CONFLICT

There are two conflicts in this novel: the major conflict is Morrie vs. ALS and the
second, minor conflict, is Mitch vs. himself. Morrie must come to terms with his
illness and accept his coming death from ALS. In the meantime, Mitch, his former
college student, visits him every Tuesday. Mitch has become very disillusioned with
his fast-paced life and constant strive for materialistic possessions. He struggles to
find meaning with his life and to change the person he has become in the sixteen years
since he had last seen Morrie.

Protagonist

Morrie Schwartz is the protagonist of Tuesdays with Morrie; he is the character

around which the action develops. Morrie is a loving, compassionate and accepting
older man who is losing his life to the disease, ALS.

Antagonist

The disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is the antagonist of the story. This
is the disease from which Morrie is suffering throughout the novel. We see the disease
gradually begin taking over Morrie: he stops dancing; he then eventually is confined
to his chair in his study; the disease then prevents him from eating solid foods and
moving around without help. Eventually he is bed ridden and fully succumbed to the
disease, which does finally take his life.

Climax

Mitch visits Morrie for the last time, when he is very close to his death; after years of
trying to get Mitch to open up, Morrie finally succeeds at doing so by seeing him cry.

Outcome

At Morrie’s funeral, Mitch has a conversation with Morrie, in his head, and feels at
ease due to the familiarity of the conversation. Mitch also takes Morrie’s advice and
contacts his brother in Spain. Another outcome of this story is the novel itself-Mitch
relaying the story of a man who changed his life.
 SUMMARY

Prof.Morrie is Mitch Albom’s favorite college teacher. At the begiining of the novel,
Mitch Albom flashback a memory from his college graduation day, he was saying
goodbye to Prof.Morrie and gave him a briefcase with his initials on it.

Since his graduation, Mitch become a reporter. He leads a very fast paced life and is
constantly working and traveling. He has become so engrossed in his work

About sixteen years after Mitch’s graduation day;Prof.Morrie was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Since Prof.Morrie was diagnosed , he began
jotting down ideas and thoughts onto scrap paper, yellow pads or even envelopes. He
also wrote philosophies about living. One of his friends was so taken with his writing,
he sent them to the Boston Globe reporter, who wrote a feature story about
Prof.Morrie. The story intrigued one of the producers of the show, “Nightline”, who
then did a feature story about prof.Morrie. Mitch happened to see the “Nightline”
show and recognized his old professor. He called him to set up a visit.

Mitch began visiting Prof.Morrie every Tuesday. Their discussi about world, regrets,
death, love and money; the purpose of their meetings was to discuss Morrie’s view on
the meaning of life. Mitch became so intrigued by Prof.Morrie’s philosophies that he
began taking notes and even recording Morrie.

Prof.Morrie’s philosophies included rejecting popular culture morals and following

self-created values, loving others, and learning to accept death.

With each lesson, Prof.Morrie becomes increasingly sick; during their last meeting,
Prof.Morrie was bed ridden and near death. As he and Mitch hugged for one last time,
Prof.Morrie notices Mitch is finally crying.

Morrie dies a short time after. At his funeral Mitch tries having a conversation with
Morrie, as he had wanted. Mitch feels a certain naturalness and comfort to this
conversation and realizes that it happens to be Tuesday.

After Morrie’s death Mitch regains contact with his brother who lives in Spain. He
takes care his brother with love. Sometimes the changing become change when you
love so deep with someone whom very important in your life.
1. Setting :

Setting in Tuesday With Morries is on home actualy with many situation ofcorse.

2. Plot:

introduction

rising action

climax

falling action

resolution

3. conflict

4. character

5. point of view

Theme

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE: STUDY NOTES / PLOT

SYNOPSIS

PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

Albom wrote the plot very straightforward with little ambiguity and complicated
historical references. He has a tendency to include flashbacks to his college years
from when he was a student of Morrie’s; he does this to give background on his once,
slightly naïve and less materialistic self, so the readers have a clear conception of the
person he has become in the following sixteen years. He also does this to emphasize
Morrie’s loving and compassionate values that he has always tried to express through
his teachings.
Mitch feels so thankful to have had Morrie in his life; for he has helped bring value
and purpose into Mitch’s life. Through the plot Mitch wishes to express how Morrie
has changed his life, through these Tuesday lessons; also, Morrie wishes to express
his teachings and values to the world and he was able to do that through Mitch and
this novel.

Exposition

In the Exposition, introductory material is presented which gives the reader the
setting, creates the tone and presents the characters and other facts necessary to
understanding the story. The exposition takes place through the first four chapters.
“The Curriculum” (1) tells us that there will be a class taught, on the meaning of life,
by a teacher who is dying; his death would come at the end of the course. The author
also tells us that he is the student. In the second chapter the author presents
background information on Morrie Schwartz: the teacher. We learn information about
Morrie: he is a teacher, he loves to dance and he has been diagnosed with ALS. The
following chapter presents background information about the author and narrator,
Mitch Albom. We learn here that he is a sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press and
that he is very wealthy and successful. “The Audiovisual” (18) is the final chapter in
the exposition in which the narrator describes how he first knew of Morrie’s sickness,
which leads him to these weekly Tuesday visits with Morrie. After this chapter all of
the background information, and major characters have been introduced and from here
on, the action begins to rise as Mitch visits Morrie every Tuesday.

Rising Action
The Rising Action is the events that build from the conflict. There are two conflicts in
this story: the first being Morrie’s struggle with his fatal disease, ALS; the second
being Mitch’s struggle with himself in dealing with the person he has become and the
person who he wishes to be and the new life he wants to lead. The action begins to
rise after Mitch sees Morrie on the “Nightline” show. He has not seen or spoken to
Morrie in over sixteen years. After Mitch sees Morrie on “Nightline” he contacts him
and begins to visit him every Tuesday for lessons which all encompass the meaning of
life. The action rises throughout the novel with each new lesson as we see Mitch
struggle with his life and Morrie struggle with his impending death.

Climax
The climax is the high point of the story and also the point at which the outcome can
be predicted. The climax in this story does not happen until the last Tuesday Mitch
and Morrie spend together. Throughout the novel and for the entire time Morrie has
known Mitch, he has been trying to get him to open up and express more emotion.
When they meet again, towards the beginning of the novel, Morrie tells Mitch that he
is still going to try and make him cry. After all these years, during their last visit
Mitch hugged Morrie for what will be the last time and began to cry. From here on the
action begins to fall as we can predict the outcome will be Morrie’s death.

Falling Action
The Falling Action is the events after the Climax, which close the story and lead to the
resolution. The falling action begins just after Morrie makes Mitch cry. Morrie dies
not too long after and Mitch attends his funeral.

Resolution (Denouement)
The resolution is the outcome of all the events in the story. During one of the Tuesday
lessons, Morrie says to Mitch, “you talk I’ll listen” (188); implying that after his death
he still wants Mitch to talk with him just as he did when he was alive. At the end of
the novel, when Mitch is at Morrie’s funeral he tried talking with Morrie and was
pleasantly surprised at how natural it felt. We can assume that Mitch will continue to
find comfort and guidance in his life through these conversations with Morrie.

With his new outlook on life, Mitch also tried contacting his sick brother in Spain. For
the first time, Mitch told his brother how much he wanted to be a part of his life and
how much he loves him. At the end of the novel we can tell that Mitch and his brother
will continue to remain in contact as opposed to before.