Summary
Tuesdays with Morrie is a novel that captures the final lesson between a college professor, Morrie, and one of his long lost students and the author of the book, Mitch Albom. After seeing his professor in an interview on the show "Nightline," Mitch is reminded of a promise he made sixteen years ago at his graduation to keep in touch with his beloved professor. Now as Morrie lays immobile, stricken with ALS, Mitch comes to the realization that he does not have much time left to reconnect with his mentor. In a last ditch effort he leaves his demanding job as sports reporter and travels from Michigan to Massachusetts to meet with him. This initial visit, intended to be farewell driven by his guilt, goes inspiringly well and affects both Mitch and Morrie so much that they continue to meet for the next fourteen consecutive Tuesdays, up until Morrie must say his permanent goodbyes. During each of these meetings, they discuss a different topic about life. These topics make up the content of the book and include death, love, culture, marriage, regret and the world we live in, among many others.
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Major Themes
Death Love culture
This is very prominent in the novel as the story revolves around Morrie, a elderly professor who is suffering from a fatal disease called ALS. It is through this unfortunate experience that Morrie and the audience becomes familiar with death itself. He spends his valuable time left to teach people about his journey to the end of the road, rather than be consumed by his own fears.
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The relationships Mitch has with Morrie and his girlfriend express the undeniable emotion of love. Mitch, suffering from creating relationships within his life, he has allowed his work career to slowly envelope all his free time. This has caused him to lose track of the necessities of love and force him down a path that is full of regretful thoughts. It isn't until he develops his love for professor and life itself that he finds his way out of his dismal past and creates a positive future that is full of love.
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With each Tuesday that Mitch and Morrie meet, their personal interpretations of how to correctly approach life are discussed (mostly consisting of Morrie thoughts). It is through these discussions that the audience learns the importance of not falling into the negative trap of societal norms, and to allow oneself to find their own path which is different from others, but more importantly that this path incorporates love.
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Faviote Quote
“If you hold back on the emotions - if you don't allow yourself to go all the way through them - you can never get to being detached, you're too busy being afraid. You're afraid of the pain, you're afraid of the grief. You're afraid of the vulnerability that loving entails. But by throwing yourself into these emotions, by allowing yourself to dive in, all the way, over your head even, you experience them fully and completely. You know what pain is. You know what love is. You know what grief is. And only then can you say, “All right. I have experienced that emotion. I recognize that emotion. Now I need to detach from that emotion for a moment”(104).
Living a life that is concealed from the world, being consumed by fears, one is unable to experience life as it is truly meant to be lived. Running from these unavoidable emotions, only further prevents one from achieving a happy life. It is these emotions that spark growth and give us wisdom through the journey of existence. However this leap into accepting the effects of emotion requires a learned courage that many people have not fully developed. Such as Mitch's in his previous state of mind, he sacrificed his self contentment and avoided emotion to obtain forms of success within his career, so much that he lost track of the important values in life. It wasn't until visiting with Morrie that he regained a sense of peroneal connection and learned to take that leap towards emotion, rather than trying to go through life remaining unaffected by its influence.
Living a life that is concealed from the world, being consumed by fears, one is unable to experience life as it is truly meant to be lived. Running from these unavoidable emotions, only further prevents one from achieving a happy life. It is these emotions that spark growth and give us wisdom through the journey of existence. However this leap into accepting the effects of emotion requires a learned courage that many people have not fully developed. Such as Mitch's in his previous state of mind, he sacrificed his self contentment and avoided emotion to obtain forms of success within his career, so much that he lost track of the important values in life. It wasn't until visiting with Morrie that he regained a sense of peroneal connection and learned to take that leap towards emotion, rather than trying to go through life remaining unaffected by its influence.