Symbols In The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Mitch Albom’s book The Five People You Meet in Heaven uses sentimental objects to convey the theme. Sentimentality is something everyone has, whether it's for a person, place, or an object. These objects or places are special to people beyond their actual worth usually due to nostalgia. The main character, Eddie, has a total of five of these sentimental objects in his bureau. After he passed, an attorney was sent to his house to find bank statements but all he found was his bureau filled with all of his sentimental objects. The attorney thought of these objects as rubbish but he was wrong because it symbolizes important events in Eddie's life that have impacted him in many ways. Those objects were the chinese menu, an army letter + medal, and

When Eddie was young, he met a girl named Marguerite who he eventually married. Since they weren’t wealthy, they married on christmas eve in a chinese restaurant. At the end of the story, after Eddie’s death, at age 83, the attorney finds this menu which Eddie kept all these years. Eddie kept this menu because it symbolizes his strong love and marriage with marguerite. Eddie's love for marguerite was so strong that after she died Albom writes that their love was “irreplaceable” and “once she’d gone, he let the day go stale he put his heart to sleep” (156). Since he loved her so much, he never loved again. In fact, Eddie remained alone for the next 36 years because he never felt such a strong connection/bond again. This reveals the theme that love is more meaningful than money, which proves that the attorney is wrong because the menu symbolizes a strong marriage and

The deck of cards is a reminder to Eddie of his father. The reason the deck of cards symbolizes his father is because of his drinking and gambling addiction. This addiction led him drunk and angry most nights. Sometimes he would wander into Eddie and his brothers room and take his anger out on them. Over many years his father had damaged him and his brother in many ways such as neglect, violence, and silence. Although Eddie's dad sounds like a terrible father, Eddie has always looked up to him. “Eddie privately adored his father, because sons will adore their fathers through even the worst behavior. It is how they learn devotion. Before he can devote himself to God, or a woman, a boy will devote himself to his father, even foolishly, even beyond explanation.” (106) This shows no matter how terrible a father may treat his sons they will always look up to him. Eddie’s situation was a perfect example of this because after everything he has been through with his father he still kept his deck of cards. Proving even still after many years of his fathers passing he has still adored him. This conveys to the theme of the story that Sons will always look up to their fathers. This proves once again that the attorney is wrong because The deck of cards symbolizes Eddie's devotion set towards his