In Mitch Albom’s, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the author centers the story around Eddie’s life, beginning with his death. “It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time” (1, paragraph 1). The most important thing in this story that we must all understand is that although we may not know it, somehow our lives all have a common intersection. “No story sits by itself. Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river (16, paragraph 8). 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. The Blue Man tells Eddie the story of a young boy, and how that young boy darted out into the road in front of a man, causing him to have a heart attack and crash. He realizes that the man was The Blue Man and the boy had been himself. The Blue Man tells Eddie that he must understand “That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than... ... middle of paper ... ... to all the children that entered Ruby Pier. They all knew that they would be safe because they had someone watching over them, like an angel. Eddie had been the children’s angel. Everyone Eddie met in heaven taught him something about his life. They were all connected to him in different ways, whether it was someone close to him once, or a complete stranger. Somehow, all of their lives had crossed Eddie’s and helped make him the person that he had become. When you think about this lesson, you truly understand. One decision causes an effect, maybe on your life or maybe on someone else’s life. That effect will cause something else. It’s what I think of as a ripple effect. Everything happens for a reason, and all of the events that lead up to our “now” makes us who we are. Works Cited Albom, Mitch. The Five People You Meet in Heaven. New York: Hyperion. 2003.
In the same scheme, both in the movie and the book, the father is presented as abusive and alcoholic on many occasions. In words, the book gives a detailed account of the damages inflicted on Eddie by his father’s violence: “he went through his younger years whacked, lashed, and beaten.” (Albom 105) In the film, t...
Recently he met this girl who had knew a few answers to the question he is searching for. Eddie is on a dangerous path to his investigation,but he is determine to find the killer. After his cousin is killed, Eddie's aunt pressures him to avenge her son's death. Eddie drops out of City College and works odd jobs, all the while wondering about this, the latest of the senseless killings that have become a fact of life within the community. A run of unlucky breaks adds to his frustration as he is completely caught up in the violence he disapproves
The Vietnam War in the late 1960’s was described as a tragedy, a victory, a win, and a loss, but for whom? The millions of people who loss their lives or the millions of people who fought to save others or is it for the millions of people who had to make that decision every time that they were in battle, but as for Richard Perry, a seventeen-year-old, African American just out of a Harlem High School, had to ask that question solely to himself. Perry, a talented and bright young man put away his dreams of college and becoming a writer because of the unfortunate circumstance he is in. He lives in poverty in the slums of Harlem. His single mother is abandoned by her husband and this leaves Perry and his younger brother Kenny without a father and a second income. Therefore, Perry’s mother does not have enough money to send him to college and the money they did have went to her alcohol problem. Although Perry has the grades and potential to go to a community college he is unsure about his plans in life and feels that money is the source of all his problems (Myers 15). Perry believes he should join the army to escape his future, to get money and to make it up to his younger brother and mother, and he does just that, He gets enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1967, due to a failure to process his medical file correctly leading him to not receive a medical discharge, Perry gets an unexpected ticket to the Vietnam War. In Fallen Angels, the major subjects include the history in The Vietnam War and war itself, Perry’s self discovery in war and the moral vagueness of war is represented. The themes of Friendship, Innocence and Racism are all reflected in the book. Friendship reflects the bond that Richie makes with Peewee Lobel, Lieutena...
... 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!”
Michael MacDonald’S All Souls is a heart wrenching insider account of growing up in Old Country housing projects located in the south of Boston, also known as Southie to the locals. The memoir takes the reader deep inside the world of Southie through the eyes of MacDonald. MacDonald was one of 11 children to grow up and deal with the many tribulations of Southie, Boston. Southie is characterized by high levels of crime, racism, and violence; all things that fall under the category of social problem. Social problems can be defined as “societal induced conditions that harms any segment of the population. Social problems are also related to acts and conditions that violate the norms and values found in society” (Long). The social problems that are present in Southie are the very reasons why the living conditions are so bad as well as why Southie is considered one of the poorest towns in Boston. Macdonald’s along with his family have to overcome the presence of crime, racism, and violence in order to survive in the town they consider the best place in the world.
“Their harmony by now was a perfect one” (423). Eadith/Eddie has found the way to love h/er mother, which is to be Eadie’s daughter; “She longed to caress her mother, regardless of the embarrassment she would probably cause them both” (423). Eadie also accepts her daughter’s love and asks Eadith/Eddie to go home with her; “…we could live together. I can see us washing our hair, and sitting together in the garden to dry it” (425). Eadie says “…now that I have found her Eadith Eddie no matter which this fragment of my self which I lost is now returned where it belongs” (431-432).
Tuesdays with Morrie is an inspiring tale in which Mitch, a young man struggling with the concept of a meaningful life is given a second chance, and a new outlook on life when he meets his past teacher, Morrie. They quickly renew the relationship they once possessed in college. Morrie becomes Mitch’s mentor, role model and friend once again. This time around, however, the lessons are on subjects such as life, love, and culture.
...nitched to the immigration? they spit on him in the street? The whole neighbourhood was cryin?.? However, after Eddie has finally broken the code in a desperate attempt to get Rodolpho out of the house, we lose sympathy for him, in the same way that Red Hook?s Italian community loses respect for him after his betrayal of his cousins becomes clear to them.
Eddie, not knowing whether he had saved the little girl, had died and now he was in heaven. He felt no pain or sadness. He was just floating over fields of unimaginable colors. When he finally landed, he was at Ruby Pier, but it was the Ruby Pier from his childhood. He then heard a voice over the loudspeaker saying there was a freak show at a certain ...
No matter how hard society tries to achieve the perfect life, it does not always go as planned. It doesn’t matter if the characters are bored and depressed, confused and guilty, or virtuous and lucky; the gradual path of version A is not always in reach. Atwood states near the end of the short story, “You’ll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it. Don’t be deluded by any other endings, they’re all fake, either deliberately fake, which malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality. The only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die” (690). The idea of this short story is not the fact that every one dies, but with the eventful memories that can make the life worthwhile. The author says, “So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun. True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with. That’s about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what. Now try How and Why” (690). This short story forces the readers to question the meaning of life. Every story has the same ending, because very life has the same ending. Life is exciting because of the experiences that can lead each individual onto their own path in life. The how and the why are the inspirations, the feelings, and the interpretations that the reader goes through as they make their own way through version A. Be adventurous and make memories because the story isn’t in the ending; it’s in what’s done on the way
The storyline has been expanded by Louise’s dirty song, when they had come from the funeral of Floyd, which makes me wander why the author —August Wilson arranges the characters to act so clam that Louise still is in the mood of singing and Red and Canewell squabble with each other for a piece of pie after experiencing the lost of their closed friend. Except Vera, who is Floyd’s lover, asks others whether they have seen six angels take Floyd to the sky, the rest of the characters ask Vera for beers and talk about letting the same reverend who appears in Floyd’s funeral preach their funerals as well in a casual tone. Why do they act like nothing bad have happened? Are they trying to conceal their sadness or they accustomed to facing the lost of their friend? These question occupied my mind, while ...
Upon hearing this Eddie feels awful and asks why the blue man died instead of
Eddie decided to leave for the warfare after his 18th birthday, he went through several horrifying events and the tragedy of the war, but is able to come home alive. Following the war he came home injured, because in Eddie’s last night of war he is shot in the knee. The bullet got wedged in between bones and even after surgery, Eddie is told his leg is permanently injured. Consequently, this became a enormous moment in Eddie’s life. Resulting the loss of his ability to properly use his leg Eddie began to see the world and his life as painful. Moreover, he lost everything when he lost his leg, and he came out of that hospital a changed man for the worse. Nevertheless, he never knew how he is shot until he got to heaven. The second person Eddie meets in heaven is his captain from when he was in the war. Proceeding his meeting with the captain, the captain reveals that “‘…I was the one…who shot you’” (p.86). Eddie reacts in a normal manner when he is exposed to this evidence, he is filled with abhorrence, irritation, fury, and sorrow. “’My…leggggg!’ Eddie seethed. ‘My life!”(p.88). Throughout the novel, Eddie has always blamed his leg from stopping his dreams. It is his leg that prevented him from becoming an engineer, leaving Ruby Pier, and doing almost any activity he once enjoyed. Continuing to think about his leg Eddie realized “His running was over…worse, for some reason, the way he used to feel about things was over too. He withdrew. Things seemed silly or pointless. War had crawled inside of Eddie in his leg and in his soul” (p.85). If it isn’t enough that he is shot in the leg, that night another memory has always haunted
In Eddie's life he had a purpose and rules to live by, although he didn't realize it until after he died. Several people had an influence on Eddie. They were able to teach Eddie how to love through death, forgiveness, and the ability to have a purpose in life. While he thought his life meaningless and regretted several things, his mind changed after visiting heaven. Throughout his whole journey, the best thing Eddie was able to learn was that no matter what happens, you can always forgive.
The play was set in the nineteen fifties so Eddie would be told by me