Is The Use Of Childhood In Mitch Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie

In Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, when readers analyze the young childhood of Morrie Schwartz, an old professor diagnosed with ALS, through the Marxist Literary Lense, readers can understand why Morrie is used to having all the weight on his own shoulders and being independent. When Morrie is telling his past to the Nightline reporter, he states that him and his family were, “uneducated and barely able to speak English, he was terribly poor, and the family was on public assistance much of the time. Their apartment was a dark, cramped, depressing place behind the candy store. They had no luxuries. No car. Sometimes, to make money, Morrie and his younger brother David, would wash the porch steps together for a nickel.” (Albom 74). Readers can see that Morrie had a very poor childhood with his father being a Russian immigrant in the 1920’s-1930’s as this was the time of the Great Depression.

When talking about Morrie’s past and his youth, the author says “At nine years old, he felt as if the weight of a mountain were on his shoulders.” (Albom 75). During the Great Depression, 13 million Americans lost their jobs, and of those 13 million, 62% were without a job for a year or more. Times were desperate for Morrie as a child and he had to work hard as a teen to bring in money with his brother having polio, and his mother not there to help around the house at all. Morrie’s young family would be considered to be the lower class by most standards. When reading these quotes, it shows support for the claim because they represent Morrie’s life of poverty and the large load that he would have to take on and help earn money for their family. Due to this role of independence so early on in Morrie’s life, he was always used to caring for himself and supporting and giving to the others around him, like his ill