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critical review of tuesdays with morrie
tuesday with morrie analysis
critical review of tuesdays with morrie
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Have you ever thought about how you would die? I'm sure you hoped it was a
quick, painless death. For a man in his seventies it was a slow, time-consuming death. He
contracted a life destroying disease, ALS. However, for this old timer, he saw it rather as
a blessing then the work of the some invisible force. He thought it was serendipitous.
Serendipity plays a life-changing role in Tuesdays with Morrie because this element of
accidentally finding good luck transforms Mitch Album from a materialistic workaholic
to a sincere human being; it also helps Morrie Schwartz pass along his story before it's to
late.
I'm sure everyone has or will have a serendipitous moment in his or her life. It's
just all in how you look at it. Morrie contracted ALS but sees the better side of his disease
that slowly consumes your body. "I'm on the last great journey
" (33). He knows he's
going to die yet he sees the bright side of it; which is that unlike most deaths, were you
just die, he gets to say good bye to all of his loved ones. There is a lot of serendipity in
this life-moving book. Mitch taking Morries classes in college started the whole chain
effect of serendipity. Many people were serendipitous in this book. Not only was Mitch
lucky to catch his old college professor on the television, but us as readers benefited from
learning Morries lessons for and about life.
In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch was the character with the most serendipitous
Moments. From the very start he was lucky he just didn't know it. The biggest
D. Hoffman 2
serendipitous moment had to have been when Mitch was flipping through the channels.
to be executed. “He asked the prison authorities to let him die if he went into cardiac arrest
and the life he knew was now gone . All he could do now was cry , the only way he knew
talk of a man who has the will to live. Up until the last nanoseconds of his execution, he
Morrie Schwartz was Mitch Alboms college professor more than twenty years ago. We are first introduced to Morrie while Mitch is flipping through the television channels and suddenly hears Morrie’s name. Mitch had not heard from his from professor for years and had not tried to get in touch with the professor, so the news he heard next from the screen was a shock. Morrie Schwartz, his college professor had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Scierosis or (ALS) an incurable and fatal disease that takes over your nervous system. It is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after a famous baseball player who fell victim to it.
The comparisons--North vs. South, city vs. country, technology vs. nature--are numerous and have been well documented in 20th century literature. Progress contrasts sharply with rooted cultural beliefs and practices. Personalities and mentalities about life, power and change differ considerably between worlds... worlds that supposed-intellectuals from the West would classify as "modern" and "backwards," respectively. When these two worlds collide, the differences--and the danger--rise significantly. This discrepancy between the old and the new is one of the principal themes of Gloria Naylor's Mama Day. The interplay between George, Ophelia and Mama Day shows the discrepancies between a "modern" style of thinking and one born of spirituality and religious beliefs. Dr. Buzzard serves as a weak bridge between these two modes of thought. In Mama Day, the Westernized characters fail to grasp the power of the Willow Springs world until it is too late.
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.
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...
With the threatening reality of Morrie’s illness looming overhead, Mitch must learn from him just how necessary it is to live life to the fullest. Mitch was living an empty life, a life lacking fulfillment and love. Morrie explained this in a quote “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things.” He also explained, “The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Morrie helps Mitch lead a life consisting of love and happiness rather then material possessions. Morrie taught Mitch to live with the key ingredients of happiness and gave him understanding about what those ingredients are, and how to make them apart of his life.
had repeatedly come close to death in the war and in surgery and believed that he would
Morrie was given the opportunity to discuss his fears regarding his impending death. He was granted love and company in his final days. He was able to reach to Mitch to show him the importance of living. Mitch is shown life in a new perspective, without having to suffer the consequences of being terminally ill. He is given the knowledge of what it means to live a successful life. I believe both parties think they benefited themselves more than the other.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ASL), Lou Gehrig’s disease, a brutal, unforgiving illness of the neurological system with no known cure.
something as devastating as he did. He didn't back down or crawl into a hole, but instead asked,
Death is depicted as an individual’s affair, in which, neither one’s closest friends or closest blood relatives can give a hand in. Upon receiving the tragic news Everyman first approaches his friend Fellowship. At first he is hesitant to reveal his sorrow to Fellowship for he considers it too tragic a plight. After cajoling and assurances by Fellowship to stand by him in whatever situation, Everyman finally pours out his sorrow to Fellowship. Upon realizing that Everyman has been summoned by death, fellowship turns his back on Everyman ...
Morrie speaks these words of advice to Mitch during their eleventh Tuesday together, when they talk specifically about culture. Gradually, Morrie has come to accept his physical handicaps, just as he has come to accept his impending death. He complains that the culture is wrong to deem natural physical need as socially embarrassing, and thus he refuses to believe that his handicaps are shameful. In rejecting the values of the popular culture, Morrie creates his own set of customs, which accommodate the physical shortcomings popular culture finds disgraceful and embarrassing. As Morrie sees it, popular culture is a dictator under which the human community must suffer. He has already suffered enough from his disease, and does not see why he ...
problems. He realizes that it is time he put his life back on the right track.