Tuesdays With Morrie Culture Analysis

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If you’re ever lucky enough to have a real teacher, a teacher who sees you as nothing but a raw, but precious thing, a jewel, then you will always find your way back to them. In the philosophical memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie by author Mitch Albom, readers find themselves awakened on acceptance, relationships and the book’s theme, the meaning of life in our monotonous society. Professor Morrie Schwartz, a knowledgeable and wise old man dying from a horrible disease, ALS, educates his student on creating your own culture and not submitting to conventional or societal standards. Every Tuesday, Mitch, Morrie’s inquisitive and somewhat introverted student would come to visit Morrie to better understand Morrie’s view of the world and what we should …show more content…

Our culture has women constantly hating their bodies and men thinking they can’t ever be “weak” and have to be super rich in order to live a fulfilling life. But these are learned ideas. Rather than hating others and building prejudices based off of race, gender or class, we must reject these ideologies and create our own culture. A new culture in which differences are accepted and we are loving towards others. And although we may not like to believe it, we must love each other, for there will never be a time when we don’t depend on one another. Morrie puts it perfectly during an interview with talk show host Ted Koppel. Because of his disease, Morrie is unable to take out the trash, go shopping or even the most ultimate sign of independence, take himself to the bathroom. Though he could spend the rest of his numbered days pitying himself, Morrie decides to enjoy the fact that he can be a baby once more and that he has a lot of free time to simply relax and think. Instead of being ashamed like most would, Morrie chooses to “look at life uniquely now”(Albom49) and embrace the positives he has …show more content…

Many people are disregarded, not long after death simply because they don’t love hard enough. Seeing that Morrie is slowly dying from his illness, the question of whether he fears being forgotten after death often arises. Yet Morrie always replies that he is not afraid. The legacy you leave depends on how you loved others and how intimate you were. The only way for you to live past your death is to build strong emotional and interpersonal connections with others and the love you passed to them will keep you memory alive. Morrie treated every interaction with his friends and visitors like it was their last. This was not just because he was dying, but because he recognized and valued them. Morrie lit up whenever a visitor entered the room. He flashed a warm smile that is sure to make anyone feel welcome. And when you spoke, Morrie could make you feel “as if you were the only person in the world,”(Albom135). Making sure to live in the present, Morrie builds bonds that last from eternity and beyond because of how hard he loves and how much love he has to share. If we are sure to love this way, we will never ever be forgotten.
In essence, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is a powerful and thought inducing/provoking philosophical memoir with many themes such as conformity, love, and of course the meaning of life. The book brings up the topics of money, legacy and culture to encourage readers

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