Central Ideas In Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie

A book about a teacher with ALS and his student may not seem like a book that would be a bestseller. However, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is an extremely powerful book. No wonder millions have been talking about it. The reason that this book is so successful is because of its central ideas. Throughout Mitch's journey with Morrie, Morrie has shared bits and pieces of wisdom that have been put into the book. These bits of wisdom are the underlying messages that readers take away and find they are changed by. There are three central ideas that Morrie seems to keep repeating throughout the book. The first idea is that the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. In the book, one of the main things
Morrie believes, is that many people in the world are lacking the knowledge of how to love and how to receive love. He states that in life, everyone should learn how to give accept it. Morrie recounts in the book, about how he is so grateful for love. He proves that he is lucky because he has a wife who loves him and who he can love back. She is also able to do things he couldn't ask of anyone else; like, being there with him when he has bad nights. Morrie explains that there is nothing like love and that all people should get the chance to experience it. The second idea is that happiness is the point of life.
Morrie declared that the one goal in life, besides learning to love and give love, was to be happy. As Morrie grew sicker, he came to realize what in life really brought happiness. He found that neither wealth, nor possessions, nor accomplishments brought it; but that love, compassion, and kindness did. Morrie discussed endlessly with Mitch about how everyone had their priorities mixed up. They were putting off love, for a career that makes a lot of money, thinking that their career and money will bring happiness. However, it is the other way around; love will bring happiness, not material items or
money. The third idea is that life needs to be lived to the fullest. Multiple times in the book, Morrie has declared that everyone looks like they are walking around half asleep. No one really knows when they are going to die, therefore everyone should live each day as if it was their last. He explains how everyone just lives to add tasks to their lists of accomplishments. In other words, they are only valuing the destination, not the trip that takes them to it. Morrie wondered if many people, if they found themselves not alive tomorrow, would regret the way they lived their life yesterday. He believed that many would. That was why Morrie always said he was lucky. He reasoned that because he knew he was going to die, he was able to take the time to do anything he wanted to, to tie up any loose ends, and to say goodbye to his loved ones. All three central ideas relate because they are all Morrie's pieces of advice.
They all also deal with life and things everyone should remember and do. One little tidbit was "when you learn how to die, you learn how to live"; that is exactly what Morrie did. Even though he was dying, he realized how people were wasting the precious time they had living. The central ideas are all things that Morrie has learned and remembered that many people lose sight of because they get caught up in their careers and lives. Since they are things that people forget, the book hits home with many. They feel connected and cared about. The book truly is an extension of Morrie. Just as Morrie did when he was alive, he makes the reader feel special. The reader forms a bond with Morrie through the book without having known
him. Mitch Albom was able to portray Morrie and his words of wisdom so well because he used a variety of rhetorical strategies. Through his use of similes, metaphors, diction, syntax and lots of dialogue, he conveys to the reader who Morrie is and what his wisdom is. Mitch recognized the importance of presenting Morrie to the reader before introducing any of his advice. Only after Morrie is developed to the reader and a connection formed, does Mitch start bringing in the central ideas. It allows the readers to start to care for Morrie which is necessary for the reader to accept Morrie's wisdom as truth. Through that way, the central ideas of the book were communicated better than they would have otherwise. Mitch Albom was very fortunate to know Morrie. Morrie had quite the amount of wisdom that needed to be shared with the world. Without the way Mitch developed Morrie, the affect of the central ideas that Morrrie had, would have been weak and lost on the reader. However, the book worked perfectly and many readers will find themselves changes after reading this book.