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Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie. A potentially life changing project Fall 2011. 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.

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Tuesdays with Morrie

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  1. Tuesdays withMorrie A potentially life changing project Fall 2011

  2. OUTLINE OFSTUDY • DAY 1: Presentation of novel, introductory questions • DAY 2: Online work • DAY 3: Project presentation • DAY 4 through15: Reading, working, block discussions

  3. Startingsomewhere • 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.

  4. Onlinepreparation • 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.

  5. Readingbreakdown: • 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

  6. Block discussionpreparation: • On designated block discussion days, you are to have read and answered the items that appear in the slides for each block.

  7. BLOCK1pp.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)

  8. BLOCK1pp.1-31 - cont. • The Student: update since graduation, motivation to ‘succeed’, measuring success, fate?(15) • 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

  9. BLOCK1pp.1-31 - cont. • FLB: freshman year, ‘coach’ (30-31)

  10. BLOCK2pp.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

  11. BLOCK2pp.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)

  12. BLOCK2pp.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

  13. BLOCK3pp.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

  14. BLOCK3pp.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)

  15. BLOCK3pp.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

  16. BLOCK4pp.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)

  17. BLOCK4pp.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

  18. BLOCK4pp.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)

  19. BLOCK4pp.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)

  20. BLOCK5pp.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

  21. BLOCK5pp.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, self-consciousness disappearing, must choose big things for yourself (155), create your own culture, shortsightedness is the problem,

  22. BLOCK5pp.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)

  23. BLOCK6pp.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

  24. BLOCK6pp.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

  25. BLOCK6pp.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)

  26. BLOCK6pp.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.

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