Tuesdays with
Morrie
A potentially life
changing project
Fall 2014
OUTLINE OF STUDY
• DAY 1: Presentation of novel, introductory
questions
• DAY 2: Online work
• DAY 3: Project presentation
• DAY 4 through15: Reading, working, block
discussions
Starting somewhere
• Can you name someone that has left a positive imprint in
your life? What has this person done to leave this mark?
• How would you deal with the eventual loss of this individual?
• What would you want people to know about this individual?
How would you go about sharing this information with
others?
To understand and to answer these questions is but the
beginning in comprehending the impact Morrie Schwartz has
had in the life of Mitch Albom. It is also important to
understand that expressing your ideas clearly will be of order
for this study. Never assume that what is left unspoken is
known.
Online preparation
• Research the author of the novel, Mitch Albom:
→offer a short biography, including published works
→offer interesting details found from your readings
• What is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS),
commonly know as Lou Gehrig’s Disease? Offer a
brief description of the illness.
• Situate the following on a map of the United States
(to be printed and kept in your possession):
Brandeis University, Mass.; Harvard, Mass.;
Waltham, Mass.; West Newton, Mass.; Detroit,
Michigan.
Reading breakdown:
•
•
•
•
•
•
BLOCK 1 - pp.1-31
BLOCK 2 - pp.32-66
BLOCK 3 - pp.67-97
BLOCK 4 - pp.98-129
BLOCK 5 - pp.130-159
BLOCK 6 - pp.160-192
Block discussion preparation:
• On designated block discussion
days, you are to have read and
answered the items that appear in
the slides for each block.
BLOCK 1 pp.1-31
• Dedication (brother: Peter)
• Contents: format (resembles what?)
• The Curriculum: explaining the context
of the novel
• Flashback: why use?, graduation (3-4)
• The Syllabus: the context, the discovery,
the progression, the prognosis, the
‘living funeral’(12)
BLOCK 1 pp.1-31 - cont.
• The Student: update since graduation,
motivation to ‘succeed’, measuring
success, fate?(17)
• The Audiovisual: part 1 of ‘Nightline’
(1995), Morrie’s work with Ted Koppel
• FLB: parallel structure (first class 1976)
(24-25)
• The Orientation: Sixteen year lapse,
glimpse of Mitch before the last class
BLOCK 1 pp.1-31 - cont.
• FLB: freshman year, ‘coach’ (30-31)
BLOCK 2 pp.32-66
• The Classroom: Morrie’s popularity, ‘What
happened to me?’, barrage of questions (34),
dying vs living unhappily (35), the ‘test’,
internal conflict with promise made (38)
• FLB: buying books, concept of tension of
opposites….love always wins (39-40)
• Taking attendance: Wimbledon, deaths in the
last decade, ‘cocoon of human activities’ (43),
England allows introspection, union strike, set
up meeting with Morrie
BLOCK 2 pp.32-66 - cont.
• FLB: Sophomore year, talks, Morrie becomes
fatherly figure to Mitch (46-47)
• First Tuesday (the World): How to help
Morrie, familiarity, Morrie’s outlook on
dependency, connection to others (50), Mitch
is uncomfortable with emotion, significance of
Tuesdays (51), Levine: ‘Love is the only
rational act.’
• FLB: ‘silence’ test, Morrie’s revelation (53-54)
BLOCK 2 pp.32-66 - cont.
• Second Tuesday (Feeling sorry for yourself):
700 mile flight, the bell, mourns for himself,
no self-pity, help, the need to do something
• FLB: junior year 1978, Group Process,
deception of the eyes (60-61)
• Third Tuesday (Regrets): Sony tape recorder,
Morrie wants story to be heard, the need to
stand back, the need for teachers (65),
Mitch’s list on the flight back (66): things he
wanted to know about = PART A of work
BLOCK 3 pp.67-97
• FLB: senior year, suggestion of honors thesis:
sports, tension of opposites (67-68)
• The Audiovisual: part 2, familiarity between
Morrie and Ted, progression, loving
relationships maintain him, Maurie and
Morrie, letter and the loss
• The Professor: flashback to Morrie at 8,
David’s polio, arrival of Eva, responsible for
Morrie’s love of education, how teaching
came to be his choice
BLOCK 3 pp.67-97 – cont.
• Quote – Henry Adams (79)
• Fourth Tuesday (Death): Mitch’s list; first item
(66), almost Labor Day, oxygen machine,
knowing vs. believing, Morrie a religious mutt;
Buddhist principle – little bird on shoulder,
learn to die/learn to live, Mitch needs spiritual
development (bottom 83-84), answers letters
from ‘Nightline’; readings.
• FLB: Lou Gehrig’s good-bye speech (88-89)
(June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941)
BLOCK 3 pp.67-97 – cont.
• Fifth Tuesday (Family): first week September;
Morrie’s first in 35 years not teaching, family=
spiritual security, need to have children (93),
pains him to leave them, contrast between
Mitch and his brother, Peter’s bout with
pancreatic cancer; his victory at a cost to his
family, parallel with Morrie
BLOCK 4 pp.98-129
• FLB: near death slide with Peter (98-99)
• Sixth Tuesday (Emotions): surprised to see
Charlotte, help - reality settling in, Tuesdays
have a sense of purpose, coughing fits at
night, increase in medication, detaching from
the experience → nothing is permanent (104),
metaphor with tears, serenity sought
• FLB: reincarnation as a gazelle (108)
BLOCK 4 pp.98-129 – cont.
• The Professor, Part Two: flashback to
Morrie’s first post-Phd job, his major findings
(110-111), arrival at Brandeis pre-sixties,
Abbie Hoffman
Jerry Rubin
Angela Davis
BLOCK 4 pp.98-129 – cont.
• The Professor, Part Two: (cont.) faculty was
involved (examples?), career skills vs
personal development
• FLB: cultural views on dying (114)
• Seventh Tuesday (Fear of Aging): Morrie now
completely dependant, Morrie reverting to
infanthood, love of human touch, give and
take, billboards → pressure of looking young,
aging as growth, Morrie is all ages (120)
BLOCK 4 pp.98-129 – cont.
• Verses from W.H. Auden (122)
• Eighth Tuesday (Money): we value the wrong
things (Ted Turner), good day, materialism as
a substitute for love, want vs. need, give time,
understanding part B of your work is
explained on pages 126 through 127
• Gandhi (129)
BLOCK 5 pp.130-159
• Ninth Tuesday (Love Goes On): Fall
(significance in literature), attempt to
communicate with Peter, further progression
of illness, aphorism (131), fear of being
forgotten, getting Mitch to cry (think of my
voice), tombstone (134), being fully present,
dealing with traffic, FLB to Morrie’s dad,
learning from his father’s death
• FLB: South American tribe (Desana) – fixed
quantity of energy (141)
BLOCK 5 pp.130-159 – cont.
• Tenth Tuesday (Marriage): Janine, intuitive
kindness, surgeon story, tension of opposites
at Morrie’s request, context (147), marriage
as a test, rules (149),
• FLB: Book of Job
• Eleventh Tuesday (Our Culture): humour
even in dire circumstances, selfconsciousness disappearing, must choose
big things for yourself (155), create your own
culture, shortsightedness is the problem,
BLOCK 5 pp.130-159 – cont.
• Eleventh Tuesday (Our Culture): - cont. need
for others, always, O.J. verdict → significance
socially, culturally → significance to Morrie
• FLB: basketball game (159)
BLOCK 6 pp.160-192
• The Audiovisual: part 3, third and final visit,
farewell nature, getting to Koppel, letting go of
outside world, latest aphorism (162), six
month span between three episodes, final
words, speaking with God
• Twelfth Tuesday (Forgiveness): forgive
yourself - then others, anything to make
Morrie happy, story of Norman (pride),
tension of opposites (167), revelation, only
fear is saying good-bye
BLOCK 6 pp.160-192 – cont.
• FLB: place of burial, Tuesday people, after
death → you talk, I’ll listen (169-170)
• Thirteenth Tuesday (Perfect Day):
preparations, constant coughing, death as
part of the deal, HIBISCUS, what seperates
humans from animals and plants, last
recorded sentence (174), experimental drug,
no going back, important questions (175),
Morrie’s perfect day (175-176), talk of Mitch’s
brother
BLOCK 6 pp.160-192 – cont.
• FLB: story of the wave (179-180)
• Fourteenth Tuesday (Say Good-bye): details
on final Tuesday, bedside visit, life in the
beard, saying good-bye (184-185), satisfying
Morrie
• Graduation: Morrie died on Saturday morning
(November 4), coma, final breath, the service,
the first talk…..the day it was (service)
• FLB: E.E. Cumming’s poem (189)
BLOCK 6 pp.160-192 – cont.
• Conclusion: applying lessons from Morrie,
never too late in life, finally reaches brother,
where some money from the book went,
thoughts on teachers (192), circular construct
(see 1).
–The teaching goes on.