Essay on Tuesdays with Morrie

Due Last Day of class

Choose one of the following topics and write five pages developed from the question. Please quote at least five times from our book, Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom.

a. On Death
“Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” (82)

The book, Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom is devoted to the last days of a college professor and one of his former students. It is mainly a meditation or discussion about death and gives several examples of how people experience death, including Morrie’s mother and father, Mitch’s uncle, and of course Morrie’s death. Compare what the various stories tell us about how people die in this culture. Look at your own experience of death, either people you have known, the images from the media and the news, your reading and tell me what your attitude is toward this difficult subject. Is it useful for us to have book on this subject?

b. Choose a theme.
“But there still seemed to be no clear answers. Do you take care of others or take care of the “inner child”? Return to traditional values or reject tradition as useless? Seek success or seek simplicity” Just say No or Just Do It? … All I knew was that my old professor wasn’t in the self-help business. He was standing on the tracks, Listening to death’s locomotive whistle, and he was very clear about the important things in life.” (65-66)

This book, Tuesdays with Morrie, has many themes in it, including marriage, aging, culture, parenting, forgiveness, family, love and friendship. Choose a theme and discuss it. How does Mitch and Morrie present this theme and how do you makes sense of it. Do you see it the same way that they do. Use your experience and observations to talk about why this theme is an important notion to understand for our happiness, our fulfillment, and for our success. Be sure to make it clear what Morrie and Mitch’s point of view on one of these matters might be.

c. On Education
“No books were required, yet many topics were covered … The last lecture was brief only a few words…. A Funeral in lieu of graduation.” (1)

The book, Tuesdays with Morrie, is a course that is taught in a new way. Is this a good model for education and why? What is education supposed to accomplish in our lives? Look at the experiences you have had in education and think about what has failed you and what has worked for you. What is the foundation for success in this course? Is it that the student seems to structure the education, that the themes are so crucial to Mitch and Morrie, that the source is so authoritative and that the lessons are based on true life experience? What makes this kind of education work, at least for Mitch, and why do so many other models of education fail? I think you will perhaps include some thoughts developed from an earlier essay on the purpose of education.