When a loved one dies, it may seem like the world is going to end. Although it is emotionally taxing, death never makes that person go away. In Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Mitch was a popular newscaster who was engulfed in modern society. When Mitch saw his former sociology teacher, Morrie, on a nighttime television talk show, he went to his house to reconnect. He found himself visiting every Tuesday to discuss different life lessons from Morrie. Because Morrie had a terminal illness, ALS, he gained a new appreciation for life, making him wiser and more intoned with what truly matters. A major topic portrayed through out this book is death. During one of the final Tuesdays Morrie muttered these words to Mitch, “Death ends a Life not …show more content…
Mitch heard about his uncle when he was in his mid twenties, trying to pursue his dream of being a famous pianist. Mitch admired his uncle so much and had modeled himself after him. As Mitch watched his uncle die a slow death, he felt helpless. After his uncle passed away, he realized that he could die at any moment and he needed to live a more fulfilled life. While Mitch was telling the reader about his past he recalled a specific moment after his uncle died. “After the funeral, my life changed. I felt as if time were suddenly precious, water going down an open drain, and I could not move quickly enough. No more playing music at half-empty nightclubs. No more writing songs in my apartment, songs that no one would hear” (15). He now felt that time is precious, and must be used to its fullest potential, which, at the time, he believed to mean financial success. He earned a master’s degree in journalism and took the first job offered to him. Mitch was determined not to live a boring corporate life and to be successful. Mitch avoided such repetition by taking various journalist positions, and constantly moving from city to city. By the time he gets his job at The Detroit Free Press, he was a success financially, but did not feel satisfied. Because of his uncle’s death, Mitch felt that life is precious and he lived with a sense of urgency. He wanted to be well known and not to be …show more content…
When Morrie was a young boy, a telegram came from the hospital. Since his father, Charlie, could not read English, Morrie had to break the news about his mother’s death. After the funeral he instructed Morrie never to talk about his mother and to hide his emotions. This was a terrible burden on Morrie. Morrie was talking to Ked Koppel, the host of a popular television show, about his mother’s death. He explained his still stinging pain from her death and says, “I wish I’d had a group like yours where I would have been able to talk about my sorrows. I would have joined your group because… I was so lonely.”(71) Because Morrie had to keep his emotions to himself as a child, he felt the need to express his emotions as an adult. Although his father believed that being free with emotions was unacceptable, adult Morrie was very expressive of his emotions. Helping others served as a way to compensate for not being able to help himself. Morrie is so expressive and so open-minded as a teacher because of the loss of his mother at a young age. Morrie made it a point to always express his emotions and encouraged his students to do the same. Morrie is not afraid to cry, hold hands, hug, and show people that he loves them. Because Morrie was not given this affection after his mother died, he longed for the affection as an