Charley Benetto In Mitch Albom's For One More Day

Life-changing events does not have to be too tragic or too jovial; even events that we regard as trivial or insignificant can be life changing for other people.

The interesting fact is each and everyone has different response towards these events; some might react positively towards a negative event, while some might react negatively towards a positive event. The best exemplary to showcase this issue is Charley Benetto, the main character in Mitch Albom’s For One More Day. Charley Benetto was a man from a broken family. Growing up with a father that sells alcohol for a living caused him to inhibit drinking habits, which partially became a reason of his seperation between his own wife and daughter. Things got worse when he received news about

Furious, Charley went on a drunken rampage and drove recklessly. He was involved in a car accident and fled to his old hometown, where he met his ‘dead’ mother for one more day. As he went along the reminisce path with his imaginary mother, he discovered tons of revelations of his sacred past and learnt from the things that he could not perceive by his own. In this moment, Charley was able to change from the negligence, the guilt, the arrogance and the falsehood that he beared throughout his life to embroid and embrace appreciation, acceptance, humbleness and integrity.

First and foremost, before Charley met his imaginary mother, he was drenched in negligence. During his mother’s birthday, he paid little attention towards his own mother and rather focused on his ‘on-and-off’ father’s request to play for a baseball team, and came back home with completely sombre news about his mother. His negligence was immensed after he fell in

He felt insulted as his career status of a salesman is downgrading his social mobility; the main cause of his dispirited attitude towards work. He even belittled his mother’s work as a cleaner, stating how humiliating to sweep people’s floors. Conversely, after he met his phantasmic mother, he became more humble. People were talking about his suicidal act and degraded him as beneath them, but he did not give a speck of concern. He learnt that life could be better without always doing boisterous things to look good in front of people. His mother’s humbleness has motivated to become a virtuous person and mimics his mother’s divine qualities. Moreover, he was overwhelmed with guilt prior the appearance of his imaginary mother. The feeling of worthlessness and guilt etched itself to him and suck the life out of him – having to blame all the misfortunes happened to everyone around him as his fault. The mistreatment towards his mother, the ignorance of his wife and kids, the departure of his father from the family – he rained all the blame upon himself. Meanwhile, he wa able to learn to accept the truth after the event; his father’s double life and his mother confessing her undying love towards him had given him a closure to stop the blaming and the feeling of guilt.

He became more accepting as he digest all the truths that his mother able to reveal during the ephemeral voyage