“The Five People You Meet In Heaven” written by Mitch Albom tells about a man named Eddie and his experiences in life and in heaven. During his journey in heaven he meet five people. He learns how he has impacted the five lives while on earth. Eddie finds that his life did have true meaning and purpose. Prior to meeting the five people that he meets in heaven, he feels as if his life is worthless and has no meaning. Physically he is not in good shape, “His left knee, wounded in the war, was ruined by arthritis. He used a cane to get around”(2, paragraph 1). He feels stuck at a place with a job that he absolutely hates, “He cursed his father for dying and for trapping him in the very life he’d been trying to escape: a life that, as he heard the old man laughing from the grave, apparently now was good enough for him”(128, paragraph 1). The one and only love of his life has died, “I lost everything. I lost the only woman I ever loved”(173, paragraph 9). The triumphs bring Eddie down and make him feel as if his life did not go as he had planned. Although Eddie meets five people in heaven that try to help him to understand his life, one of these people stand out above the rest. When Eddie meets Ruby, he has no idea who she is but she tries to help him try to understand and forgive his father for the years of neglect and abuse. “Once Eddie tried to stand next to his father and look at his cards, but the old man put down his cigar and erupted like thunder, smacking Eddie’s face with the back of his hand. “Stop breathing on me,” he said, “Eddie never got that close again”(105, paragraph 2). As Eddie grows older, their nonexistent relationship does not change for the better! Ruby helps Eddie with this struggle by showing him that... ... middle of paper ... ... mundane things Eddie had done in his life, the accidents he had prevented, the rides he had kept safe, the unnoticed turns he had affected everyday. And while their lips did not move, Eddie heard their voices, more voices than he could have imagined, and a peace came upon him that he had never known before”(193, paragraph 3). Now Eddie knew, He finally knew the meaning and purpose of his life. Although it takes a long time, Eddie finds everything that he has been looking for to understand and be happy with his life. The Five People You Meet In Heaven shows readers how every life has a plan. The plan might not be realized until death, its possible that life’s experiences will be explained. Once the five people are met and differences are resolved, then comes peace. Works Cited Albom, Mitch. The Five People You Meet In Heaven. New York: Hyperion, 2003.
“I forgive you, Dad.” (Movie) On the movie screen the tearful Eddie, with his trembling voice, is wholeheartedly trying to reach out to his father inside the Diner in Heaven. It is the moment that Eddie’s sentimental reflection turns into an emotional eruption. At that moment Eddie’s tears almost wet my face. That is just one of stunning visual effects I felt while watching the film, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” The film, directed by Lloyd Kramer, is based on the book with the same title, written by Mitch Albom. In terms of plot, general theme, and setting, they are all projected in similar ways both in the book and the movie, such as chronological order of the five people Eddie meets in Heaven, use of flashbacks, and Ruby Pier entertainment park as the central stage. By appearance, both in the book and the movie, Eddie and the five people are naturally the major focus. However, I believe that the relationship between Eddie and his father is specially fabricated by the director and the author with the intention of making the story more complex and captivating. On top of that, I find that Eddie’s father, portrayed as a controversial character throughout the book and all over the film, is really worth further reviewing and discussion. More specifically, I would like to analyze the similarities and differences vividly perceived between the novel and the movie in various ways of portraying the father.
... job with this story and I believe any reader can find some one or something in the story they can relate to and can apply the story to their every day life. The story has many lessons and morals that can be learned but adds a humorous twist to things. So I leave with this final though, in the words of Wendell Berry, “Practice Resurrection!”
... lives incapacitated. Whereas it is Eddie's own chracter traits that are exposed by the characters and circumstances. His active role in his downfall caused "the situation slid inescapably toward disaster"₈ Both protagonists are victims of tragedy brought about by the individual characters themselves as well as external elements.
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
Throughout The Five People You Meet in Heaven, there is moral ambiguity shown with the main
book “He has seen his birth and death many times, he says, and pays random visits to all
Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven has sparked a much-needed emotional transformation inside my heart. It had quenched my thirsty body with the hope and comfort I had been seeking for the longest time. In The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom simply represents his version of what heaven could be like. Ideally, in this heaven, people who felt unimportant here on earth would realize, finally, how much they mattered and how much they were loved. This is the greatest gift God can give to you: to understand what happened in your life.
Eddie’s life ends tragically at Ruby Pier, the amusement park, where he has felt trapped for so many, long years, with what he thinks of as “a meaningless life”. When Eddie opens his eyes, he thinks that he is in heaven. He sees the sky changing many, beautiful colors as he is floating through the air. Eddie eventually lands in the place that he has come to think of as his own hell, Ruby Pier. He questions why he has been sent back here. He wonders if he had really been so bad of a person on earth that God would send him here to live for eternity. Once Eddie meets the side show “freak”, The Blue Man, he begins to understand why he has come here again. The Blue Man explains that Eddie will meet five people in heaven that will explain the meaning of his life.
Eddie went into a depression stage in his life when his older brother returned home from
God uses his case of the yips to motivate Herman to reach his potential and realize that helping God is not his ultimate goal. When comparing Herman’s experience with temptation to God’s, there is a noticeable similarity between strength. They both resist temptation from the devil that shows they have the will to do anything. When Herman is reincarnated on earth, the author tells the readers that Herman awoke from that dream, causing him to remember his previous life in heaven. Herman later goes on to define his life as a tale of a young star on the PGA tour as well, having the grace of Els, the work ethic of Singh, the courage and determination of Sorenstam ,the charitable instincts and will to win of Tiger Woods. The author is writing a sacred story about Herman’s reincarnated life that will be remembered for years to come is what he’s trying to convey to
Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned his initial sentence… (1190)
Making sacrifices and giving up on doing the things one loves the most can be very stressful and difficult. Many people think that they are going to live life without having to take any chances or giving up on things that matter to them. When it comes to one making sure they follow the right path, making sacrifices can be extremely overwhelming and it can lead to a lack of desperation. Sacrifice is an essential part of life and nobody dies without having to make at least one. In Mitch Albom’s fictional novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven, sacrifice is the main theme as the protagonist Eddie Maintenance as some would call him sacrifices his life, aspirations, and career various times throughout the book.
The theme that Leif Enger wanted the readers to take away after reading this novel is that we should have faith in God. Through the extraordinary situations described in the book, we can learn that God is always there in our lives to pave a path for us, we need to have confidence in God to see him in our everyday life, and that we can see God through miracles and other events that happen in our life. Even when you are going through really bad moments always remember that there is a reason for that and there will always be good moments afterwards. This is as true as telling someone that tomorrow the sun will rise again. No matter what you are living at this moment if you have faith you will find a solution.
...eath, it ends with happiness. Peter being judged at his own funeral is heartbreaking, but there is a bright side. He can no longer hear their hate. He is already long gone by his funeral. He is in heaven. The hate can no longer hurt him. The speaker questions why humans would choose a hard life over an easy afterlife. In his poem, Doty proves that death is an escape from judgment, but he’s not saying death is the answer. He is saying that bigotry is causing these suicides or people hoping for death. Stopping the hate will let more people live free and be individuals. They would not have to conform to society’s mold any longer. When Earth reflects the morals and acceptance of this “heaven” that is mentioned, that is when people can be truly free. Peter is now free to be happy. His new life is a chance to start over and be him without fear of judgment or expectations.
Although I chose to read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom based primarily on availibility, I am quite happy that I did. The character I liked reading about most was Tala. Her innocence was an appreciated break from not only the very problematic and adult actions of the characters/ people in this book, but in most media ever, and in real life. Although Tala is my favorite character, I 've found I 'm more alike to Ruby. Despite the entirety of our financial situations being very different, we are one and the same in one aspect that was quite crucial to Ruby 's character. We both want people we appreciate to be safe, warm, well-fed, and happy. Ruby 's heaven was a diner where people that she loved and appreciated, and that had