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Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet In Heaven

786 Words4 Pages

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom is known for its great amount of symbolism throughout the book. As Eddie, the main character, was killed while he worked at Ruby Pier, before he could go to heaven and live a happy place, he had to meet five specific people. Symbolism is a greater sense of meaning to what is written, beyond what has been described. Mitch Albom uses symbolism to show how each person Eddie meets in heaven impacted him in some way or another. As he traveled through heaven, he met the Blue Man, Ruby, Marquerite, Captain, and Tala. He did not know why these five specific people had so much impact on his life. As the book tells the story of why the Blue Man, Ruby, Marquerite, Captain …show more content…

As Eddie and the Captain experienced the darkness in life while they served in the war together, the Captain had a bigger impact on Eddie than he knew. The Captain explained to Eddie that while serving the war, a person learns that nobody gets left behind. Eddie learned that keeping promises is something is something he was very good at. The Captain promised Eddie that he would make it out of the war alive, and the Captain intended to keep that promise. When there was a fire and Eddie thought he saw a little girl in the building, the Captain shot him in the knee. He knew that if Eddie tried to go into the burning building to save someone who may or may not even be in there, he most likely would not come out alive. The Captain thought that shooting Eddie in the knee was the smartest way to keep Eddie alive. The Captain also taught Eddie that when a person may lose something, the also seem to gain something in the long run. As Eddie may have lost the best use of his knee, he did gain the lesson of sacrifice. Unexpected happenings occur all of the time. A person cannot let these events dictate what he or she does next with their …show more content…

Eddie had worked at Ruby Piers for years. He never really knew the backstory of the pier, but when he met Ruby, it made a whole lot more sense. He was confused at first because Ruby’s time was prior to Eddie’s life. Ruby taught Eddie that forgiveness is key to living a happy life. Ruby also let Eddie know that it is ok to not feel guilty about things for the rest of your life. A person needs to make peace with themself. For example, Eddie felt guilty knowing he left something in the burning building when he was in the war. He knew for a fact something was in there, but he did not know what. He had the guilt of letting something in there burn to death. He had the chance to save it, but before he knew it, he was back home in a hospital bed. Ruby also gave him the lessons of giving and receiving loyalty from others. Knowing that you are loyal and you have loyal people in your life is an easier way to get through the hard

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This depicts the developed paranoia he has due to the losses he has been through and ones that constantly weigh down on him. Eddie jumps to making assumptions about certain situations which all stem from the notion of death, and specifically from the murder of Jesús. In addition, “I felt like crying. All my life everyone was pulling away from me - Father, my mom, Jesús, school friends, and homies who disappeared in three lines of the obituary column” (Soto 143). We see here that Eddie has developed depression over the fact that death has snapped its jaws on his family members and close ones.

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1856 Words | 8 Pages

Ed makes the decision to benefit the living without concern to the fallen, Drew, by drowning his body. As he lets go of Drew’s body he starts to grieve over the way he was leaving his friend to rest and Drew’s family. He describes them as now being “free and in hell” (220). Ed has had a fun ride of being this new person, but he begins to reach a breaking point physically and emotionally. “I was coming slowly up against an absolute limit, but I did not know where it was, or where we would be on the river when I got to it, or what I would do when I did” (221).

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1106 Words | 5 Pages

Five People In Heaven Interview “It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just do not know it at the time” (Albom 1). Eddie recently died by saving a little girl from a ride, but the thing he did not know was that him dying was an end but a beginning. Eddie was eighty-three years old when he died at Ruby Pier where he had worked as a maintenance manager for most of his life.

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822 Words | 4 Pages

Eddie lived a life full of hurt, help, and happiness. Eddie died unexpectedly yet doing what he does best, helping children. He thought his life was a waste, because all he did was work at Ruby Pier. After he went to heaven and met all 5 people he came to the realization that his life was not a waste.

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481 Words | 2 Pages

The third person eddie meets in heaven is ruby. Ruby helps him relieve the anger he feels toward his father. His father was a drunk.his father was violent and hurt eddie in many ways.she teaches him to forgive his father for the way that he hurt him when he was young.a quote from this is “In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you no longer need to feel it.” means to just forget what happened and forgive. The fourth person eddie meets in heaven is Marguerite,

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390 Words | 2 Pages

Eddie is the main character in this novel. He was eighty-three years old when he died. He had a short neck, barrel chest, thick forearms and a faded army tattoo on his right shoulder. Eddie was a worn out, working maintenance man at Ruby Pier. He wore a linen cap over his white hair, rubber-soled shoes and a beige uniform with a nametag on his chest that says, Eddie, and underneath Eddie it says, Maintenance.

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806 Words | 4 Pages

He tries to fit in the western culture. That particular scene gives us an understanding of Eddie’s mindset that he wants to break out of his culture and be like other westerners. Another scene that shows Eddie breaking out of the Asian stereotypes, is when his mother gives him noodles for school lunch. Eddie did not appreciate his Asian-style Noodles because his mates at school believe that his noodles were repugnant. This gives a negative view towards his parents and culture.

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Then he realizes that he was not going to stay with his money when he die. At the end, he helped his employee with a monetary situation. Further, he went to his nephew’s Christmas dinner. Significantly, this novel helps people retrain the meaning of being humble and kind with others. Something that is very important about this novel is that it teaches a lesson of helping others, because you are not going to stay with your money when you die.

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St. Paul of Tarsus has made a huge impact on the Church by showing everyone how a single sinner can be changed by God for the better. Before his conversion, Paul was known as Saul, a tentmaker, Roman citizen, and a persecutor of Christians. Saul traveled to Cyprus and Asia Minor to preach to other Jewish brothers, and he later made three separate journeys to churches all around the Mediterranean Sea. During his journey to Damascus, Saul fell off his horse in a flash of light, and God called out to him, “Why are you persecuting me?” Saul was suddenly blinded, and a man called Ananias cured him and later baptized him.

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675 Words | 3 Pages

Mitch Albom grew up with a family who loved to tell stories. He went from listening to them at the dinner table, to telling them through music, newspapers, and later books. Albom has a very distinct way of writing. Drawing in his experiences and talking about lessons he has learned. The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie have many parallels when it comes to characters and themes.

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Eddie showed no signs of remorse or emotion during the many hours of interrogation. When he talked about the murders and of his grave robbing escapades he spoke very matter-of-factly, even cheerfully at times. At first, everyone assumed that Eddie Gein had been running a murder factory. But during his confessions he made a claim that seemed, at first, almost too incredible to accept. He wasn’t a mass murderer at all, he insisted.

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Guilt is an emotion that comes from believing one was responsible for a particular mistake whether the assessment was accurate or not. (Powell)It can be described as “a bothered conscience” or “a feeling of culpability for offences”. One feels guilty when there is a feeling of responsibility for an action one regrets. (Barker, Guilt and Shame).A wrongdoer must deal with guilt by making atonement- by making reparation and penance. How a person deals with guilt long term is what really affects their future.

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Within his book, Mitch Albom uses three characters, Ruby, the Captain, and Eddie, to teach the importance of three qualities: forgiveness, sacrifice, and acceptance. Ruby teaches about the importance of forgiveness which Eddie takes and applies to his life in heaven. The Captain teaches about sacrifices which helps Eddie to better understand the sacrifices that he made while still alive. Eddie, through his time in heaven, learns the importance of acceptance and uses this lesson to come to terms with the decisions that he made through his life. Traits from each of the individuals join together to help Eddie feel better about himself.

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577 Words | 3 Pages

To start, Nancy Sherman says that people take too much responsibility for what happens under their watch even though they could not have kept it from happening. She says, “One feels guilty despite the fact that he knows he has done nothing wrong”(Sherman 154). Sherman is saying that people cannot forgive themselves for anything that happens in life-or-death situations, even if it wasn't their fault. Nevertheless, they should not feel guilty,

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At first glance, it’s tempting to polarize the difference between Classical “laissez-faire” Economics and Keynesian Economics. My immediate thought is that Classical Economics is a conservative model, leave it up to the individual to do what they will and to shun socio-political engagement when it comes to wealth. On the other hand you have the more liberally oriented spend and engage in order to stimulate the economy model. The polarization happens because of the way politics have branded themselves - Republican or Democrat, small uninvolved government vs a government for the people which may seem a bit socialistic at times. But as you read more, you can really dig into the nuances of both economic theories and see how interwoven financial

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