1. The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Vocabulary & Notes

2. Reflection With a partner, discuss the following:
Where do you think authors gain the inspiration for their novels?
“It’s a tale of a life on earth. It’s a tale of life beyond it. It’s a fable about love, a warning about war, and a nod of the cap to the real people of this world, the ones who never get their name in lights.”
So, what are some of the topics that Mitch Albom might be touching upon in this novel?

3. Author Background: Mitch Albom
Who is Mitch Albom?
Best-selling author, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster, and musician
In 1985, moved to Detroit and became a famous sports journalist at the Detroit Free Press.
Currently hosts a daily talk show on WJR radio.
Regularly shows up on the shows: ESPN Sports Reporters and SportsCenter.
Founded seven charities in the metropolitan Detroit area.
Began his career as an author after reuniting with Morrie.
Has three best seller novels that became TV movies:
The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Tuesdays with Morrie, and For One More Day

4. Video Introduction
life-charity-and-god/
you-meet-heaven

5. Vocabulary (Pages 1-31)
Squat (adj.): short and thick or low and wide, especially in a way which is not attractive
Retrieve (verb): to find something and bring it back
Imminent (adj.): when an event, likely unpleasant, is about to happen soon
Solvent (n.):a substance, usually liquid, that dissolves or can dissolve another substance

6. Arthritis (noun): a disease that causes the joints of your body to become swollen and very painful

7. Shingles (noun): a disease caused by an infection of the nerve endings, which produces painful red spots

8. Lanky (adj.):someone who is lanky is tall and thin, and moves awkwardly

9. Halibut (noun): a large flat sea fish used as food
Pier (noun): a structure that is built over and into the water so that boats can stop next to it or people can walk along it
Halibut (noun): a large flat sea fish used as food

10. Vocabulary (Pages 1-31)
Nimble (adj.): able to move quickly and easily with light neat movements
Summon (verb): to order someone to come to a
place
Agony (noun): very severe pain
Cacophony (noun): a loud unpleasant mixture of sounds

11. Taffy (noun): soft, chewy, sweet food
Judy Garland: ( ) a US film actress and singer who first appeared in films as a child. She is most famous for appearing as the character Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
Taffy (noun): soft, chewy, sweet food

12. Unravel (verb): when threads, string, rope, etc
Unravel (verb): when threads, string, rope, etc., stop being twisted together
- Ex: Unraveled cable wire

13. Vocabulary (Pages 1-31)
Primitive (adj.): very simple, does not have modern parts to make it better
Pristine (adj.): extremely fresh or clean; not damaged in any way
Limber (adj.): able to move and bend easily
Perversion (noun): the process of changing something that is natural and good into something that is unnatural and wrong, or the result of such a change

14. Kiosk (noun): a small building in the street where newspapers, sweets etc are sold
Promenade (noun): a wide road next to the beach, where people can walk for pleasure

15. Tenement (noun): a large building divided into apartments, especially in the poorer areas of a city

16. Notes (Pages 1-31) Story starts with an ending (Eddie’s death)
Setting- sunny, at amusement park, summer
Eddie’s death – accident involving Freddy’s Free Fall
Eddie:
a workingman (a maintenance man)
white-haired old man, army tattoo, left knee wounded in war,
job was to “maintain” the rides
dies on his 83rd birthday,
regular customers knew him, children loved him, teenagers did not love him

18. Notes (Pages 1-31)
Foreshadowing: p.2 – After all these years he could hear trouble…
Onomatopoeia: p.4 – clack-clack-clack
Dominguez: lanky, boney-cheeked, young man, optimistic
Eddie planned to leave the pier, but his plans never worked out.
He came to the acceptance that this was his life and being a maintenance man was all he would ever be- “got stuck,” “settled”
Eddie gives Dominguez money for his vacation
We can infer that they are friends, only friend Eddie has

19. Notes (Pages 1-31) Onomatopeoia: p.8 zzzap zzzap
P.8 – teenagers do not respect him
Marguerite- what assumption can you make?
Theme (p.10) – connectedness (everything in life is connected in some way)
Foreshadowing (p.11)- the missing key…how?
Key is also demonstrates the theme of connectedness
Eddie leads a lonely life
Nearly lost everyone he cared about
Final words- “Get back”

20. Notes (Pages 1-31)
P. 18- example 2 of the theme – the little girl ..how?
Last thing Eddie felt before his death- two hands in his own
Italicized sections represent flashbacks of Eddie’s life.
The Journey
Eddie’s journey to heaven- feels no emotion, sadness or pain; feels calm like a child
Eddie’s Fifth Birthday
Mickey Shea- works with his father; alcoholic
What can you infer about Eddie’s relationship with his parents?

21. Notes (Pages 1-31) The Arrival:
Woke up in a teacup; at Ruby Pier 75 years ago
No pain, doesn’t need a cane, BUT can’t speak (has no voice)
Hears a voice coming from the sideshow, also known as the freak house
A man with blue skin tells Eddie that he as been waiting for him.

22. Vocabulary (Pages 32-55)
Grotesque (adjective): unpleasant, shocking, and offensive; extremely ugly in a strange or unnatural way (Example: The Blue Man)
Belittle (verb): to make someone or something seem small or unimportant
Silver nitrate (noun): A poisonous colorless crystalline compound, AgNO3, that becomes grayish black when exposed to light in the presence of organic matter and is used in manufacturing photographic film, silvering mirrors, dyeing hair, plating silver, and in medicine as a cautery (burning dead tissue) and antiseptic

23. Silver Nitrate

24. Vocabulary (Pages 32-55)
Agitated (adjective): so nervous or upset that you are unable to keep still or think calmly
Commodity (noun): a product that is bought or sold; a useful quality or thing
Relent (verb): to change your attitude and become less strict or cruel towards someone

25. Notes (Pages 32-55) Eddie had barely known the blue man.
Eddie’s body feels like a child’s because that is when he knew the Blue Man . You start with the same feelings you had.
Heaven has steps. The Blue man is in two, Eddie is in one
You can not talk so that you can listen
Why is Eddie in Heaven:
To meet 5 people
Each was in his life for a reason… you may not know it at the time, so that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth
How does the Blue Man say people think of heaven?
- place to have your life explained to you

26. Notes (Pages 32-55)
The Blue Man is the first person Eddie meets: he went through five people and waited in heaven for Eddie to tell him his story, which is a part of Eddie’s.
Some people he knew, some he didn’t BUT they all changed his life forever.
Blue Man tells Eddie that he killed him.
Flashback - Eddie’s 7th birthday –
Receives a new baseball as his present…ball is overthrown and Eddie and Joe chase after it
Theme of connectedness: the baseball he received on his seventh birthday
The Blue Man: Immigrant from Poland, had no money growing up, nervous child by nature, father worked in a sweatshop and eventually joined him, wet his pants at his father’s work and father refused to speak to him- he had shamed him… became a nervous young man

27. Notes (Pages 32-55)
The Blue Man went to a chemist for medicine for his nerves -> gave him silver nitrate (later considered poison) -> mix with water and take every night
It wasn’t working, so he took more than he was supposed to = skin was turning the color of ash and turned from gray to blue- side effect of the poison
Got fired -> ran into carnival workers one night and agreed to join their carnival -> then later came to Ruby Pier and that became his home
They are at Ruby Pier because that is where heaven is for the Blue Man. This is not Eddie’s heaven

28. Notes (Pages 32-55)
Same story- two different angles, two different endings, one happy and one sad
Eddie’s side:
Playing baseball with his friends -> ball flies over Eddie’s head -> runs into the street chasing after it -> runs in front of a car
The car screeches and veers and just misses him.
Then, he goes back to his friends as if nothing happened and continues on with his friends

29. Notes (Pages 32-55) Blue Man’s side:
Borrows a car to practice driving, road is wet, and suddenly a baseball and a boy appear in front.
Slams on the brakes -> car skids -> man regains control of the car
Sees in the rearview mirror the boy has disappeared but the man’s body is still affected from almost hitting the boy.
Experiences a jolt of adrenaline -> heart is pumping too fast -> feels dizzy -> drops his head, and almost collides with another car.
The man veers -> slams his brakes -> and the car skids until it collides with the back of a parked truck
The crash causes the man to smack into the steering wheel, and his head is bleeding -> Gets out -> sees the damage -> collapses -> has a heart attack and dies.

30. Notes (32-55) Flashback: Eddie’s 8th birthday
Eddie is mad that he has to go somewhere on his birthday and doesn’t think it is fair
He knows he is supposed to be sad, but instead is mad, and counting down until it is over.
Little does he know that he is at the Blue Man’s funeral, the man he unknowingly killed

31. The First Lesson
Eddie thinks he is in heaven for justice, to pay for his sin.
Blue Man is really there to teach him something.
Lesson 1: There are no random acts in life. We are all connected.
Fairness is not involved in life and death.
Eddie was at his funeral and didn’t even know it.
The good from the Blue Man’s death is that Eddie lived.

32. Connecting Art & Literature
Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment”

34. Connection
Explain how artists have been depicting heaven and hell for centuries. How does the media perceive the afterlife?
How does Eddie perceives heaven as a place for punishment and the prevalence of this notion in today’s society.
Are there other depictions of the afterlife in contrast to paradise vs hell?

35. Author’s View of Heaven
People think of heaven as a paradise garden, a place where they can float on clouds and laze in rivers and mountains. But scenery without solace is meaningless.
"This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for."
Eddie coughed, trying to bring up his voice. He was tired of being silent.
"I am your first person, Edward. When I died, my life was illuminated by five others, and then I came here to wait for you, to stand in your line, to tell you my story, which becomes part of yours. There will be others for you, too. Some you knew, maybe some you didn't. But they all crossed your path before they died. And they altered it forever."

36. Do-Now
Explain how action and consequence are connected.

37. Writing Assignment “There are no random acts. That we are all
connected. That you can no more separate one
life from another than you can separate a breeze
from the wind.”
Explain this quote in your own words.
Then, relate this idea to your own life.
For example: How different would life be if you didn’t meet your: best friend, your sibling, or a certain role-model?

38. Vocabulary
Bandolier (noun): a belt that goes over someone's shoulder and is used to carry bullets
Oblige (verb): when someone does something because they have to and it is necessary
Bayonet (noun): a long knife that is fixed to the end of a rifle
Burlap (noun): a type of thick rough cloth
Barracks (noun): a building or group of buildings in which soldiers live
Diversion (noun): something that stops you from paying attention to what you are doing or what is happening

39. Bandolier
Bayonet

40. Burlap
Barracks 

41. Notes (P. 56-97) Eddie’s body is now changing Acting like a soldier
No longer limber- muscles are tight
Acting like a soldier
“Fear had found him, even in heaven.”
Mother’s reaction to war vs. father’s reaction to war
Mother cares, father is distant
Had a goal before the war- to study engineering
Eddie thought war would make him a man.
Mickey Shea’s advice: thinking gets you killed

42. Notes (P )
Second Person: Eddie’s Captain from the war (his commanding officer)
Was not expecting him
Captain’s promise- “leave no one behind”
Eddie tells the Captain that he still does not understand why he is in heaven.
Eddie did not keep in touch with the men in his unit.
Hurt too much

43. Notes (P. 56-97) Eddie and his unit were captured:
Kept in a coal mine
All had different reactions to being captured
4 months in- Rabozzo gets really sick
Shot by captors
Rabozzo’s death really affects Eddie
Stops praying and counting the days
Thought they were going to die there.
Eddie gets himself and the unit free by creating a diversion.
Pretends to sing a melody- really telling his men to be ready to attack
Grabbed a rock -> threw it at Crazy Two -> killed all of the Crazies
Revenge

44. Notes (P )
Eddie and his men burned down the huts, mines, and surrounding areas
Eddie goes into a burning barn
Thinks he sees a small child; convinced he sees someone
Hallucinating
Lost his mind at this point; reached his breaking point
Burning in the barn-> gets shot in the knee and dragged out of the burning barn

45. Notes (P. 56-97) Eddie feels a rush of pain and anger; scars return
Eddie tackles the Captain, and they wrestle through the vines
Why?
Eddie would have died
Wasn’t his time
Only had a minute to get out
Captain took his leg to save his life (Sacrifice)
Got into the transport vehicle -> reached a gate
Captain got out to check the path
Signaled the men to move forward- path was clear
Captain stepped on a land mine and blew to pieces

46. Notes (P. 56-97) THE SECOND LESSON:
Captain has been waiting at his burial ground
Dying is not the end; Earth is only the beginning
Heaven is to make sense of your yesterdays
Sacrifice- Eddie made one, Captain made BUT Eddie was angry and kept thinking of his losses
“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something you aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices.”

47. Notes (P. 56-97) THE SECOND LESSON:
Rabozzo- sacrificed his life BUT his brother became a great solider and a great man- inspired
Captain did not die for nothing- they all would’ve died
Captain was waiting for Eddie’s forgiveness
Captain’s heaven:
Wanted to see a world without war
War zone came to life- green grass, blue sky
The captain sees where he dies differently than Eddie

48. Vocabulary (Pages 98-119) Firmament (noun): the sky or heaven
Succulent (adj): juicy and good to eat
Gurney (noun): a long narrow table with wheels used for moving sick people in a hospital
Solitude (noun): when you are alone, especially when this is what you enjoy
Entrust (verb): to make someone responsible for doing something important, or for taking care of someone
Meager (adj): when the amount of something is too small and is much less than you need

49. Vocabulary (Pages )
Callous (adj): not caring that other people are suffering
Mimic (verb): to copy the way someone speaks or behaves, especially in order to make people laugh
Unbeknownst (adverb): without that person knowing about it
Inexplicable (adj): too unusual or strange to be explained or understood
Covet (verb): to have a very strong desire to have something that someone else has

50. Vocabulary (Pages )
Bodice (noun): the part of a woman's dress above her waist
Parasol (noun): a type of umbrella used to provide shade from the sun
Agitation(noun): when you are so anxious, nervous, or upset that you cannot think calmly:

51. Notes (Pages 98-119) Eddie is now in the mountains with snow
Physical changes: older; body is flabbier, looser
Becoming the man he was on Earth
Knee pain is still there
Stumbles upon a diner
People in there are from different decades and everyone has been wounded
Looks over and sees his dad
Significance in the way his dad is sitting:
Ignoring him even in heaven

52. Notes (Pages 98-119) Eddie’s 24th birthday:
Only his mother is singing
His father doesn’t move to sit- just stands and stares out the window
Continues to stare at his leg- disappointed in him
Why does Eddie want to cry?
Damage done by Eddie’s father:
Neglect as an infant (wouldn’t hold him)
Grabbed him by the arm as a child
Left for someone to watch at the pier
Father = discipline
Eddie wanted his father’s attention

53. Notes (Pages 98-119) His father played cards 4 nights a week
Involved drinking
Would smack Eddie across the face
When his father drank, he physically and verbally abused Eddie and Joe:
Yelled, whipped with a belt, throw them against the wall, throw their toys around the room
Damage #2: Violence
Privately adored his father = how you learn devotion
Told Eddie he had to protect his brother; be his “keeper”

54. Notes (Pages )
Eddie started following his father’s footsteps in junior high
Ran the rides
Began to fix things
Envied his brother for not having to do dirty work
Eddie’s father thought Joe was not strong enough for his line of work.
Damage #3: Denial of affection
The night Eddie and his father stopped speaking:
“Get a job”
FIRST time Eddie defends himself – grabs his father’s arm
Damage #4: Silence

55. Notes (Pages )
Eddie meets an old woman who tells him that his father can’t hear him.
His soul is safe..part of the woman’s eternity
Eddie still does not understand why he is heaven
Asks the woman if he can go back to his last day
“This place” makes no sense to him.
Does not feel like an angel
You have peace when you make it with yourself
Eddie does not know this woman, but she knows him

56. Notes (Pages 98-119) Old woman: Eddie’s third person = Ruby
Worked at Seahorse Grille
Eddie used to eat breakfast there.
Met Emile- earned his wealth, swore to build a resort park just for her to capture the moment of his proposal and to stay forever young
Kept his promise and built a lavish amusement for her and name it “Ruby Pier.”
Eddie’s third person = Ruby

57. Vocabulary (Pages )
Roustabouts (noun): a man who does work for which he needs to be strong but not skilled, especially in a port, an oilfield, or a circus
Fruitless (adj): failing to achieve what was wanted, especially after a lot of effort
Recede (verb): when something gets further and further away until it disappears
Falter (verb): to become weaker and unable to continue in an effective way
Coarse (adj): having a rough surface that feels slightly hard
Subsequent (adj): happening or coming after something else
Haltingly (adverb): if your speech or movements are halting, you stop for a moment between words or movements, especially because you are not confident

58. Notes ( )
A big July 4th fire destroyed the original Ruby Pier entrance, and Ruby Pier was in flames.
A column collapsed onto Emile when he insisted on going to the fire and throwing water on the entrance because it was Ruby.
Lives changed in one night
Minimal insurance- lost his fortune and the pier
Park was reopened but wasn’t theirs anymore
Took Emile 3 years to walk on his own
They moved away, lived modestly, Ruby tended to Emile
Ruby’s wish: That Emile had never built the pier

59. Notes (120-145) Emile was sickly…Ruby widowed at 50
Never wanted to see Ruby Pier again
Ruby’s idea of heaven (p.123): far away from the ocean and back in that diner when days were simple
We go through places that would not be if not for those that came before us:
No Emile, then no husband. If no marriage, no pier. If no pier, Eddie would not have worked there.
Ruby is here to tell Eddie why his father died.
Phone call from Eddie’s mother
Father collapsed, raging fever
A few days earlier- his father came home soaking wet, developed a bad cough that got much worse (pneumonia)

60. Notes ( )
Eddie was mad that his mother was blaming herself…his father’s drunken fault
His condition worsened from fair to serious.
Eddie helped out at the pier to protect his father’s job.
Wanted to avoid the pier his whole life
Ends up doing his father’s work
Eddie just holds up his grease-stained fingertips when he visits his father at the hospital.
Why?
Make him proud- that is what he wanted for Eddie

61. Notes (120-145) Eddie felt empty anger when he father died.
Nothing heroic about his death
Eddie’s mother was in a daze
Cooked for two
Talked to him like he was still there
Yelled for him to turn down the radio
Fluffed pillows on both sides of the bed
Caused Eddie to quit driving a cab
Moved into the building he grew up in
Accepted a job as a maintenance man at Ruby Pier to keep an eye on his mother
Cursed his father for trapping him in this life and dying

62. Notes (120-145) Why is Eddie dark on his birthdays? Foreshadowing:
“Eddie thinks about Marguerite. He always thinks about Marguerite when Noel mentions the race track” (p.131).
Eddie got stuck
Got used to his work at the pier- just never left
Ruby knows something Eddie does not.

63. Notes ( )
Mickey, in a drunken state, began to take sexual advantage over Eddie’s mother
Grabbing her, touching her, pushing her against the wall
Eddie’s father comes home, sees this, and chases after Mickey out of the apartment and into the rain.
Mickey jumps into the ocean and Eddie’s father jumps in after him
Fighting in the ocean
Ends up saving Mickey from drowning
Goes into the ocean to fight Mickey, possibly kill BUT in the end he couldn’t… he knew who Mickey was
Mickey got his father a job, lent money when Eddie was born= took old friendships seriously

64. Notes (120-145) “Things are not always what they seem.”
Mickey got fired that day.
He got really drunk… came looking for help
Not an evil person- acted out of loneliness and desperation
Eddie’s father acted on impulse – first to kill, then to save
This is how Eddie’s father got sick… laying on the beach for hours, too weak to move
Died because of loyalty

65. Notes (120-145) Eddie’s father never spoke of that night again.
He was ashamed.
Stopped speaking entirely in the hospital
Silence was his escape BUT thoughts still haunted him
In the hospital
Fell into a coma
One night, nurses found him hanging half way out of the window calling for his family

66. Vocabulary (p. 147-end)
Deformed: something that is deformed has the wrong shape, especially because it has grown or developed wrongly
Ambushed: a sudden attack on someone by people who have been hiding and waiting for them, or the place where this happens
Relentless: strict, cruel, or determined, without ever stopping
Embankment: a wide wall of earth or stones built to stop water from flooding an area, or to support a road or railway
Embroidered: to decorate cloth by sewing a pattern, picture, or words on it with colored threads
Charred: something that is burned until black
Engulf: to completely surround or cover something; feel something completely

67. Notes (p.147-end) Eddie has aged by the fourth person
Coming close to the end of his five people
Approaches all different wedding receptions with different culture
Celebrating love in various ways
Eddie hates weddings
Embarrassed
Can’t do anything at them
Would avoid them