usually good to start with giving of yourself and finding out where that
The student, Mitch Albom, (also the author) decides to fulfill the promise he had made to Morrie after graduation, of keeping in contact. He catches a flight to Massachusetts on a Tuesday and does this for the next several Tuesdays till the death of Morrie. On those Tuesdays, classes were being held, not in the all too familiar classrooms of the college, but in the intimate setting of Morrie’s home. They would write their final thesis paper on “The Meaning of Life.” The paper was to include but not be limited to the following topics: Death, Fear, Aging, Greed, Marriage, Family, Society, Forgiveness, and A Meaningful Life. Every Tuesday when Mitch would arrive he could see the brutal deterring of Morrie’s small disease infested body. Yet the spirit of this small dying man was bigger than life itself. This confused Mitch, but as the story progresses Mitch begins to comprehend why this man with only months to live is still so filled with life.
Morrie’s messages about life in this book were not solely directed fro Mitch; they are meant for anyone who is willing to take the time to listen. For me, there is not only one thing I learned from Morrie. I learned that I should not take life for granted because you never know when it will be over. Even though I have heard it many times I never really believed that what the media says is not necessarily true, until I read this book. Finally, I learned that love and compassion, not only for others, but also for oneself are essential in living a happy life. It does not matter if someone is rich, or if they are poor for that matter. The truth is that as long as you lived your life as best you could, you learned from your mistakes, and you are happy with yourself, then you lead a fulfilling life.