I have been reading Tuesdays With Morrie for a few weeks now and I wish it could be on the A.P. exam. Those people taking Death and Dying have to read it before mid-terms and even though I am not finished the book I know why Mr. Ingram chose it. It is all about death and dying.
The book is a first-person recounting of Albom's time spent with Morrie Schwartz, his sociology professor, who in his twilight years contracted Lou Gehrig's disease and was forced to count the days he had left to live. Albom, when he heard about what became of Morrie, had a job as a sports writer and a life of his own. After graduating college he promised Morrie that they would stay in touch. It is not surprising that this didn't happen because Albom as a young man, according to the text, seemed ready to go out on his own and seek his fortune. He forgot about Morrie and it was only by chance that he found out that he was dying. Right now, I am now in the part of the book where the two have "classes" on Tuesdays and discuss different aspects of life and death. Don't worry I did not spoil the ending. I don't even know how it ends!
One of the literary elements of the novel that I am enjoying the most is the flashback. Albom uses it very well in that one knows when the narrator is recalling memories of his college courses with Morrie or when in the story it is the present time. Because of this, the plot is made non-linear, forcing the reader to piece together the narrator's college days and to trace the connections between a particular memory and what was discussed in one of the Tuesday sessions at Morrie's house. One of the best parts of a non-linear plot structure is that it more accurately portrays real life than a nice elegant chain of events. It is not surprising that Albom would decide to write his work in this way because he can be considered part of the post-modernist era, which is known for books made up of disjointed events that may not be in chronological order.
Even though changing the way the plot is expressed makes the book different, the most mind-blowing aspect for me so far is, strangely enough, its philosophical nature. It's as if Albom is going to examine death and dying from every possible angle. I have already seen many things that Mr. Ingram has talked about in class. For example, when Albom saw Morrie on the news and he was talking about the slow and painful death he will have, the narrator commented on how the rest of the world did not seem to take notice of Morrie's plight. There were plenty of people who took the time out of their own lives to see him, but overall it was as if no one cared. I have also noticed aspects of existentialism in the story. The way Morrie spent his last days alive was the "healthy" response to the notion that everyone will die eventually. However, while the rest of us know nothing about how we will die, Morrie knows approximately how long he has and in what manner he will perish. This gives him a huge advantage because although he will not accomplish everything in life he would want to, his carpe diem nature will drive him to make the most out of each minute given to him. Morrie does exactly that, through not isolating himself from the world and through making a difference in others' lives by simply enduring. In this way, he can be seen as a role model in that instead of giving up and asking a doctor to euthanize him, he decides to withstand the pain of having every muscle in his body slowly weaken to the point where it cannot be used again.
I am definitely enjoying Tuesdays With Morrie not just because of what it has to say about death and dying, but also because it contains several lessons for life. All I hope is that I can write intelligently about this book come January when I take the final exam in my death and dying course.
As a side note, I will be reading other books by Mitch Albom and I hope to post my thoughts on them in the near future.
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