Introduction
The story Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom is considered to be a biographical story disclosing the real-life of sociologists. The novel was written in 1997 and gained recognition as one of the most significant works of the literature world. The work is devoted to the disclosure of human and social aspects of life through relationships between the student and professor.
The author managed to highlight the principle concepts of humanity such as feelings, social struggles, and death. He strived to disclose the power of love and underline the meaning of death in human life making the story provoking and impressive.
Analytical Analysis
The novel under analysis depicts the renewal friendship of the professor and his former student; their relationships are based on the philosophical studies and views of Morrie on human life, moral and ethical values being centralized in modern society.
The theme of love and social respect is considered to be the central one in the novel. Through the characters’ behavior, the author stressed the importance and significance of giving back, no matter what one means, whether it is our feelings of respect. Morrie tried to deepen into the sense of love and death trying to explain that everything should be perceived as an integral part of the human natural process of life. The meaning of life lies in our inner harmony with personality and society. According to the professor’s words, people are to learn to love each other to take the feelings of others and give personal love back. The novel is focused on the disclosure of social values which form our happiness and true harmony with the community. Morrie, having a deep experience of life and relationships stated that people’s happiness can not be reached through material wealth taking a significant place in modern social life. (Kass, 2002)
It is important to stress that the story is deeply based on the psychological study of the human inner world. The idea was to illustrate the importance of giving efforts, emotions, and time to others to live in a happy cloudless world. The concept of death described in the novel is shown as the natural process of human existence.
“Death ends a life, not a relationship.” (Albom, 2002)
The professor tried to explain that death never put the end to human values such as friendship or feelings; it is only the end of life, the inevitable process reached by everyone at a particular moment.
The relationships between the protagonist of the story Morrie Schwartz and the former student Mitch Albom, are built on social experience and knowledge that the professor tried to transfer to the colleague. The story is abundant in the number of metaphorical expressions allowing the readers to understand the deep sense of human psychology.
“The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” (Albom, 2002)
It is necessary to state that the principle idea is to show the place and role of love for human society rather than depict the concept of death as the basic concept. The analysis of the characters’ behavior allows seeing the benefits of love and friendship leading them to harmony and personal satisfaction. According to Morris love should be expressed not only to close people but to humanity in general. As a matter of example, the author shows that in a moment of death Morrie is not lonely but with those whom he gave his care and love over his life. (Hawkins, 2002)
The whole novel is the process of learning new values and principles of life by Mitch Albom. Certainly, the meaning of life was also reflected through the motives of Buddhism and Christianity touching the aspects of death sense.
“When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” (Albom, 2002)
Morrie tried to explain the ways of preparing for death through the philosophical aspects of Buddhism study. It should be stressed that the professor’s vision of life was followed by the principles of philosophical positions where one should live every day as if it is the last one. Such world perception is shown to illustrate the unimportance of material values which can be lost at any moment, unlike love and friendship which will last forever.
“We are too involved in material things, and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.”
The author tries to describe the significance of family harmony in the life of every person. He states that family is the background of our happiness; it is family that lasts forever because family relationships are the deepest among all human feelings. Family is presented as the only “spiritual security” protecting every person from loneliness and self-destruction.
Morrie and Albom got one more chance to renew their former relationships, to be more exact they received the last chance. The experience of the professor and his philosophical vision is focused on the opportunities to transform everything on his colleague to leave the gift of constant happiness. The novel depicts the fact that everyone should follow only his values rather than spend his personal life on the principles of popular culture otherwise the person will never reach happiness. Morrie stated that everyone has the right to the personal choice of how to live what values to build up but it is important to appreciate the ethical norms of the society and remember the principles of morality. (Kass, 2002)
The death of the professor made Albom change his vision on life and evaluate moral values given to every person. The novel sticks to the point that our world is built according to the principles of social and ethical norms to be observed in every social group. The author concentrates on the point that our society should live according to the principles of morality and ethical standards.
One more theme raised in the novel is devoted to the professor’s struggle with the disease of being ill with ALS. The difficult form of this disease led him to death changing his perception of the world. Morrie suffered muscles degeneration in legs and arms resulting in muscular dystrophy. Death was inevitable and the awareness of this fact made Morrie stick to Buddhism philosophy and start preparing for death. One can only imagine the difficulties of life with the awareness of soon death, though it did not break the strength and spirit of the professor due to the care and love he got from close people surrounding him. (Hawkins, 2002)
The story appeared to be deeply philosophical examining the sense of life and way to happiness. Morrie stated that human life is the process of constant analysis and people are always to look back and think about their actions performed. People in the modern world are never concentrated on the things which they regretted and this is the greatest mistake of humanity. Mistakes examination allows coming to awareness of the real truth of actions to perform in the future.
The death of the professor caused several new feelings and views on his existence and the role he performs the society. Friendship with the professor showed Albom that their life perception was considerably different and he was far from the moral norm and ethics supported by Marrie. Nevertheless, after the death, Albom made a different look at the surrounding world and came to the understanding of the greatest values given to the person. He agreed with the metaphorical expressions of the professor that love is the most significant feeling and should be taken as well as give back to humanity in the process of life. Love is the background of family relationships and true friendship leading to happiness.
“Without love, we are birds with broken wings.” (Albom, 2002)
The power of love being centralized by the author made the story appealing and thought-provoking. It showed the process of learning human values through which people have an opportunity to reach true happiness and complete harmony with the society they live in.
Conclusion
The novel Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is deep philosophical learning of moral values existing in society.
The author managed to illustrate the sense of life and the meaning of death at the same time stressing that everything in the world is based on the principles of mutual respect given not only to close people but to the whole community. It should be noted that Morrie’s vision on the society and human psychology of modernity contradicted his world perception where he never stressed the importance of material values and wealth but pointed out the significance of feelings and emotions being the background of true human happiness.
References
Albom, Mitch. 2002. Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson. Broadway.
Hawkins, A. H. 2002. Reconstructing Illness: Studies in Pathography. 2nd Edition. Purdue University Press.
Kass, Amy. 2002. The Perfect Gift: The Philanthropic Imagination in Poetry and Prose. Indiana University Press.