Tuesdays With Morrie

A Prelude to the Thoughts of Morrie Schwartz

What's on your mind right now? Are you satisfied with your surroundings? Do you wish for a better life? These are questions that we wish to answer but just can't seem to grasp. This criticism paper attempts to find answers to these questions.

This paper seeks to clarify what makes the novel Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom such a success amongst its readers. This paper is not a pamphlet wherein you may find frequently asked questions and their answers but this paper serves as a guide to discovering the thoughts of Morrie Schwartz and what the readers of the novel have to say about him and his precepts. The paper may not affect you much after reading it but I'm hoping that It will make you understand things a bit more as this question is discussed: "What feature of the novel essentially makes it compelling for readers?"

While searching for answers I shall be using the reader response approach to literary criticism since this paper requires thoughts and opinions of others. With this method I shall come up with surveys that answer several questions that were discussed in the novel and also opinions on certain topics that I wish to emphasize in this paper. This approach allows me to go beyond the barriers and get the outlook of others about the novel.

Experience is what connects us with others

The very personal tone of the novel Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom is essentially influenced by the author's purpose for readers to establish a direct connection with its main characters.

The book is subtitled "An old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson". The book is about a young man who loses his way (Albom), and the old man who makes him realize this (Schwartz). How did Albom lose his way? After college graduation (1976, Brandeis University, Massachusetts) he promised to keep in touch with his professor but never did. Then his favorite uncle, 44, died of pancreatic cancer and Albom suddenly felt time was precious. "No more playing music at half-empty nightclubs," he writes. "No more writing songs in my apartment, songs that no one would hear. I returned to school. I earned a master's degree in journalism and took the first job offered... (16)" In other words he became focused and successful.

The novel also discusses various topics that we all experience and in this paper I would like to focus mainly on life, work, community, relationships, aging and death. Discussing these usual topics make the novel something that everyone can relate therefore people enjoy getting information from here and they learn a few things that they didn't know before reading the novel.

Everyday Life

The novel is a clear expression of the unseen aspects of common themes that influence the understanding of human life.

"You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now (120)." This quote basically represents the whole of this claim. Our lives are always filled with questions and regrets that we try on making our lives perfect and we end up not enjoying our existence. The novel is simply about life and death since that is a consequence of living. The novel covers insights about the world, pity, regret, death, family, emotions, the fear of aging, money, love, marriage, culture, forgiveness, the perfect day and saying goodbye. These topics help us understand more about ourselves and others.

The big villain for Morrie would have to be our culture. "The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it (42)." For Morrie our culture would be like the air, much of which is polluted. Since you can't live without breathing, you end up breathing pollution.

A Deeper Look

The discussion of the novel as a clear expression should rest primarily on a thematic analysis of its content and composition.

As a result of my surveys I have discovered that most of the readers of