Analyzing Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie
Saherish Surani
Pre-AP English 2
Mrs. Martinez- 6
6 November 2014
Tuesday with Morrie
Essay Topic 2
Draft #6
2. The theme of a piece of literature is its central idea or message. Using a short story or novel that you have read this year, explain the theme of the piece and how it reflects human nature and society today.
TITLE
“Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good” (124). In today’s society, the materialistic attitude of humans is inevitable. In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom exemplifies the life of his old disease-stricken, dying, college professor: Morrie Schwartz. But, Tuesdays with Morrie isn’t a story of death; rather it’s the story of life. To Morrie, …show more content…
costly cars and cutting-edge computers, plush properties and paychecks weren’t what life was about; he believed that living life to it’s fullest meant devoting yourself to loving others, to your community, to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning, and embracing culture while sticking to personal values (127).
The desire to be wealthy is a part of almost every American’s idealistic dream.
But does wealth bring happiness? In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald wrote of characters that truly believed that money will buy them happiness, yet Morrie Schwartz believed quite the opposite. Albom writes of how Morrie believed that money was just a mere supplement to life; having love and compassion and creating relationships of these components was the key to happiness. Albom tries to teach us that these supplements don’t provide true happiness and the only genuine way to live life is by living for affection and adoration rather than capital and material subsidiaries. Morrie Schwartz could count his remaining days on his fingers, yet he did not change his attitude. He did not go out and splurge on a new phone or concert tickets, instead he spent his days loving those around him and creating irreplaceable memories: “…the TV was the same old model, the car that Charlotte drove was the same old model, and the dishes and the silverware and the towels—all the same. And yet the house had changed so drastically. It had filled with friendship and family and honesty and tears… It had become, in a very real way, a wealthy home” (126). Morrie preaches to love openly with a full heart, and to learn when to hold on and when to let go, when to love and how to care. Wealth does not have to be material. Wealth does not have to define success. Wealth does not have to define happiness. Love and compassion, family …show more content…
and friendship define happiness, yet most people aren’t able to see it like Morrie did.
A greed for money and artificial joy defines human nature.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing” (Oscar Wilde).
In today’s money-oriented society, value has been lost. Morrie says to value relationships and happiness with what is given, instead of the unfulfilling perception in tangible items or status. The constant barrage of a cynical, materialistic and entitlement based culture makes it hard to maintain perspective in today’s society. Many people become so entrapped and caught up in the material aspects of the world, that they lose sight of what is actually important. Mitch Albom did. After he graduated, Mitch could no longer hear Morrie’s message. He began to let his idealistic values take over as he drifted away from the values of relationships and happiness. As he finds his way to back to his old professor, Mitch rediscovers himself. He learns that he, too, became so caught up in the media and society’s values, that he lost sight of his. Mitch, like society today, was sucked into the world of consumerism and the poison that it yields: “I was part of the media thunderstorm that now soaks our country. I was in demand” (16). Mitch thought that he was producing success, and that success ultimately lead to happiness, but Morrie reveals otherwise. He illustrates to Mitch how his ardent definition of happiness is unfulfilling, and how culture’s deceptive poison has been packaged as nourishment, meaningfulness and life itself, when it was none of those things (128). Morrie outlined how American
culture was damaging for a person’s soul in various ways, he stated, “People are only mean when they’re threatened, and that’s what our culture does. That’s what our economy does… and when you get threatened, you start looking out for only yourself” (154). Morrie believed that in order to embrace culture, stick to personal values, and make the world a better place, all humanity has to do is “invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and love you” (157). It’s hard to have empathy or sympathy for people who are trapped in such selfish societies, pity is scorned, and being open-minded is almost a foreign concept.
Morrie preaches to build communities of love and understanding without cloistering oneself from the world outside. Tuesdays with Morrie stresses the belief that people should focus on life as whole rather than what they have in it, because as Aristotle once said, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Works Cited
Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie. N.p.: Broadway Books, 1997. Print.
Pre-AP English 2
Mrs. Martinez- 6
6 November 2014
Tuesday with Morrie
Essay Topic 2
Draft #6
2. The theme of a piece of literature is its central idea or message. Using a short story or novel that you have read this year, explain the theme of the piece and how it reflects human nature and society today.
TITLE
“Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good” (124). In today’s society, the materialistic attitude of humans is inevitable. In Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom exemplifies the life of his old disease-stricken, dying, college professor: Morrie Schwartz. But, Tuesdays with Morrie isn’t a story of death; rather it’s the story of life. To Morrie, …show more content…
costly cars and cutting-edge computers, plush properties and paychecks weren’t what life was about; he believed that living life to it’s fullest meant devoting yourself to loving others, to your community, to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning, and embracing culture while sticking to personal values (127).
The desire to be wealthy is a part of almost every American’s idealistic dream.
But does wealth bring happiness? In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald wrote of characters that truly believed that money will buy them happiness, yet Morrie Schwartz believed quite the opposite. Albom writes of how Morrie believed that money was just a mere supplement to life; having love and compassion and creating relationships of these components was the key to happiness. Albom tries to teach us that these supplements don’t provide true happiness and the only genuine way to live life is by living for affection and adoration rather than capital and material subsidiaries. Morrie Schwartz could count his remaining days on his fingers, yet he did not change his attitude. He did not go out and splurge on a new phone or concert tickets, instead he spent his days loving those around him and creating irreplaceable memories: “…the TV was the same old model, the car that Charlotte drove was the same old model, and the dishes and the silverware and the towels—all the same. And yet the house had changed so drastically. It had filled with friendship and family and honesty and tears… It had become, in a very real way, a wealthy home” (126). Morrie preaches to love openly with a full heart, and to learn when to hold on and when to let go, when to love and how to care. Wealth does not have to be material. Wealth does not have to define success. Wealth does not have to define happiness. Love and compassion, family …show more content…
and friendship define happiness, yet most people aren’t able to see it like Morrie did.
A greed for money and artificial joy defines human nature.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing” (Oscar Wilde).
In today’s money-oriented society, value has been lost. Morrie says to value relationships and happiness with what is given, instead of the unfulfilling perception in tangible items or status. The constant barrage of a cynical, materialistic and entitlement based culture makes it hard to maintain perspective in today’s society. Many people become so entrapped and caught up in the material aspects of the world, that they lose sight of what is actually important. Mitch Albom did. After he graduated, Mitch could no longer hear Morrie’s message. He began to let his idealistic values take over as he drifted away from the values of relationships and happiness. As he finds his way to back to his old professor, Mitch rediscovers himself. He learns that he, too, became so caught up in the media and society’s values, that he lost sight of his. Mitch, like society today, was sucked into the world of consumerism and the poison that it yields: “I was part of the media thunderstorm that now soaks our country. I was in demand” (16). Mitch thought that he was producing success, and that success ultimately lead to happiness, but Morrie reveals otherwise. He illustrates to Mitch how his ardent definition of happiness is unfulfilling, and how culture’s deceptive poison has been packaged as nourishment, meaningfulness and life itself, when it was none of those things (128). Morrie outlined how American
culture was damaging for a person’s soul in various ways, he stated, “People are only mean when they’re threatened, and that’s what our culture does. That’s what our economy does… and when you get threatened, you start looking out for only yourself” (154). Morrie believed that in order to embrace culture, stick to personal values, and make the world a better place, all humanity has to do is “invest in the human family. Invest in people. Build a little community of those you love and love you” (157). It’s hard to have empathy or sympathy for people who are trapped in such selfish societies, pity is scorned, and being open-minded is almost a foreign concept.
Morrie preaches to build communities of love and understanding without cloistering oneself from the world outside. Tuesdays with Morrie stresses the belief that people should focus on life as whole rather than what they have in it, because as Aristotle once said, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Works Cited
Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie. N.p.: Broadway Books, 1997. Print.