What do you think that the author, Mitch Albom, is trying to get across to the reader?

         As Eddie meets five different people in Heaven you realize the author is trying to teach you lessons that everyone can relate to. Eddie's five different lessons are:

1.  "No life is wasted and only time we waste is the time we spend thinking that we are alone."
2. "Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."
3. "No one is born with anger and when you die, your soul is freed from it. But right now, right here, you need to forgive."
4. "Lost love is still love. It takes a different form. Memory becomes your partner. Life ends but love doesn't."
5. "There is a significant reason for every person's existence. Life is entertwined."

          Each lesson quoted was specifically stated at the end of each meeting that he had with the five different people. I think that Mitch Albom did this purposely to make the reader truly understand his point, and have time to think about what he was saying. Any person could pick out at least one of these five lessons and say that they can relate to Eddie's own lessons, I know that I can learn from Eddie lessons in this story.

Did this story lead you to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life that you might not have thought about before?

       This story bought awareness to me that everyone is some how connected in this world. Things we do and say affect not only ourselves, but others around us, even if they are your best friend or a complete stranger. In Eddie's case it was a stranger that he impacted. In Eddie's first lesson in Heaven, he was greeted by the Blue Man.  The Blue man tells Eddie that there are no random acts in life and that we are all connected.

           Eddie and the Blue man were connected because when Eddie was a boy he ran onto the road catching a ball, and the Blue man was the driver who had to slam the breaks in order to avoid hitting Eddie. Eddie ran of safely in the distance, bit the Blue man experienced a huge jolt of adrenaline which forced his heart to pump furiously and because his heart wasn't a strong one, the pumping leaves him drained. The Blue Man felt dizzy and his head dropped, and before he knew it his car was crashed.If Eddie didn't run across the road to catch his ball, the Blue man would probably have lived longer.

           This part in the book made me really think more about life and connections. It made a lot of sense about the connections that the author was trying to get across. This line stood out to me the most when I read this section of the book, when the Blue man said:

"That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind."


         This line puts more of a deeper understanding to the authors point. We aren't separate beings, we are part of this big world full of so many other people. Everything we do and say connects us to people we know and everyday strangers.

How does the main character change or evolve throughout the course of the story?

           The big change in the story was when Eddie finally let go of all the anger he had built up towards his father. His father was a also a worker at Ruby Pier, and he often came home drunk and very angry from his day job. Eddie's father acted out abusively towards Eddie when he was a boy, which caused Eddie to hate his father for ruining his childhood. While Eddie is in the mountain range and meets Ruby, she tells him a story about his father, which causes Eddie to change his views on his father drastically. Ruby says to Eddie:

"Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do it ourselves."

Ruby continues telling Eddie that he need to forgive his father, and reminds him of the lightness that he felt when he first arrived in heaven. Eddie questioned her saying asking where his pain is, and she continues by saying:

"That's because on one is born with anger. And when we die, the soul is freed of it. But now, here, in order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did, and you no longer need to feel it."

This is when Eddie finally let go of his anger and realized, he was finally set free as he forgave his father after years and years of hatred towards him. Forgiving him was hard, but Ruby let Eddie know that forgiveness was needed to be done in order to move onto the next Heaven.

Does the main character seem real and believable?

           The main character and protagonist is Eddie, he is a maintenance man at Ruby Pier amusement park. Throughout the story the reader learns more and more about what kind of person he is through the lessons he learns as he meets five different people in Heaven. At the end of the story Eddie finds out the greater meaning to his life, which was to keep children safe that went to Ruby Pier. Eddie was very dedicated to his job at the Ruby Pier, even though he hated working there. Eddie's character is very believable because he experienced many feelings that so many of us do; feelings of depression from his injury from the War, unconditional love for his wife Marguerite, and anger towards his father for ruining his life after many years of abuse and unacceptable. Another reason why Eddie's character is so believable is because he is simple, he doesn't have a big huge job, and live an unbelievable life. Eddie experiences a life full of hardships and fell in love just like any other normal person would. His life was not extra ordinary, he lived his life and fulfilled his purpose and passed away on his 83rd birthday.

What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel?

           A theme in "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is forgiveness. Eddie had a lot of anger built of over the years because of his father who had ruined his life after many years of abuse. Even after his father had died he still continued to have a deep anger towards him, and it continued to hate him until the day Eddie died. While Eddie is in Heaven, he meets a woman named Ruby at a diner, in the mountain range. She teaches Eddie that he needs to let go of his anger towards his father and forgive him.


              Another theme is love is eternal and happiness that last forever, even to the depressed. Eddy was never the happiest man around especially after all the troubles he had with his father, as well as his injury in the War. Despite his depression, his soul mate, Marguerite always made him happier no matter what. Once Marguerite passed away, Eddy felt alone and upset without her there. The memories he had with her always brought a smile to his face, but he missed her so much. When he is reunited with Marguerite in heaven their love is still the same and he is once again happy to have her around, and he learns that even after he has passed away, their love will always remain the same.

What was unique about the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story?

          This novel takes Eddie to five different settings, but mainly in Heaven. For each setting author describes the place with such detail that it creates a clear image for the reader of what the setting looks like. The first setting in Heaven is at a small amusement park called Ruby Pier. Eddie has been at Ruby Pier for the most part of his life, but he notices that it looks a lot more like the way it did when he was a young child. The Author describes how the amusement park looks simple and the rides were cover in crisp, white paint. The white paint covered on all of the rides that the author mentions could signify Eddie's innocence as a child. Towards the end of the story you notice as new updated and complicated rides are put into the amusement park, Eddie grows older and depressed.

       

       The second setting in Heaven, is a war ground in the Philippians, this is where Eddie fought in the World War II.  The sky changes from a cobalt blue to charcoal gray, and Eddie is surrounded by fallen trees and blackened rubble and there was sounds of bombs and explosions in the near distance. The setting is dark because this is where Eddie becomes injured during the War. The injury is a large part of his depression that he experiences for the rest of his life.

         The third setting that Eddie visits in Heaven, is a large mountain range that seemed to go on forever. The mountains had snow-capped peaks, jagged rocks, and sheer purple slopes. In a flat between two crest was a large black lake, and in a snowy field Eddie notices a diner with a stainless steel exterior and a red barrel roof. When Eddie goes to the diner, he notices that the diner is full of injured costumers from different decades. Eddie meets the woman Ruby, that Ruby Pier is named after, and she tells him that the pier caused her so much pain and suffering, so she wanted everyone else who suffered at the pier to come to this place to be safe and secure. This setting shows Eddie that he was not the only one who suffered at Ruby Pier, but his father and many other people did too.

       The fourth setting in Heaven is where Eddie is travelling through various different wedding receptions of different cultures. Each wedding that Eddie travels through looks much more expensive than his and Marguerite's was. Eddie finds his wife Marguerite, and they walk through more wedding receptions together. Eddie never went to weddings because he always felt uncomfortable so Marguerite missed celebrating weddings with Eddie, Marguerite chose to be around all of the weddings to signify the importance of love.


       In the fifth setting in Heaven, Eddie is at a river with thousands of children playing around. He notices that there aren't any adults, and he is surrounded by only happy and safe children. In this last setting, Eddie finds out the purpose to his life and also the importance of his career, which is to keep children safe. All of the thousands of children could represent all of the many children he kept safe while working at Ruby Pier.
     


           Each setting that the Author, Mitch Albom, introduced has a greater importance and meaning to it. Each of the five different settings was were Eddie was taught a lesson or came to a greater understanding of his life. The author also is very talented at describing each setting which got me into the book to the point where I could not put it down.