AN ANALYSIS OF THE NOVEL

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

of

JOANNE LEE B. CAMBA

I. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MITCH ALBOM is an internationally renowned and best-selling author,

journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician.
His books have collectively sold more than 35 million copies worldwide; have been
published in forty-eight territories and in forty-four languages around the world; and
have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically-acclaimed television
movies.

Mitch was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey, the middle of three
children to Rhoda and Ira Albom. The family moved to the Buffalo, N.Y. area briefly
before settling in Oaklyn, New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia. Mitch grew up
wanting to be a cartoonist before switching to music.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1979 at Brandeis University in Waltham,

Massachusetts, majoring in sociology, but stayed true to his dream of a life in music,
and upon graduation, he worked for several years as a performer, both in Europe and
America. Mitch eventually turned full-time to his writing, working as a freelance
sports journalist in New York for publications such as Sports Illustrated, GEO, and
The Philadelphia Inquirer. His first full time newspaper job was as a feature writer
and eventual sports columnist for The Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel in
Florida. He moved to Detroit in 1985, where he became a nationally-acclaimed sports
journalist at the Detroit Free Press and one of the best-known media figures in that
city’s history, working in newspapers, radio and television.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” is the chronicle of Mitch’s time spent with his beloved
professor. As a labor of love, Mitch wrote the book to help pay Morrie’s medical
bills. It spent four years on the New York Times Bestseller list and is now the most
successful memoir ever published. His first novel, “The Five People You Meet in
Heaven,” is the most successful US hardcover first adult novel ever. For One More
Day debuted at No.1 on the New York Times Bestseller List and spent nine months
on the list. In October 2006, “For One More Day” was the first book chosen by
Starbucks in the newly launched Book Break Program, which also helped fight
illiteracy by donating one dollar from every book sold to Jumpstart. His novel “Have
a Little Faith,” was released in September 2009 and selected by Oprah.com as the
best nonfiction book of 2009. His most recent novel is “Timekeeper.”
 I. CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION

Morrie Schwartz

- A professor of sociology at Brandeis University. He is an excellent teacher, and

retires only after he begins to lose control of his body to ALS, Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He is a man of faith; he
never loses faith and hope despite of his raging illness. His body might’ve
deprived him of doing almost everything to the tiniest thing of work, yet he
remained sturdy.

Mitch Albom

- Morrie's former student at Brandeis University. Mitch is a man with a good heart
who has surrendered his dreams of becoming a musician to dreams of material
wealth and professional success. He has grown disillusioned and values money
over love.

Ted Koppel

- One of the most famous living television interviewers. He conducts three

interviews with Morrie for the news show “Nightline.” He is surprised when
Morrie asks him personal questions just after they have met, though he
immediately seems to like Morrie, and eventually grows to call him a friend. He is
moved almost to tears during his last interview with Morrie, having deconstructed
what Morrie had called his “narcissistic” television personality.

Charlotte

- Marrie’s caring wife, who, at his insistence, keeps her job as a professor at M.I.T.
throughout Morrie’s illness, supportive on Morrie’s every decisions and patient as
she helps her husband struggle with the disease.

Janine

- Mitch’s patient and understanding wife who willingly takes a phone from Morrie,
whom she has never met, and insists upon joining Mitch on his next Tuesday
visit. Although she usually does not sing upon request, she does for Morrie, and
moves him to tears with her beautiful voice. She doesn’t complain

Peter
 - Mitch's younger brother. He is an independent man, after graduating high school
he moved out from the family’s house and live on his own. He provides himself
his daily needs and doesn’t seek assistance from anyone in the family. He is now
suffering from pancreatic cancer, and flies to various European cities seeking
treatment. However, he continually refuses to accept help from his family. He
does not want help from Mitch or any other member of his family presumably
because he has too much pride to accept it.

Charlie

- Morrie’s dispassionate father who immigrated to America to escape the Russian

Army. Charlie raises his children on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and
works in the fur business, though he seldom finds jobs and earns barely enough
money to feed his family. He shows Morrie and his brother David little attention,
and no affection whatsoever, and insists that Morrie keep his mother’s death a
secret from David, as he wants his son to believe that his stepmother, Eva, is his
biological mother. He dies after having run away from muggers and Morrie must
travel to New York to identify his body at the city morgue.

David

- Morrie’s younger brother who, after their mother’s death, is sent with Morrie to a
small hotel in the woods of Connecticut. There, he develops polio, seemingly just
after he and Morrie have spent a night frolicking outside in the rain. Although his
paralysis has nothing to do with their night in the rain, Morrie blames himself for
David’s paralysis.

Eva

- The kind, caring immigrant woman who Charlie marries after Morrie’s mother
dies. She gives Morrie and his brother David the love and affection they have so
longed for and instils in Morrie his love of books and desire for education.

Maurie Stein

- A good friend of Morrie who sends some of Morrie’s aphorisms to a Boston

Globe reporter who eventually publishes a feature story on Morrie. The reporter’s
article prompts Ted Koppel to ask Morrie for an interview. A hands-on friend and
passionate in her job.

Norman

- An old friend of Morrie who has long been estranged. He had been an artist, and
has sculpted a bust of Morrie, a deft depiction of his features. He eventually
 moved away and shortly thereafter, did not send his regards to Morrie or Charlotte
although he knew that Charlotte would be undergoing a serious surgery. Because
of his carelessness, Morrie forfeits his friendship with him and refuses to accept
his apology, which he regrets, especially after his death a few years following
their break up. It is evident in the story that Norman gave no importance with
their friendship to Morrie and his husband as he forgot to show sympathy in times
of great crisis and struggle.

Connie

- Morrie’s home patient health aide who is always there to assist Morrie in going to
the bathroom, getting into his chair, and eating his meals.

Al Axelrad

- A rabii from Brandeis and a long time friend of Morrie. He performs Morrie’s
funeral service.

Rob and John

- Morrie’s two adult sons who, though they live far, often travel to Boston to visit
Morrie, especially as his condition worsen. They are loving, caring and supportive
sons.

Tony

- Morrie’s patient home care worker who helps him in and out his swimming suit.
II. SYNOPSIS

Morrie Schwartz was Mitch Albom’s favorite college professor. At the start of the
novel Albom recalls a memory from his college graduation day: he is saying goodbye
to Morrie and gives him a tan briefcase with his initials on it. They hug and when
Mitch steps back he sees that Morrie is crying. Mitch promises to stay in touch with
Morrie but he never does after college.

Since his graduation, Mitch has become a newspaper reporter and a husband. He
leads a very fast paced life and is constantly working and travelling. He has become
so engrossed in his work that it consumes his life.

The novel recommences about sixteen years after Mitch’s graduation day; Morrie
has since been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Since Morrie’s
diagnosis, he began jotting down ideas and thoughts onto scrap paper, yellow pads or
even envelopes. He also wrote philosophies about living knowing death was very
near. One of his friends was so taken with his writing, he sent them to
the Boston Globe reporter, who wrote a feature story about Morrie. The story
intrigued one of the producers of the show, “Nightline,” who then did a feature story
about Morrie. Mitch happened to see the “Nightline” show and recognized his old
professor. He called him to set up a visit.

Mitch began visiting Morrie every Tuesday. Their discussions ranged from the
world, regrets, death, love and money; the purpose of their meetings was to discuss
Morrie’s view on the meaning of life. Mitch became so intrigued by Morrie’s
philosophies that he began taking notes and even recording Morrie.

Morrie’s philosophies included rejecting popular culture morals and following

self-created values, loving others, and learning to accept death.

With each lesson, Morrie becomes increasingly sick; during their last meeting,
Morrie was bed ridden and near death. As he and Mitch hugged for one last time,
Morrie notices Mitch is finally crying.

Morrie dies a short time after. At his funeral Mitch tries having a conversation
with Morrie, as he had wanted. Mitch feels a certain naturalness and comfort to this
conversation and realizes that it happens to be Tuesday.

After Morrie’s death Mitch regains contact with his brother who lives in Spain and is
battling cancer.
III. ANALYSIS

A. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Simile

- In the beginning of the book, Mitch Albom was like a rundown building:
once was great but has deteriorated over the years.
- He twisted and twirled, he waved his arms like a conductor on
amphetamines, until sweat was dripping down the middle of his back.
- ALS is like a lit candle; it melts your eyes nerves and leaves your body a
pile of wax.
- His eyes were more sunken than I remembered them and his cheekbones
more pronounced. This gave him a harsher, older look – until he smiled, of
course, and the sagging cheeks gathered up like curtains.
- He had created a cocoon of human activities – conversations, interaction,
and affection – and it filled his life like an overflowing soup bowl.
- I had also developed my own culture. Work four or five media jobs in
England, juggling them like a clown.
- In light of this, my visits with Morrie felt like a cleansing rinse of human
kindness. We talked about life and we talked about love.
- He was mostly dead weight, and I felt his head bounce softly on my
shoulder and his body sag against me like a big damp loaf.
- On some nights when he couldn’t get enough air to swallow, Morrie
attached the long plastic tubing to his nose, clamping on his nostrils like a
leech.
- Sitting there, I felt so much stronger than he, ridiculously so, as if I could
lift him and toss him over my shoulder like a sack of flour.
- I put a palm against his face and felt the bones close to the flesh and the
tiny wet tears, as if squeezed from a dropper.
- Sometimes he would close his eyes and try to draw the air up into his
mouth and nostrils, and it seemed as if her were trying to lift an anchor.

Personification

- The news building where Mitch worked gave him an angry glare and spat
in his face.
- We went into the kitchen. I helped her straighten up, noticing all the
bottles of pills, lined up on the table, a small army of brown plastic
soldiers with white caps.

Metaphor

- Morrie is an instructional manual, teaching Mitch about life.

 - “I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain,
and I could not move quickly enough”
- “Morrie had become a lightning rod of ideas”
- One the plane ride home that day, I made a small list on a yellow legal
pad, issues and questions that we all grapple with, from happiness to aging
to having children to death. Of course, there were a million self-help
books on these subjects….America had become a Persian bazaar of self-
help.
- And it’s so true. Without love, we are birds with broken wings.
- For many of us, the curtain has just come down on childhood.

Hyperbole
- In this way, even as he was dying, he showed respect for his children’s
worlds. Little wonder that when they sat with him, there was a water fall
of affection, lots of kisses and jokes and crouching by the side of the bed
hold hands.

B. STYLE OF WRITING

1. SYMBOLS

Pink Hibiscus plant

As Morrie’s body deteriorates, so does the condition of the hibiscus plant.

The plant’s pink petals wither and fall as Morrie grows increasingly dependent on
his aides and an oxygen. As his death approaches, so does the death of the plant.
It is continually used as a metaphor for Morrie’s life and for life itself/ like the
plant, humans, Morrie in particular, experience a natural life cycle, which
inevitably ends in death. Morrie must accept this inevitable fate, as must Mitch.

Waves on the ocean

Morrie recounts a story he had heard about a small wave seeing the waves
ahead of him crash on the shore, disappearing into nothingness. He suddenly
brims with fear upon the realization that he too will soon crash on the shore and
die as the wave fears he will. This little wave confides his fear in another wave
that comforts him with the news that he will not crash and die, but will instead
return to become a small part of the larger ocean. This small wave is symbolic of
Morrie, as he too is on the brink of crashing into a theoretical shore, a symbolic
embodiment of his death. Like the wave, Morrie is comforted by the knowledge
that he will soon return to something larger in the afterlife. Morrie’s affinity for
 the parable denotes his belief in a form of reincarnation, which he understands as
intrinsic part of the natural life cycle.

Morrie’s bed

Morries aphorism, “When you’re in bed, you are dead,” eventually comes
true. Throughout Morrie’s struggle with ALS, he refuses to stay in bed, as he sees
it as a form of surrender and instead opts to rest in the chair in his study. Morrie
intends to live his last days fully as he can and knows that if he is to remain in
bed, he will surrender himself to death by forfeiting the simple enjoyment he gets
from lying in his study. In his study, photographs of loved ones and the books he
has collected in his lifetime surround Morrie. There, he can look outside of his
window and though he cannot go outside, he admires the beauty of the seasons
and the plant and animal life outdoors. It is not until Morrie’s final days that he
does stay in bed when he has at last accepted and readied himself for death.

Morrie's Hand Waving

In a way, Morrie's hand movements during the interview have its own
form of symbolism. During The Audiovisual, Morrie moves around his arms a lot
as he speaks, not only in the book, but in the actual interview.
The symbolism behind this is the little freedom he has left of being able to be
move what he can, that being his hands. "Ted, one day soon someone's gonna
have to wipe my ass," Morrie states at the "Nightline" interview with Ted Koppel.

1. MOTIFS

The media

The media is continually portrayed in Tuesdays with Morrie as being

inherently evil, sucking Mitch dry of his passion and ambition and feeling public
stories of murder and hatred that have ravaged the goodness of the world’s
general community. Micth, who is out of work due to a unionized strike at the
Detroit newspaper he writes for, continually notices the horrific events reported
by the media he for a long time has been a part of. He reads about homicides,
torture, theft, and a dozen other gruesome crimes that serve to juxtapose the evil
of the popular culture with the goodness of the world Morrie has created for
himself. The O.J. Simpson murder trial also makes multiple appearances
throughout the book and provides Mitch with evidence to support his claim that
the general populous has become dependent on and somewhat addicted to, media
coverage of relatively meaningless stories, stories that contribute nothing to
personal development or goodness as a human being.
 Reincarnation and Renewal

Reincarnation and renewal are presented as facets of both life and death.
In life, Morrie teaches that a person is ever changing and in death, looks forward
to some of new life with the natural progression of the life cycle. With Morrie as
his mentor, Mitch is able to reincarnate himself in life, transforming a man who
was once motivated by material wealth into a man who is motivated by a passion
to love and to emulate the man who has touched his life. Morrie reveals that
despite his old age, he is still changing as every person does until their dying day.

Food

Each Tuesday, Mitch brings him a bag of food from the grocery store for
Morrie to enjoy, as he knows that his professor’s favorite hobby, second to
dancing, is eating. Morrie can no longer dance and soon, he can even no longer
eat the food that Mitch brings him either, as well as his strength have deteriorated
so much, he can no longer ingest solids. The food that he brings for Morrie serves
as a reminder for Mitch of the days he and his professor would eat together in the
cafeteria at Brandeis, when he had been young and passionate, and Morrie
energetic and in good health. Now, Mitch has been corrupted by commercial
wealth and Morrie, bu his illness. Although he knows that Morrie can no longer
eat solids, Mitch continues to bring food each week because he fears Morrie’s
fast-approaching death. The food Mitch brings him acts as a means by which to
cling to Morrie and the fond memories Mitch has of his favorite professor. Mitch
also feels that food is the only gift he can give to Morrie and feels helpless as to
how to sooth him any other way.

2. AUTHOR’S TECHNIQUES

Foreshadowing: Throughout the story, Morrie states various aphorisms. In his

last aphorism, Morrie says “when you’re in bed, you’re dead.” On his last visit
with Morrie, Mitch knows that death is fast approaching because Morrie has
moved from the openness of his study to the confines of his bed. Only days after
taking to his bed, Morrie dies.

Use of Irony: Mitch is a man who has immersed himself in the studies of life. He
is a journalist in tune with popular figures and idols. He is seen by the world as an
educated man. It seems that Mitch has everything he could want; however,
Morrie, an old professor dying from ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, teaches
him what it truly means to be in tune with the world. Also, it is ironic that the
figurative and probably most significant death in this book is the death of the old
Mitch and not Morrie. Mitch sheds his old habits and begins to understand the
world the way Morrie does. Mitch experiences a rebirth.
 Point-of-view: The narrator speaks in the first person for the majority of the
novel, with the exception of a few passages in which he had not been present.
With the exception of these passages, the narrator provides a subjective view of
all other characters introduced.

2. TONE

The tone of this novel is fairly serious and emotional with several moments of
humor. The tone of this story is affected my Mitch’s growth and understanding.
Mitch’ tone at the beginning of this novel is worldly and focused primarily on
material items and thoughts. The tone here seems naïve and superficial. After his
re-introduction with Morrie, Mitch begins to understand life through the eyes of
this dying man. The tone quickly changes to a man coming into terms with the
essence of life. Mitch's narration uses very basic language, as most of the book is
composed of dialogue between him and Morrie, word-for word conversations he
has transcribed after having tape recorded them prior to Morrie's death.

3. MOOD

The prevailing mood of the book is mostly serious. There were not many
times for laughter and or for tears. However, there was the perfect amount of both
to make it right in between a humorous mood, and a somber mood.

4. THEMES

Death

- “If some mystical clarity of thought came when you looked death in the eye, then
I knew Morrie wanted to share it” (p. 64).
- “To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time. . . that way
you can actually be more involved in your life while you’re living” Morrie (p.81).
- “Learn how to die, and you learn how to live” (p. 83).

Sometimes, when we know we are nearing our end, we lost hope. We eventually
lost focus to ourselves and to what was important in our lives. The thought of dying
makes us weak and it shatters us to pieces that we let go of everything valuable to us.
But Morrie remained firm despite of his raging illness. He uses the truth about his
nearing death to battle his fear and that makes his life more meaningful. He didn’t
waver. He didn’t let “death” scare the hell out of him. He, instead, makes the most of
his life when, instead of running away from it, he begun to accept the reality. The
reality hurts, but what hurts even more is telling yourself the opposite when you know
inside – you’re living a lie.

Love

- “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love and to let it
come in” (p. 52).
 - “Love each other or perish” (p. 91).
- “Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.” (p.133).

Morrie recites a quote by his favorite poet, W.H. Auden, to encompass one of his
most important lessons to Mitch: in the absence of love, there is a void that can be
filled only by loving human relationships. When love abounds, Morrie says, a person
can experience no higher sense of fulfilment. Throughout his fourteen Tuesday
lessons with Mitch, Morrie divulges that love is the essence of every person, and
every relationship, and that to live without it, as Auden says, is to live with nothing.
The importance of love in his life is especially clear to Morrie as he nears his final
days, for without the meticulous care of those he loves, and who love him, he would
perish. Morrie clings to life not because his greatest dying wish is to share his story
with Mitch so that he may share it with the world. Morrie clings not just long enough
to divulge the essence of his story, and then releases himself to death, leaving Mitch
and his audience with the message that love brings meaning to experience and that
without it, one may as well be dead.

The Rejection of Popular Cultural Mores in Favor of Self-created Values

- “I remembered what Morrie said during our visit: “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.” (p. 42).
- “The culture doesn’t encourage you to think about such things until you’re about
to die. We’re so wrapped up with egotistical thinks, career, family, having enough
money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it
breaks—we’re involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don’t
get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all?
Is this all I want? Is something missing?” (p.64-65).
- “You can’t substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness
or for a sense of comradeship” (p. 125).

Each of Morrie's lessons contributes to a larger, all-encompassing message that

each individual, Mitch especially, should reject popular cultural values, and instead
develop his own. As Morrie sees it, popular culture is a dictator under which the
human community must suffer. In his own life, Morrie has fled this cultural
dictatorship in favor of creating his own culture founded on love, acceptance, and
open communication. He develops his own culture as a revolt against the media-
driven greed, violence and superficiality which has tarnished the mores promoted by
popular culture. Morrie encourages Mitch to free himself of this corrupt, dictatorial
culture in favor of his own, and it is only when he does that he begins to reassess his
life and rediscover fulfilment.
Acceptance through Detachment

- “Detachment doesn’t mean you don’t let the experience penetrate you. On the
contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That’s how you are able to leave it” (p.
103).
- “Turn on the faucet. Wash yourself with the emotion. It won’t hurt you. It will
help you” (p. 105).
- “If I die in the middle of a coughing spell. . . I need to be able to detach myself
from the horror; I need to say, ‘This is my moment’” (p. 106).

In his quest to accept his impending death, Morrie consciously “detaches himself
from the experience” when he suffers violent coughing spells, all of which come
loaded with the possibility of his last breath. Morrie derives his method of detachment
from the Buddhist philosophy that one should not cling to things, as everything that
exists is impermanent. In detaching, Morrie is able to step out of his tangible
surroundings and into his own state of consciousness, namely for the sake of gaining
perspective and composure in a stressful situation. Morrie didn’t intend to stop
feeling or experience in his detachment, but instead, wants to experience wholly, for
it is only then that he is able to let go, to detach from a life-threatening experience
which renders him fearful and tense. He does not want to die feeling upset and in
these frightening moments, detaches so that he may accept the impermanence of his
life and embrace his death which he know may come at any moment.

Family

- “The fact is, there is no foundation, no secure ground, upon which people may
stand today if it isn’t the family. . . . If you don’t have the support and love and
caring and concern that you get from a family, you don’t have much at all. (p. 91).
- “This is part of what the family is about, not just love, but knowing there’s
someone who is watching out for them” (p. 92).

Because of the woes of Morrie’s childhood years, he came to realization (basing

from what he’s gone through) of what a child would need. He concluded that
youngsters need to be nourished with unselfish love and attention, he himself when
he’s young felt the same urge and wants but his fathers seldom pay them attention. It
is evident in the latter part of the novel of how Morrie impart big time and attention to
his family. His illness hasn’t been a drawback for them to stop the communication,
noting that Morrie’s two sons are working overseas and Morrie’s incapability to talk
well. They still find time despite of the tight schedule and bond as much as chances
are there. The love inside Morrie’s family somehow helps him lengthen his life and
makes him firmer as he faces his death. He once mentioned in the novel during his
conversation with Mitch, “For without love, we are birds without wings.”