A Short Story : The Story Of The Blue Man

Eddie’s journey begins with a passion to read books and write poems. When Eddie first opened up about this to his girlfriend Lupe, “then [she] told [him he] should be a writer” (Johnson 76). Lupe is the root of his love for literature. However, he cannot let his reputation - which

The author Mitch Albom incorporates sacrifice which is a big part of being a brothers keeper in The Five People you Meet in Heaven. Eddie was in war for a short period of time, during this time The Captain becomes his keeper because he shot himself in the leg to protect Eddie, as a captain he should have done this. He teaches him that grieving is the only way out of a tough situation, similar to the one he is in. Eddie does not recognize the reasoning behind why he did what he did. The Captain explains to Eddie, "Sacrifice, you made one. I made one. We all make them. But you are angry over yours. You kept thinking about what you lost… You didn’t get it. Sacrifice is a part of life." (Albom 93). By doing this it shows his bravery, loyalty and companionship towards Eddie. He shot Eddie in the leg so Eddie would not die in the burning tent. Even though he sacrificed his life for Eddies he was

In the short story “Sonny’s Blues”, the story takes place in an Urban Neighborhood in Harlem. The narrator is a guarded man who tells a story about his younger brother. Sonny, who is a troubled man who’s trying to seek a way to escape the shameless streets of Harlem. Sonny goes to prison and the narrator doesn’t speak to his brother for a long period of time until after his daughter’s tragic death. Sonny reaches out to his brother to send his condolences. After Sonny is released from prison he returns to his brother and family. Sonny explains to his brother about his passion for jazz music and the narrator is not very supportive or understand how significant it is. But he doesn’t know that Sonny’s music is how he copes and escapes from all the horrible things that has happened in his life. After the narrator sees his brother play one night he realizes Sonny true passion for his music and the real person he is. It even helps the narrator with his own personal problems and he didn’t realize he had until Sonny’s performance.

Eddie the matenience man of Ruby Pier carnival seems like just typical old man, who struggles with the idea that he never lived up to his potential. However, after he dies, he is able to see his life through a different perspective, one of eternity, and realizes how unique and important his life has been. This closely echoes the truth found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church which says that only in heaven with Christ will we find our true identity and meaning of life. 1 Death is only the beginning for Eddie and his journey through the five “heavens” of people that his life has impacted demonstrates how intricately woven together every humanity is. As pilgrims, our view of suffering and day to day actions constricts our ability to see how God truly weaves human messiness together to create a beautiful tale of redemption. So, we must live for the destination, not for the journey, leaning on hope instead of complete understanding.

Turning against the world of drugs and violence, Eddie vows to take the straight and narrow path, even if it means struggling at temporary manual labor jobs. So when he takes a landscaping job for a white man across town thinking that god had finally heard him, the man's truck is stolen from the front of Eddie's apartment causing yet another problem to add on. He hid for hours and days drinking because he really liked his job with the white man and was afraid of what might happen to him. Although getting the truck stolen from him kinda seems like a big deal, it is not because that sort of thing happens daily in the streets of fresno that he lived by, it was almost like that was something normal to him. So when his aunt gets home she reminds him yet another time that his cousin died only this time a gun came with the tortillas she would try and persuade him with the avenge the death of her son.

Eddie at the beginning of the story was hopeful that his career would succeed.Everything started going well for him, people said he played from the heart. He was starting to show that he had money, he got a leather jacket and and wore a chain. He made 1 record that went to the charts. When he went to hollywood he met a girl immediately and moved in with her. Not only that she taught him how to play the guitar which started his music career.Eddie started to become successful however when the A&R man told him that he doesn't hear a single. His music career was basically over, he had no idea what to do, he was confused. He was lost, he had no career when his A&R man fired him, he is “a rebel without a

Eddie was born in Washington D.C, the son of two immigrants, making him a second generation immigrant. This effects his self-identity because he is different. He grew up in a different culture than most kids. This came apparent to him early on. Eddie’s food at lunch was different than the “average” lunch. He had food that was traditional to his culture, but it did not smell good. The other kids made fun of Eddie, “It was embarrassing, so I asked Mom to start packing me some white people food.” He was aware that he came from a different background than most kids, and that is was because of his parents being first generation immigrants, making him second.

Through Eddies school experience got off to a rough start with many fights and comments about his parents and their Asian culture. He never took comments against him very well, he fought back many times with physical violence. He had to change schools many times through his adolescence because

Well, Eddie states in the story that he wants to buy a pair of sneakers, Adidas, to spend his money on and he wants to spend his money on the shoes but his mother writes him a letter stating why he shouldn’t buy the shoes.

His second stop is where he meets his commanding officer of his world war II platoon. Eddie remembers being held captive along with his captain and four others. He also was the one responsible for coming up with a plan for them to escape. After they did that the captain told them to burn the place they were held captive but eddie ran back because he thought he saw a young girl, but a bullet was shot and hit him right in the knee. He learned the importance of sacrifice from the captain who then says that that it was him who shot eddie. He says that he had to sacrifice his knee in order to save his life. The captain then reveals that he died because he stepped on a landmine getting Eddie to safety, meaning he also made sacrifice.One his way out he advises Eddie to let go of his anger. The third stop is where he sees a vision of his father. He had flashbacks of the abuse he suffered from the hands of his father when he was drunk.then he meets Ruby who’s husband is the founder of Ruby Pier which was named after her. She offers him a new way to look at his father’s death. Eddie believed that his father died because he made a decision while drunk to jump into the freezing water and caught pneumonia, but really he was trying to save his friend mickey’s life. Mickey tried to kill himself after Eddie’s father caught him assaulting

Lesson number one: “No life is a waste,” (Albom 50). Eddie’s first encounter was in heaven with The Blue Man. He explains to Eddie that when he was a young boy he killed him. This happened when Eddie ran in front of his car resulting in a heart attack. Eddie responds by saying “I never killed you, ok?” (Albom 60). Eddie meets many people throughout his life. Each relationship taught him a special lesson on how life goes by quick and make the best of it. “The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone”(Albom 67). This represents when you grow up you should spend your time with friends and family.

Eddie was born into a broken home without a strong father figure in Harlem on one of the worst streets in the town. There were already so many people judging him because of his race and where he was brought up. For a short time, Eddie chose to fulfill a more meaningful future instead of dwelling on his race, but ultimately, he decided to let the stereotypes of his race define him. As time went on at Exeter, Eddie learned firsthand what others thought of him and his race he quickly learned that “[w]hen you’re black, and you’re in a white prep school, control is the paramount thing in your life. You have to be in control - you can’t give anything away, especially how you are really feeling” (Anson 205).

     Upon hearing this Eddie feels awful and asks why the blue man died instead of Eddie. The blue man assures him that it was okay and that everything happens for a reason. “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” (Albom, 48). This was the first lesson for Eddie. That everything happens for a reason and that no life is a waste. “No life is a waste, the only time we waste is the time we spend thinking that we are alone.” (50)

Throughout the novel, Eddie also can be exemplified as a sympathetic character. sympathetic characters are when readers feel sympathy for throughout a story. The reader can feel empathy for Eddie, when the author describes the pain of Eddie’s gunshot wound. The pain was described to be unbearable and the description of the event of the gunshot pains a morbid picture in the reader’s mind. During Eddie’s time as a soldier in World War II, any reader can feel an astonishing amount of sympathy for Eddie. During, Eddie’s time as a soldier, he experienced, “A piercing pain ripped through Eddie's leg. He screamed a long, hard curse then crumbled to the ground. Blood was spewing below his knee. Plane engines roared. The skies lit in bluish flashes. He lay there, bleeding and burning, his eyes shut against the searing heat, and for the first time in his life, he felt ready to die,” (Albom 84). The reader can comprehend Eddies suffering and pain. Eddie was on the ground, in a war zone hurt and slowly dying. Readers can feel a lot of sympathy for when Eddie wanted to let go of the world and die. Before Eddie’s death, he ran under a falling amusement park ride to save a little girl, Eddie

can see the type of man Eddie is, as when he meets the brothers for