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Reading Response for I.S.U.The Five People You Meet in Heaven

by Mitch Albom

by Steve HallENG3U

for Mrs L. Wickett04/22/13

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Current place in novel – pg 91/196 (47%)

IntroductionWritten by Mitch Albom in 2003, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, covers the taboo

subject of life-after-death, and what really happens after you make that jump. Albom's idea of this is portrayed in this fictional novel. According to this narrative, after you pass on, you meet five people who have already deceased that have influenced your life in a significant way. They share with you why they were such significant influences, and teach you a lesson, before you move on to your heaven, which is your paradise in which you feel most comfortable, and get to spend the rest of eternity.

AnalysisChapter 1 – The EndIn the first chapter of my novel that I am reading for my ISU, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, by Mitch Albom, the reader is immediately introduced to the main character, Eddie. It is Eddie's 83rd birthday, and he is at work at Ruby Pier, where he has spent his entire career. It is blatantly stated in the second paragraph that this chapter is covering the last hour of Eddie's life on earth, giving an explanation to the title of the chapter, “The End.”Character development begins in this chapter for the main character, Eddie. His physical appearance is described, as well as his morals and values and personality. He fits the stereotype of “grumpy old man,” yet it is also stated that children at the amusement park, Ruby Pier where he is employed, like him, and enjoy his company. We are also told that Eddie had just been diagnosed with shingles, however this is irrelevant at this point. The author, Mitch Albom, uses paragraphs to flip back and forth between time periods. He does this to foreshadow events, or give background information before something is revealed in the narrative.For example, after a paragraph detailing some of the events taking place during Eddie's last hour of life, the author flips back to a time a couple months prior to this day, giving a lengthy and in-depth story of how a young man loses his car key at Ruby Pier. This seems very randomly placed, and the reader wonders why the author chose to share this story, at this moment in time. For myself, I was intrigued and wanted to keep reading. You find out a few paragraphs later that a ride is falling apart because the car key that had been lost by this young man, a few months prior, has been caught in a ride and has been slowly wearing down the cable holding up the carriage patrons ride in. This carriage ends up falling, landing on Eddie, resulting in his death.The author also makes reference to Eddie's wife, who has since past away at this point in Eddie's life. He explains in small detail how they met, and the concept of a “true love snapshot.” This is what the author refers to as, the moment it is realized that the person you are spending time with is your true love, a snapshot is mentally taken, and you hold it with you throughout your entire life. For Eddie, his “true love snapshot” was walking down Ruby Pier with his girlfriend, who would become his loving wife, Marguerite.This is also an event foreshadowing something Eddie will learn from the first person he

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meets in heaven. That young man had no clue that carelessly keeping his car key in the pocket of his coat, which he had tied around his waist, would result in the death of a man just a few months later. Eddie will learn in heaven that something so small that he had done as a seven year old child would result in the death of a man as well.This was the first chapter I read in the novel. Looking back in my notes as I am writing this personal response, I am realizing exactly how much Mitch Albom uses foreshadowing throughout his story.

Chapter 2 – The JourneyIn this chapter, Eddie is making his journey to heaven. The author using very descriptive writing with a lot of sensory components to explain Eddie's journey to heaven, such as the fact he is floating through a color spectrum. Eddie also has a flow of thoughts running through his head. He died pushing a girl out of the way, and he is worrying about whether or not the girl survived. I thought this chapter was cool, because of the level of description Mitch Albom uses as he writes Eddie's journey to heaven. I have never pondered the thought of how one travels to heaven, and because of the detail the author went into to describe Eddie's journey, I was able to paint a picture in my imagination of this event. This is an example of imagery.Since Eddie died on his birthday, at the end of every chapter, the author writes about a birthday Eddie has long since celebrated. At the end of this specific chapter, the author writes about Eddie's 5th birthday. He uses the motif, “Today is Eddie's birthday” and always starts the flashback with this in bold, larger sized text. The reader might wonder, “What is significant about Eddie's fifth birthday?” but I think that the significant fact about creating a flashback to this specific birthday is that Eddie shares a close bond with his mother at the end of the paragraph where she holds him in her arms and tells him that “God is very proud of him because he is special and for being such a good boy on his birthday.”

Chapter 3 – The ArrivalThis chapter is covering the events that happen after Eddie's arrival in “heaven.” He finds himself in a Ruby Pier that he had last seen 75 years ago – a young park, if you will. He wanders around and discovers the Freak Show tent, that had been closed down many years ago. In the text, he writes about what he remembers of the freak show, and through his memories, the reader sympathizes with the performers in the freak show; pathos.At the end of this chapter, the reader and Eddie are introduced to the first person Eddie meets in heaven – a performer from the freak show with blue skin.

Chapter 4 – The First LessonEddie is very confused, because he did not know this blue man, let alone remember him. The effect of pathos is continued through this chapter. As the blue man shares his story with Eddie, Eddie and the reader sympathize with the blue man. I truly felt bad for him while reading his story. The lesson he is teaching Eddie is that all lives are connected,

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and something that may be insignificant in your life might be very significant in the lives of others.But why is this man teaching Eddie this lesson? In a chapter previous, the flashback at the end of the chapter was to Eddie's 7th birthday, where he received a baseball. This was foreshadowing the blue man's death. When the blue man is telling Eddie how he died, he explains that a young boy jumped in front of his car to get his baseball that had been accidentally thrown onto the street. The blue man hit the brakes abruptly, and hit his head, causing a concussion he later died from. The young boy who had jumped in front of his car, had in fact, been Eddie. The insignificant event in Eddie's life, which was running across the street to grab his baseball had been a very significant event in the blue man's life, which caused his death. When reading this, my mouth literally dropped. This is when I began to fall in love with this novel. No other book I have read in the past has made me think so deeply about life as this one has.

ConclusionThis is currently as far as I have read in my novel. So far, I have loved how descriptive

the writing is. The characters develop at a rate that is quick enough to keep the reader interested, yet slow enough to sink in with the reader. Many literary devices are used, such as foreshadowing, pathos, imagery and others that make it a fascinating and moving novel to read. I have found it extremely hard to put down. I would highly recommend this novel.

BibliographyAlbom, Mitch. The Five People You Meet in Heaven. New York: Hyperion, 2003. Print.

O’Mara, Margaret, PhD. “How to Write a Reader Response Paper.” Washington University Resources: http://faculty.washington.edu/momara/Reader%20Response.pdf. Web.