The Five People You Meet in Heaven
You are going to die, and death is inevitable. There is nothing you can do stop it. One day… Poof. You’ll be gone. But that doesn’t mean that your existence is over. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom gives meaning to life after death. Throughout the book the protagonist Eddie goes from a state of emotional trauma to being forgiving and kind. This is shown through Eddie’s thoughts and interactions with the world. Eddie’s changes during The Five People You Meet in Heaven illustrate the theme of being able to redeem yourself.
The book begins by counting down to the end of Eddie’s life. After this, Eddie meets five different people in heaven. Some he knows very well and some he does not know at all, but all of them had an impact on his life. The first person he meets is the blue man, who was killed by Eddie. The next person he meets the captain from his army days, who saved his life. After person he meets is his abusive father. After that it is his wife Marguerite. Then it was the girl that Eddie killed in war.
At the beginning of the book the protagonist Eddie is depressed and angry. This clear when the book states that “He stayed indoors. He rarely even spoke to Marguerite”(Albom 108). Isolating himself from all other people is a typical symptom of depression, this shows how depressed Eddie was. An example that shows this is shown by the quote, “Joe was the oldest, the firstborn, but it was Eddie who did the fighting”(Albom 4). This example demonstrates how Eddie did a lot of fighting when he was younger, which makes this a great example of how angry Eddie was when he was younger.
As Eddie meets the five different people in heaven he gradua...
