Morrie’s Characteristics in Tuesdays with Morrie

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CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS

This chapter discusses Morrie Schwartz as described in the novel and analysis of his dependent behavior.

4.1. Morrie’s Characteristics in Tuesdays with Morrie

After reading the novel, there are significant and important characteristics of Morrie Schwartz. He is described as an open-minded, lonely, patient, attentive, compassionate and helpful. Morrie’s characters can be found through his speeches, what people say about him in the direct comments of Mitch Albom, who was one of his students in Brandeis University, Morrie’s past life, Morrie’s thoughts and Morrie’s behavior. These are the characteristics that will be discussed:

4.1.1. Open-minded

Morrie Schwartz is an open-minded person. It shows from the way he accepts his students from various religion and different philosophies without any considerations. He does not take only one religion because he thinks that every religion has positive values to be learned. Mitch Albom who is the student and the author of this novel at once describes his open-minded characteristic below through direct comment. “Morrie was born Jewish, but became an agnostic when he was a teenager. Morrie enjoys some of the philosophies of Buddhism and Christianity, and he still feels at home, culturally, in Judaism.” 81-82 31 Because of his open-minded thought, Morrie also feels closely to various students who have different cultures and religions. “His teachings before his death are transcended from all religious differences” 82. He is also a follower from many philosophers. One of them is Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi’s teaching that Morrie likes best is “each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn”. Many of his lessons are inspired from all the philosophies of life that he has learned from many religions. Morrie is interested in studying about Buddhist teaching, he is inspired by it very much. “He opened his eyes and He exhaled.’’ “You know what the Buddhists say? Don’t cling to things, because everything is impermanent 103”. It shows that Morrie receives Buddhist teaching. He does not focus his knowledge on one religion that he believes but he also learns other religions that he read from books. Once in an unusual sociology class they called “Group process” Morrie had a special exercise for his students to do. Morrie wanted them to stand facing away from the whole class and fall backward, relying on another student to catch them. They could not do it, only one girl in that class wanted to do it. She fell backward and suddenly someone caught her back so she did not fall to the ground. To this girl Morrie said “You see”,he says to the girl, “you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see; you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too, even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.” 61 32 The quotation shows that Morrie is an open-minded person. He would like to tell the students that if they trust someone they have to trust him or her with all his heart so that they can rely on him or her in any condition.

4.1.2. Lonely Morrie lost his mother when he was eight years old. He starts to live with

David, his brother who limps because of polio that he suffers and his father, Charlie Schwartz. His father is a Russian immigrant and he is barely speaking English. In this novel Charlie Schwartz is described as a quiet person, he seems to draw a line with his children Morrie and David. He rarely talks to his children or kisses them good night. That will be one of the reasons why Morrie always feels lonely. “In the evening he watched his father eat in a silence hoping for- but never getting-a show off affection communication warmth 75. Charlie is considered a quiet father who rarely has conversation with his children and he seems to enjoy doing something himself. “Charlie Schwartz was a quiet man who liked to read newspaper alone under a street lamp on a Tremont Avenue in the Bronx” 135. This quotation shows that Morrie is lonely because of the situation that a father who should be the one whom he can share everything with rarely talks to him as father and son, or man to man. He misses all the moments that he should have spent with his family. “ Morrie and his brother, David, would look out the window and see him leaning against the lamppost, and Morrie wished he would come inside and talk to them, but he rarely nor did he tuck them in, nor kiss him good night.” 138 33 Losing his mother makes him feel like a heavy burden is on his shoulder. His loneliness becomes more complete since his father died because of the heart attack. Father, whom he never has any chance to talk to, to show his affection and this is the time that Morrie has to lose the moment that he has never had with his father forever. “Morrie looked at the body of the man who had scolded him and molded him and taught him to work, who had been quiet when Morrie wanted him to speak, who had told Morrie to swallow his memories of his mother when he wanted to share them with world.” 139 This paragraph shows that Morrie keeps something that he wants to share with his father. Something that he cannot reveal until his father died and he would never have a chance to say it for all his life. This paragraph also tells that Morrie’s father does not even let him to say what he feels. He asks Morrie to keep it by heart and not to talk about that again. It comes up in to an unutterable pain inside him. All he needs is just someone to talk to and someone who will let him reveal all his feeling. His loneliness reminds him of all the memory of his parents when they were alive. There is regret inside Morrie to his parents for leaving him and his brother without any good bye. That would be another reason for Morrie to entertain himself outside, like what Mitch say in the paragraph below; “He had always been a good dancer, my old professor. The music didn’t matter. Rock and Roll, big band, the blues. He loved them all. He would close his eyes and with a blissful smile begin to move to his own sense or rhythm. It wasn’t always pretty out there. He didn’t worry about a partner. Morrie danced by himself.” 5 He will spend the time by going to a place where he can find entertainment. Losing his parents has brought him into a deep loneliness. And now that he has a wife and children his loneliness is still going on with him. A wife, someone whom he should have been able to share everything with seems never start a warmth communication between husband and wife, and lonely Morrie will just keep it by heart, just like the way he did when he was a kid. 34 Mitch said that they had worked as a team; they just needed to use the gesture when they wanted to say something: “They worked as a team, often needing no more than silent glance to understand what the other was thinking. Charlotte was a private person, different from Morrie, but I knew how much he respected her, because sometimes when we spoke, he would say “Charlotte might be uncomfortable with me revealing that” and he would end he conversation.” 148-149 Because of those reasons Morrie seems to feel s lonely that he always tries to find someone that he can rely on. He finds it in Mitch Albom his student when he was still teaching in Brandeis University. 4.1.3. Patient This characteristic is described by Morrie reaction facing his suffering without complaining. When the doctor sentenced that he got an unforgiving illness called ALS and he would have only couple years to live, he knew how to overcome his feeling. He faced all his suffering patiently, he did not spend the rest of his time to mourn and regret what had happened. Morrie always knows how to spend his dying time. He is concentrating on the rest of his life in good things. Just like what he states: “Sometimes, in the mornings,“ he said. That’s when I mourn I feel around my body, I move my fingers and my hands- whatever I can still move- and I mourn what I’ve lost. I mourn the slow, insidious way in which I’m dying. But then I stop mourning.” just like that “I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me…” 56 From the patience in facing his death, Morrie is able to see life in a different view and how others treat him. Mitch sees Morrie as a patient man who is willing to listen to every single word that comes from someone he is speaking to. Mitch also sees Morrie as the one who is able to understand and guide him patiently. Mitch says, “For all the 35 time we’d spent together, for all the kindness and patience Morrie had shown me when I was young….” 27. Therefore, Morrie’s patience can be shown through his reaction when he faces his suffering patiently without complaining and Mitch’s statement about Morrie’s guidance for Albom when he needed someone to understand him and someone to listen.

4.1.4. Attentive

For all his life, Morrie has been a good listener. It is described in this quotation: He told his friends that if they really wanted to help him, they would treat him not with sympathy but with visits, phone calls, a sharing of their problems the way they had always shared their problems, because Morrie had always been a wonderful listener. 12 It shows that Morrie likes to pay attention to others. Even if he is in the worst condition he still wants to hear everybody who wants to share his or her problems. He does not want people to think that he is weak because of his dying. Mitch Albom is Morrie’s student and best friend in Brandeis University, he knows Morrie quiet well. He describes Morrie as a good listener just like when Morrie listens to him when they are talking. Morrie can listen to people who talk to him and focus on his speakers only. Mitch’s direct comment about Morrie to show the statement above is: When Morrie was with you, he was really with you. He looked you straight in the eye, and he listened as if you were the only person in the world. How much better would people get along if their first encounter each day were like this instead of a grumble from a waitress or a bus driver or a boss. 35 36 It is not easy to listen to people like what Morrie does, people tend to be a speaker rather than to be a listener. Albom says that Morrie is a good listener, he can listen to people who talk to him very well, and as if they were the only one in the world he is talking to. Morrie thinks that when people talk to him they really need to be listened to, that is why he always gives them his best ears to listen. “When I’m talking to you now, Mitch, I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us. I am not thinking about something we said last week. I am not thinking of what’s coming up this Friday. I am not thinking about doing another Koppel’s show, or about what medication I’m taking.” 135 Albom says that many people like to visit Morrie when he is dying. They visit Morrie for just a little talk, because Morrie gives a good attention to the people. Morrie does a lot of favor for others that people would like to pay him back in return, by accompanying him in his suffering. The reason they want to visit Morrie in his dying time is because they feel sorry about Morrie’s condition. They want to be there for Morrie just the way when Morrie was there for them when he was healthy just to listen to them when they spoke to him. Albom also says: But really listening to someone without trying to tell them something, pick them up, recruit them, or get some kind of status in return how often do we get this anymore? I believe many visitors in the last few months of Morrie’s life were drawn not because of the attention he paid to them. Despite his personal pain and decay, this little old man listened the way they always wanted someone to listen. 138 Morrie considers that people who come to him are people who need someone to listen to every single word that they speak. Morrie realizes that listening is not something easy to be done. People think that if they have problem 37 they will automatically know where to go, because Morrie will be the only one to listen when they have problems.

4.1.5. Tough

Morrie is a tough person although he is physically weak. He is tough because he has a strong will to face his life through his pain. The pain that he has never seems to be a problem for him. He tries to convince himself that dying is not a big deal for him. All that he has now is just strength to face his last few days. He realizes that he is no longer able to do everything by himself; he always has somebody do something for him. It is something painful to find out that someone is going to die from illness. People might get depressed or mourn his life and they seem like they lose their spirit of life. Morrie has his own way of facing his death by doing something useful for others. He does a lot of thing for people around him. He still has ears to listen to people who share their problems when they come to see him. He still has lips to say something, which people will long to hear. He teaches people about his dying condition that nothing in this world will last forever, he teaches people to be strong to face all the things that may happen in this life. This statement is just like what Mitch says about Morrie: But my old professor had made a profound decision; one began to construct the day he came out of the doctor’s office with a sword hanging over his head. Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left? Had asked himself. He would not wither. He would not be ashamed of dying. Instead, he would make death his final project, the center point of his days. He could be research. A human textbook. Study me in my slow and patient demise. What happens to me. Learn with me. 38 Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and narrate the trip. 10 Morrie is dying of an unforgiving illness. He will have only a little time to live, therefore he wants to do many good things for people he loves so that the things that people will remember about him is; all his kindness for his life and his strong will to survive: “Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live? I decided I’m going to live- or at least try to live- the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure.” 21 Life keeps turning and when it turns, no one can pull it back. It is like sometimes when we regret mistakes we have done, suddenly when we realize it; it is too late. We are only human beings we cannot predict when we will die. For this reason we ought to do the best in every single thing that we do everyday so whenever we die we leave a good memory for people we have left. Then when we die, we will die in honor. In another conversation Morrie shows that he still wants to live normally ignoring his disease. “There are some mornings when I cry and cry and mourn for my self. Some mornings I’m so angry and bitter. But it doesn’t last too long then I get up and say, I want to live…”21 From the passage above I can see that Morrie has a strong motivation to live and he had a strong will to fight his fatal illness. He has great self-control so whenever he felt down because of his illness he knew how to overcome it. The illness might attack his body but not his mind so he would not give up and regret the illness he suffered. 39 Morrie joins the meditation when he was healthy so it could help him to control his feelings, anger, hatred and all the human feelings, which are sometime uncontrollable and unpredictable. “There were health care workers now staying through the night and all those visitors during the day, former students, fellow professors, meditation teachers, tramping in and out of the house “102. The meditation teacher may help Morrie to be a tough person through the mediation he taught to Morrie. Meditation might help Morrie to face all the suffering in his life. By doing the meditation he thinks that he can let all his feeling go, the hatred, pain and the shadow of his past life.

4.1.6. Compassionate

Morrie realizes that being compassionate is something hard to do. Feeling pity or sorry for others’ suffering is neglected by people nowadays because many of them think that it is not their business. However, for Morrie, it is different. He sees compassion to others is important because human beings are social creatures that cannot be separated from their relationship with others. Morrie’s encounter with compassion started when he was young. He was looking for a job, which did not exploit others. Although plowing high education, he did not choose a job which guaranteed a successful future. In fact, he chose working at a mental hospital. These statements are supported by Albom. Albom says about Morrie’s past life: “The Morrie I knew, the Morrie so many others knew, would not have been the man he was without the years he spent working at a mental hospital just outside Washington, D.C., a place with deceptively peaceful name of Chestnut Lodge. It was one of Morrie’s first jobs after plowing 40 through a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Having rejected medicine, law, and business Morrie had decided the research world would be a place where he could contribute without exploiting others.” 109 In mental hospital, Morrie observed mental and recorded their treatments. While the idea of working in a mental hospital is common nowadays, it was a new surprising idea in fifties because there were only few people who worked at mental hospital. However, Morrie thought that people needed others when they could not face the obstacles in life. He felt sorry for the patients who could not feel happiness. One of the patients whom Morrie took notice of was a middle- aged woman. Morrie took care of her and noticed what the woman needed so he could help her. This statement shows his compassion: One of the patients, a middle–aged woman, came out of her room everyday and lie facedown on the tile floor, stayed there for hours, as doctors and nurses stepped around her. Morrie watched in horror. He took notes, which is what he was there to do. Everyday, she did the same thing: came out in the morning lay on the floor, stayed there until the evening, talking to no one, ignored by everyone. It saddened Morrie. He began to sit with her on the floor, even lay down alongside her, trying to draw her out of her misery. Eventually, he got her to sit up, and even to return to her room. What she mostly wanted, he learned, was the same things many people want- someone to notice she was there. 109-110 From this patient, Morrie learns that wealth cannot buy happiness. People may have a big house so much saving in his account but if he does not have love then money will never mean a thing. Morrie feels sorry about everything that happens in mental hospital. His feeling is stated below: Morrie observed that most of the patients there had been rejected and ignored in their lives, made to feel that they didn’t exist. They also missed compassion something the staff ran out of quickly. And many of these patients were well off, from rich families, so their wealth didn’t buy their happiness or contentment. It was a lesson he never forgot. 115 41 Morrie’s compassion can also be seen in his dying condition. Although he is dying, but he can still be able to serve people who want to share their problems.

4.1.7. Helpful

When Mitch was still Morrie’s student, Morrie became a very helpful teacher. Even when Mitch has graduated from Brandeis University, Morrie still helps Albom in finding his true happiness. Mitch once neglected and forgot him after the graduation. For Mitch, Morrie is not an ordinary teacher who teaches knowledge and science, but he is a teacher who helps his students to search for their identities. It states by Albom: I seek my identity in toughness- but it is Morrie’s softness that draws me and because he does not look at me as a kid trying to be something more than I am, I relax. 30 Everyone needs a helpful teacher to develop hisher full potential. However, it is difficult to find a teacher who really understands hisher students and gives hisher students a right direction in their life because sometimes a teacher only takes care about the physical education but not spiritual education for developing hisher students’ mentality. For Mitch, his relationship with Morrie is deeper than a relationship between a student and a teacher. It is closely like a relation of man to man. Mitch assumes Morrie as his helpful guidance to understand the important thing in this life. In his view, Mitch sees Morrie as helpful and guidance. Mitch says it: 42 “You need someone to probe you in that direction. It won’t just happen automatically.” I knew what he was saying. We all need teachers in our lives. And mine was sitting in front of me. 65 When Mitch needs a helping hand to ask the solution to his problem in his life, Morrie will be the one who is ready to listen to his problem: it states in the passage below: Have you ever really had a teacher? One who saw you as a raw but precious thing, a jewel that, with wisdom, could be polished to a proud shine? If you are lucky enough to find your way such teachers, you will always find your way back. Sometimes it is only in your head. Sometimes it is all right alongside their beds.192 From this quotation, Mitch wants his reader to know that Morrie was a great teacher. Morrie was a favorite teacher in Brandeis University so when his students find out the news that Morrie was dying they come to see him. They come from Boston, New York, California, London, and Switzerland. They all said, “ I’ve never had another teacher like you.” 113 The characteristic of helpful persn can be seen from his willingness to be on television’. He also has a “Tuesday’s class”. It is held in his house to help answering the problem which Mitch thinks it is difficult to answer by himself. It is depicted from the statement below: All I knew was this: Morrie my old professor wasn’t in the self-help business. He was standing on the tracks, listening to death locomotive, and he was very clear about the important thing in life. I wanted that clarity. Every confused and tortured soul I knew wanted that clarity.” Ask me anything,” Morrie always said. 66 Morrie also wants to help people who fear facing the death. Morrie wants to share his experience of facing death. However, when his energy gets weaker and his condition becomes worse, he still cares about his visitors and audiences. He still wants to help them in sharing their problems. His ambition to help people is described below through his reaction: 43 “…What am I going to do without my hands? What happens when I can’t speak? Swallowing, I don’t care so much about-- so they feed me through a tube, so what? But my voice? My hands? They’re such an essential part of me. I talk with my voice. I gesture with my hands. This is how I give to people.” “How will you give when you can no longer speak?” Kopel asked. Morrie shrugged. “Maybe I’ll have everyone ask me yes or no questions.” 70 Therefore, it can be concluded that Morrie is a helpful person. It can be shown through Mitch’s statements from his view and direct comment, and Morrie’s reaction like “He started a project called Greenhouse, where poor people could receive mental health services” 43. Mitch is an ambitious man. He buries himself into a never-ending business for prosperity, position, and power. We can say that he is a workaholic so that he never cares about his personal life, like his spiritual life, his relationship with God and loving relationship with others. Therefore Morrie says to him: “The thing you spend so much time on-all this work you do-might not seem as important. You might have to make room for some more spiritual things.” 84 Morrie says to Mitch: ‘Mitch” he said, laughing along, “Even I don’t know what spiritual development really means. But I do know we’re deficient in some way. We are too involved in materialistic things and they don’t satisfy us. The loving relationship we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.” 84 Buddhist says everything in this world is “Anicha”. “Anicha” means not eternal. Everything in this world will not last forever. We do not possess all that we have now, the people we love, and money in our pocket, health, and our life. They are not ours. Someday when it is time for us to lose them, we do not have to 44 cry, because we never own them. Here Morrie is trying to help Mitch to find the meaning of life.

4.2. Something that Influence Morrie to be Dependent on Mitch