Themes Or Life Lessons -Tuesdays With Morrie

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Description of Key Characters Morrie Schwartz Morrie, to whom the title of the novel refers, spent most of his life as a sociology professor at Brandeis University. He continues to teach as long as he can even after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He realizes that he is slowly dying and learned to accept his death; he wanted to share his philosophies on the meaning of life, with the world. He is successful in two ways, through the “Nightline” show with Ted Koppel and through Mitch Albom and the novel Tuesdays With Morrie. One of Morrie’s signature characteristics is his ability to draw genuine emotion and spirit from everyone he befriends. Morrie believes that love and compassion are crucial methods of communication. He is determined to see Mitch return to his caring self that he was in college when in Morrie’s class. During their meetings, he tells Mitch stories about his life and about his personal beliefs. Through their weeks together Morrie is also successful at drawing emotion out of Mitch; during their last lesson, as they are hugging goodbye, Morrie sees Mitch begin to cry. Morrie is adamant about rejecting pop-culture norms and values and maintaining his own. He has learned to accept his death and manages to continue offering love and compassion until he dies. Morrie also accepts and does not become ashamed of his disabilities. This is evident in the lines ("Take my condition. The things I am supposed to be embarrassed about now — not being able to walk, not being able to wipe my ass, waking up some mornings wanting to cry — there is nothing innately embarrassing about them. It's the same for women not being thin enough, or men not being rich enough. It's just what our culture would have you believe. Don't believe it."). When Morrie becomes so sick and can no longer do his daily tasks himself and has to depend on others, he

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