Character Analysis: Morrie

Morrie Schwartz: Morrie had been a professor at Brandeis University for most of his life. He is diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, forcing him to retire when he became too weak to teach. He keeps a very positive attitude as he transitions from a cane to a walker, and from a walker to a wheelchair. He missed dancing though, which he used to do quite frequently in the college nightlife. ALS ravaged his body’s nervous system but leaves his mind intact. While he is going through this process, Morrie realizes that he needs to share the process of dying with the world. He says in his Nightline interview that while most people go off into a corner to wither away, he wants to show what the process of having your mind purely intact …show more content…
This led to a series of Tuesdays that were unforgettable; not only for Mitch, but for the readers he allowed to listen to these conversations. Morrie enrolled Mitch in “The Last Class,” one that he liked to refer to as “The Class of Life.” Every Tuesday was focused on an aspect of everyone’s lives that needed to be expounded upon. Through these lessons, Morrie helps Mitch realize all the time he has wasted trying to build upon a career that now seems useless. He gains more retrospect to the idea of things that matter in the long run, like family, love, companionship, regrets, aging, and death. His outlook on life is able to change through the influence of his long-time teacher. Watching Morrie die helps Mitch realize who he wants to be when he reaches that final moment.
Review: The book and the Nightline reviews really put the perspective of something new to the audience’s mind. The attitude that the dying should hush about their afflictions was banished from the plot of the book. It was a new take on dying, and a better one than the one society has smothered us with since we were young. Morrie and his aphorisms shine a new light on the day to day process of living that most people become unaware of as they pass through