Essay Sample on the book “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom

Essay Sample on the book â€Å"Tuesdays with Morrie† by Mitch Albom Example Essay on the book Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom: How Flashbacks Give a Deeper Meaning to the Story Tuesdays with Morie â€Å"I’ve got so many people who have been involved with me in close, intimate ways. And love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone,† (Mitch 136). Mitch Albom, the novelist of the novel Tuesdays with Morrie, uses flashbacks to bring out deeper connotation to the story. The book is an account of the relationship between Mitch and his dying professor. At the heart of the narrative is the fourteen Tuesdays that marked the reunion of Mitch and his professor after a period of sixteen years. Essentially, the Tuesdays represent the days that Mitch used to visit his ailing professor after being diagnosed by the terminal ASL. Hence, the days were full of lessons about life. The book epitomizes the final days of Morrie Schwartz and how the days transformed the life of Mitch through the lessons. Hence, Mitch learnt a lot from the professor. In order to epitomize the inherent lessons that he leant from Morrie. Mitch invokes the past through the use of flashbacks. â€Å"w eve had thirty-five years of friendship. You dont need speech or hearing to feel that, (Mitch 71). The flashbacks used not only take the reader back to the background of the story but also exposes the true connotation of Mitch’s experience. Mitch makes sure that he coalesces the present amid flashbacks of the long-ago, so that the reader can appreciate the depth the liaison between Mitch Albom and Morrie Schwartz. In the course of Albom’s visits, the professor notes thatI know what a misery being young can be, so dont tell me its so great, (Mitch 117). This brings out the true essence of Morrie’s lessons to Albom. The quotes invoke the past experiences of the professor who uses his understanding to pass notable lessons to his student. Here we find a lot of wisdom in the author’s choice of flashback to complement the narration. At a certain point he states that Ive learned this much about marriage. You get tested. You find out who you are, who the other person is, and how you accommodate or dont, (Mitch 149). Perhaps this was a very significant lesson for Albom who was struggling with the issue of family (Schwartz 11). At a certain age the author had ignored his family for work thinking that his fina l happiness will come from work. The professor further consolidates his lesson by stating that, So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when theyre busy doing things they think are important. This is because theyre chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning, (Mitch 43). Mitch’s ability to combine the use of flashbacks with the narration of the story makes the reader to obtain a deeper understanding of his relationship with Schwartz Morrie. Therefore, through Morrie’s statements that recall the past, Mitch makes it possible for the reader to obtain a deeper meaning of life. He states that, In the beginning of life, when we were infants, we need others to survive, right? And at the end of life, when you get like me, you need others to survive, right? But heres the secret: in between, we need others as well. (Mitch 157). The professor recalls some of his experiences which Mitch uses to provide an intricate understanding to the entire story. Finally, as though remembering his early days, Morrie says How can I be envious of where you arewhen Ive been there myself, (Mitch 121).

Prepositions for the Perplexed

Prepositions for the Perplexed Prepositions for the Perplexed Prepositions for the Perplexed By Maeve Maddox Judging by the comments on the When to use on and when to use in post, I wasnt the only one to get out of school with less than a complete grasp of what a preposition is or does. When I was in high school, I never could pick out prepositional phrases. Oh, I memorized the lists of prepositions like in, on, up, with, to, and from. I just couldnt figure out how they worked in a sentence. After all, some of the words in the list could also be used as adverbs: I went to the river and jumped in. A word isnt anything until it is used in a sentence. It wasnt until I started teaching English that I finally got prepositions. Prepositions are joining words. They join something to a noun (or pronoun). George V was King of England. The preposition of joins the noun King to the noun England. The joining adds information to the noun King. The boy played in the water. The preposition in joins the verb played to the noun water. The joining conveys where the playing took place. The boy in the water is my brother. Here the preposition in joins the noun boy to the noun water. This joining identifies a particular boy, distinguishing him from a possible boy on the beach or boy in the boat. Prepositions are said to govern nouns (or pronouns). The usual position of a preposition is in front of the noun it governs. A prepositional phrase is the preposition and its noun, plus all the words that come between. Sometimes a prepositional phrase consists of just the preposition and the noun (or pronoun) that it governs: This book is by Tolstoy. (preposition by, noun Tolstoy) Sometimes the phrase has several words between the preposition and the noun governed: We went to the new outlet mall. (preposition to, noun mall) Prepositional phrases function as parts of speech. The boy in the water is my brother. (in the water tells more about boy.' The phrase functions as an adjective describing boy. Hes the in-the-water boy.) The dog is swimming in the water. (in the water tells where the swimming is taking place. The phrase functions as an adverb modifying swimming.) Although the preposition usually comes before the noun it governs, English permits us to place the preposition at the end of a sentence. (Purists abhor this construction, but it is very natural in English.) Ex. Whose house do you want to meet at? (The prepositional phrase is at whose house.) By the way, it is this practice that is contributing to the decline of whom as the object form of who. The ear recognizes the need for whom when to precedes it, but not when the to is far removed: Who do you want to speak to? as opposed to To whom do you wish to speak? As for wanting rules that will explain every prepositional expression such as in the army, on the team, at the hour, or in a monthsave your energy. They dont exist. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Addressing A Letter to Two PeopleEmail Etiquette20 Clipped Forms and Their Place (If Any) in Formal Writing