Mitch purpose for writing this book was to help pay for his old professor, Morrie Schwartz, medical bills. Morrie’s wife was not financially stable to pay for all the expenses. Another example is to help teach people what love and compassion means, and that is love and compassion is the key to a person’s satisfaction. These two things give meaning to life.
The main setting for Tuesdays with Morrie was in Morrie’s house, though there were some instance in the novel that return to the university where Morrie worked and return to conversations he had with Mitch in his office on campus still most of the novel takes place in Morrie’s house. The story took place in Morrie’s house. His house was located in West Newton, Massachusetts. Mitch describes this city as a quiet suburb of Boston.
Tuesdays with Morrie is a true -life story told mostly in a first -person narrative by Albom, the author and one of the main characters. There are several flashbacks to Albom’s college days, but they are still related in Albom’s first person voice. The point of view is effective because of, again, the reflective capacity. Morrie teaches Mitch about how to live life in the face of death, this same lesson is what the readers learn as well.
Yes, the author developed more than one theme, the story reflected on topic such as love, family, aging and dying. These are examples of the themes; the brevity of life, Morrie was once a lively and vibrant scholar, but now he is sick. By reflecting in the shortness of life, Albom begins to appreciate Morrie’s claim that once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. Another theme is quirkiness and individuality, it is the process of developing one’s own sense of self.
Albom introduces readers to Morrie as a free-spirited professor who was never afraid to march to the beat of his own drum. He describes Morrie as a cross between a biblical prophet and a Christian elf. For Morrie, the art of living entails being true to oneself, rather than trying to fulfil other expectations. Another theme is pursuit of passions, in college Morrie encouraged Albom to pursue his passions rather than fortune.
Albom regrets that he did not follow the advice. In college, he wanted to become a singer. At the beginning of the memoir, he confesses, “I traded a lot of dreams for a bigger paycheck, and I never even realized I was doing it”. But when he met his former mentor, his perspective changed. Morrie encouraged Albom to make more time for pleasure and spiritual enrichment. Morrie recalls he always made time for passions like, dancing.
The genre of Tuesdays with Morrie is memoir. A memoir is a story based on someone’s personal experience. Tuesdays with Morrie is a memoir because it is a story on Mitch Albom’s personal experience. It is written from Mitch’s point of view and tells of his experience in talking with Morrie.
The tone of Tuesdays with Morrie is mood. The mood is mostly solemn because we know from the beginning of the novel that Morrie is dying. We can feel Morrie’s positive personality at times when is joking with Mitch. And we can also sense more of a light-hearted tone, more like a narrative voice.