Week 5- Part 2

Mitch came to visit Morrie (the 10th Tuesday). Mitch brought along his wife Janine. The disease had just begun to hit Morrie's lungs. He was almost on full oxygen through the night, and eating mostly liquid supplements, and eating it through a straw. This Tuesday they talked about marriage. Morrie explained that in Mitch's generation people are getting divorced more often than before. People are either too selfish or rush into marriage and end up getting divorced quickly. The next Tuesday (the 11th Tuesday), the talked about culture. The disease has taken over more of his lungs. Morrie explained to Mitch about culture, about how people are only mean when they are threatened. Night Line had came back for the third and last interview, and the 12th Tuesday they had talked about forgiveness. He explained that people need to forgive other people and yourself. Forgiving yourself about the things you didn't do, and not to wait to start forgiving people.

Reaction:

My reaction to this section of reading is that this is very sad. Morrie is decaying quickly. When they had started this television interviews about a little bit after he had been diagnosed with ALS, he was still able to eat real food, and now the disease had hit his lungs, and all he is eating is liquid supplements. That happened in six months. When it progresses to the lungs, he will not be able to breath, and then he will die. He used to be able to dance and move around, now he is stuck in his chair or bed. He can not walk and lift his arm above his halfway up his belly. It is sad what ALS does to people’s body. The conversations that Mitch and Morrie have are really interesting, like how he said to Mitch that people not only have to forgive other people but also themselves.

Week 4- Part 2

This part of the reading is about Morrie and Mitch's conversations. They talk about the found fear of aging, money, and about how love goes on. Aging, a common fear of many people, but Morrie explains to Mitch that aging is not only growing older, but gaining more knowledge. People who were wishing that they were younger, really haven't found the meaning of life. Morrie also explains money. People don't need money to be happy, but people think that they do. Morrie said that when he died he would want all his family around him, because he didn't want any phone calls and telegrams about his death like how he and his family learned about his mother's death.

Week 4- Part 1

'"Everyone knows they're going to die," he said again,"But nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently."'- Mitch Albom (81) Tuesdays with Morrie. I find this is important because it is the truth. Just like the quote says everybody is going to die, but they do not believe it, and if people knew when they were going to die. They would do more things in life. Maybe travel, or just do things differently. Morrie knows he is going to die, and it is important to the book, because it helped a conversation about death. He knows and he is doing things differently because of his body decaying, if he did not know about his death or his disease, he would probably be doing different things than he is.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly reflection

I both liked and disliked The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought the book was good because it was a good story about the struggles he went through, with the nurses and having them not being able to understand him, and how he felt being trapped in his own body. I also thought that the book was bad because of the randomness.
I thought the book was good because it was interesting about how he wrote the book. How he tried to get along with his nurses and doctors, and about how he tried to communicate. The book was good because of the describing of his everyday life. He tried to describe his everyday life like his food that he gets through a feeding tube, and other things like his daily baths.
I did not like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I thought that it was random. I could not understand it because in one section he would be talking about present day, and then he would talk about a dream and it was never clear to me when he changed tenses. He talked about dreams then go into present day then past life and experiences. It seemed odd to me about the changes in the tenses. I also did not like the fact that he would talk about moments in his past life or a dream that did not seem clear why they were in the memoir. I wished that he (Jean-Dominique Bauby) explained more about his dreams or his experiences that he put in the book. I thought the book was a too random.

Week 3, Part 2

The book’s strengths are that it’s a good story. The weakness is that I thought there would be a little bit more about Morrie getting sicker, and what the disease is doing to the body. This book relates to my life because a family friend just died this summer from ALS, and its sad about what the disease does to people. I think this is a very sad book. I predict that Morrie is going to die very soon in the book.

Week 3, Part 1

Mitch visits Morrie. He wants to record his conversations on a tape recorder, so he can have his life lessons. Mitch wrote down a list of the subjects that he wants to talk to Morrie about. They are death, fear, aging, greed, marriage, family, society, forgiveness, and a meaningful life. Nightline had came back and did another interview/story on Morrie. Morrie talked about his childhood. His mother died when he was young. His father was in and out of work, his brother got sick with polio. They were poor, and he was trying to figure out a job that he would make money, and never had to live being poor again. He decided that he could not be a doctor, or a lawyer, and he decided that he wanted to become a teacher. Morrie discussed death the fourth tuesday he had came to visit.

Mitch Albom was raised in Philadelphia. He graduated from Brandeis University. He has written 9 books. Two of his books (Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven) have been made into movies. Also Tuesdays with Morrie has been made into a play.

Albom, Mitch. Mitch Albom.com. 2006. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://www.albom.com/biography.html>.

Hartlaub,Joe. Authors on the Web. Donadio, Tom, Emralino, Marisa. 2003. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://www.authorsontheweb.com/features/authormonth/0309albom/albom-mitch.asp.asp>.

Picture-

http://www.authorsontheweb.com/images/authors/120w/albom-mitch.jpg

Section 2 Summary

Mitch goes back to visit Morrie, every tuesday. Mitch is still on strike. He travels cross country to see Morrie every Tuesday. Morrie is getting weaker and weaker and can barely lift his arms above his shoulders, and eating is now more of a challenge than before. Mitch and Morrie talk and discuss old college days, life, and feeling sorry for yourself and the world.
It is kind of odd that he traveles across the country to talk to Morrie for a couple of hours. It is also sad the Morrie is getting weaker and weaker and when Mitch lifted him up from the wheelchair to his recliner, he is mostly dead weight and just felt dead to Mitch.