The novel “Tuesday with Morrie” was about this prominent doctor of sociology who taught at Brandeis University in the city of Waltham, Massachusetts. The novel was basically about Morrie and how he developed “ALS”, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as the Lou Gehrig’s disease. An illness of the neurological system. After reading the novel “Tuesday with Morrie” and then watching the movie there were a lot of comparison and contrast between the two of them.
In the novel and the movie Mitch Albom, who was one of Morrie’s student in college considered Morrie his favorite professor and had referred to him as “coach,” the way he used to address his high school track coach. Morrie liked that nick name that he started to refer Mitch as his player. They had a very good relationship from the very beginning.
When Morrie first realized that there was something just not right with him he was tripping a lot, having trouble catching his breath, along with a lot of other things. One of the signs were seen in the movie and read in the novel, Morrie was in his car and went to back up and then when it was too late to realize it he could not lift his foot to put on the break. He then put the car into park, went to get out of the car and fell to the ground. He could not walk. He had at that point had to quit driving his car. In the novel Morrie had seen several doctors and had several tests ran. Morrie and his wife Charlotte went to the neurologist’s office after the test results were back and he broke the news to them that Morrie had “ALS”. That there were no known cure and that Morrie was going to eventually die. Morrie had stated and aphorism in both the novel and the movie that “ALS is like a lit candle, it melts your nerves and leaves your body a pile of wax”. ALS begins with your legs and works its way up. You lose control of your thigh muscles, so you cannot support yourself standing; you lose control of your trunk muscles, so you cannot sit up straight. By the end you will be breathing through a tube with a hole in your throat. Morrie had to decide whether he wanted to wither up and disappear or make the best of his time left. He decided to make the best of his time left.
When Mitch first found out about Morrie dying, this occurred in both the movie and the novel, he was flipping through the channels on the TV and caught Ted Koppel, a host of ABC-TV’s “Nightline” show, stating “ who is Morrie Schwartz and why by the end of the night are so many of you going to care about him.” Mitch went numb.
Mitch went to see Morrie. He found a way to get away from work. In the movie it showed Mitch got fired from his job and in the novel it read that Mitch’s company went on strike.
Mitch ended up spending time week after week with Morrie. They made it on Tuesdays, both movie and in novel. Morrie made it out of a learning experience with life for Mitch. Mitch made lots of notes and taped there visits to write a thesis on Morrie and his life. Each time Mitch went to see Morrie he brought him food. Mitch new how he liked to eat. In the movie Charlotte “Morrie’s” wife stated it was getting harder for Morrie to eat solid food. The refrigerator was filled with food Mitch had brought previous weeks. Mitch said he wanted to contribute something. He felt helpless.
Mitch had a girl friend named Janine. Janine appeared a lot in the movie compared to the novel. Mitch did eventually take her to see Morrie. Morrie and Janine really have some special moments. One of them was she had sang a beautiful song to Morrie that brought tears to his eyes. Morrie really enjoyed her company.
Morrie talked a lot in the movie about his step mother and how she taught him and his brother learning material from school. She had sangs a lot to Morrie and his brother. She taught them how there could be love in the house. The movie and the novel showed how their father did not act like a father. Never gave them any attention.
Morrie asked Mitch if he was going to cry when he died. Morrie states “we must love one another or die.” In the movie Mitch did end up breaking down and crying. Mitch wondered how he would talk to Morrie when he was gone and Morrie said you can come up to my grave and talk to me. Mitch said you won’t be able to talk back and Morrie said “ok you talk and I will listen. It was shortly after that Morrie past away. All his friends and family was with him as far as the novel. In the movie they all stepped out of the room and then he passed. In the movie Mitch got the call of his passing. He was not there. He died on Saturday and was buried on Tuesday.
Tuesday with Morrie was a wonderful, heart felting book to read. There were a lot of lessons that Morrie had taught not only Mitch but also readers about how to love, and cherish what you have. He taught you how not to give up on life and to live life to the fullest as much as you can. He also taught you how to forgive yourselves and then forgive others before it is too late. Comparing the novel against the movie. Both of them showed different views of Morrie, Mitch and all of the other family and friends. I enjoy both of them and learned a lot and mostly not to take life for granted and to keep on living no matter what comes your way. I also learned that you can’t just work and try to get to the top and forget about your family and friends. You need to make time with your family and friends so there are no regrets at the end.
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