Saturday, August 9, 2014

THE BOOK EARTHWORM LITERARY CIRCLE - The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (Book 2)



As the summarizer of the group, here is the summary of the novel by Mitch Albom The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

The Five People you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom 
SUMMARY (Elaiza Tero)

The story begins with Eddie's death at eighty-three years of age and then through flashbacks reveals his entire life. He wears a badge that reads "Eddie Maintenance." The children call him that, as if Maintenance were his last name. He is in charge of the rides at Ruby Pier along with his assistant, Dominguez. Eddie takes pride in the accident-free safety record at the Pier. In the first chapter, readers learn that a young man has lost his car keys, and eventually the keys cause the most popular ride, Freddy's Free Fall, to malfunction. Eddie directs the rescue of riders whose cart has tilted. The ride starts again. Eddie sees that the cable has been shredded, but he is unable to make himself heard in time to prevent one of the carts from falling towards a little girl. He leaps to save her, and that is the last thing he remembers on earth.
The remainder of the novel is told in alternating present-tense encounters in Heaven and flashbacks that are organized around Eddie's birthdays. He is told that he will meet five people in Heaven, and the purpose of those meetings is to help him understand his life on earth. The first person he meets is the Blue Man from the freak show on the Pier, who died when Eddie was eight years old. The Blue Man reveals that eight-year-old Eddie was responsible for the Blue Man's death when he ran in front of the car the Blue Man was driving. In Heaven, the man tells Eddie his life story, and the lesson Eddie is to learn from this first person is that there are no random acts. All lives are interconnected, and fairness does not govern life or death.
The second person Eddie meets is his captain from the war. Four of his men, including Eddie, were captured with him in the Philippines. The captain was killed by a landmine as they were escaping after several months as captives of brutal enemy soldiers. Eddie was sure that there was a child in a tent he had torched, and he was going into the fire to rescue it. As he headed into the fire, Eddie's leg was shot, leaving him a resentful cripple for the rest of his life. His chief resentment is an unproductive life spent maintaining rides in an amusement park as the result of the war and the injury. He discovers in this second encounter in Heaven that his captain shot him in order to save him from being burned in the tent. He comes to accept the act of the captain, who was determined to leave no one behind. The lesson he learns is that no one dies for nothing and that when you sacrifice something precious, such as a leg, you always gain something. Eddie just doesn't know yet what he has gained.
The third person Eddie meets is a woman named Ruby, for whom Ruby Pier was named long before Eddie's time. He meets her near a diner, where Eddie is shocked to find his father. She takes him to a scene in his family's kitchen where an old friend of his father's, Mickey Shea, attempts to assault his mother. His father comes home and chases Mickey with a hammer but ends up rescuing him from an attempted suicide-by-drowning off the pier. Ruby tells Eddie that his father is angry but that he can't let an old friend die without trying to save him. Mickey befriended Eddie's father in times of need. Besides, Mickey has just lost his job because of his drinking and is drunk at the time. His father gets them both out of the water, but he is unable to get himself up from the beach for several hours. He dies of pneumonia a few weeks later, and Eddie ends up working on the Pier to save his father's job. Once his father dies, he stays on the job, and he and Marguerite move into the same apartment house where he had grown up. The lesson he learns from this encounter is taught by Ruby. She tells him that anger is self-destructive and that he must forgive. Eddie goes back to the diner and kneels beside his father, who is not able to hear him or speak to him because he has already moved on in Heaven. Eddie tells him that he has forgiven him and is letting his resentment go.
The fourth person Eddie meets is his wife, Marguerite. Their relationship was a rewarding and fulfilling one although it went through a bad period when Eddie lost money at a racetrack. The money would have paid for the adoption of a child that Marguerite wanted very much, since she was unable to bear children. He called her from the racetrack to tell her that he was winning, and she was angry and begged him to come home. In retaliation for her anger, he foolishly gambled away all he had won. She was remorseful that she was angry when he called and drove to the racetrack to tell him so. On the way, she had an accident and was seriously injured. Eventually, they got past the damage that had been done, and for the last three years before she died of a brain tumor, they were once again close and supportive. Now they have a happy reunion in Heaven, organized against the backdrop of several weddings from different countries. The lesson that he learns from this fourth encounter is that lost love is still love. It just takes a different form. Although life has to end, love doesn't.
The fifth person Eddie meets is a little girl, named Tala, whom he tried to rescue in the burning tent in the Philippines in the war. She asks him to take a stone and wash her as her mother had done. When he does, all the damage done by the fire is washed away. She asks him why he was so unhappy on earth, and he tells her it was because he never accomplished anything. She tells him that he was where he was supposed to be, keeping children safe on the rides for her sake. She also tells him that he did, in fact, save the little girl from the falling cart and that as he died, the hands he felt in his were her own, Tala's. She was bringing him to Heaven to keep him safe, she tells him. At last, Eddie feels peace. Eddie is then transported back to Marguerite to spend eternity with her at home in Heaven.



Groupmates :

Jermaine Dela Cruz (Discussion Director)
As a Discussion Director Jermaine gave us five questions to be discussed and answered, and we all agreed to one answer in every question.



1.       Do you think Eddie should be blamed for the death of the Blue Man?
All our lives are connected with one another, but it doesn't mean one should be blamed for the death of another one if that person isn't even aware of what he has done. The issue here is whether he should be blamed or not. Our stand for that matter is NO. He shouldn't be blamed because what happened was an accident. Eddie was very young then that he wasn't even aware that Blue Man was passing along that road that day. It was, unfortunately, the fate of the Blue Man to die that day.

2.        If Eddie had known earlier why Captain shot his leg, would his life be the same as the life he had when he was alive?

Of course NO. But let's just day that he was never shot by Captain. Do you think he would still be working in Ruby Pier? He would have worked other job. In that way, he wouldn't be able to secure the lives of the people, especially children patronizing the rides of the carnival. We believe it was better that Captain shot his leg. You know things happen for a reason. 

3.       If you could change one person in the 5 people Eddie met in heaven, who would it be, who would you replace and why?

 The beauty of the 5-people framework is that not all of them know Eddie intimately, but have certain connection with him. A special connection which shaped the entirety of the novel. Each person, brought important lesson on Eddie's life-- The Blue Man teaches Eddie his first lesson, which is that there are no random acts in life, and that all incidents are intertwined in some way. Captain teaches Eddie that when one loses something, they often gain something else. Ruby teaches Eddie to let go of his anger and to forgive his father for the damage he caused in his life. Marguerite teaches him the lesson that love is not lost with death. Tala teaches Eddie that his life did have a purpose which was to keep children safe at the pier.

4.       Why do you think Eddie has to meet 5 people in heaven before he could finally see his heaven?

 Ideally, the novel tells us that each person in the world has to meet 5 people in heaven before they could proceed to their own heaven to become one of another person's 5 people. The main reason is to teach them important lessons in life so that they would realize their existence in the world when they are still alive.

5.       What do you think would happen to Ruby Pier after Eddie's death?
       
       Eddie was regarded as an important character in Ruby Pier. Children love him and his co-workers look up to him. Perhaps, upon his death, Ruby Pier would still be operating but with extreme care because his death brought lesson with regards to proper monitoring of rides.


 Arjun Dango (Passage Picker)


“That there are no random acts.
That we are all connected.
That you cannot separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.”
-The Blue Man
 
 


            As the passage picker, I picked this line from Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven stated by Joseph Corvelzchik or commonly known as The Blue Man.
            In life, sometimes, we don’t notice some acts that may affect other people; decisions that can lead to chains of effect to the people that surrounds us. There are many circumstances that show the chains and effects in our lives, such as the issues of our government these days. Some governors take advantage of their positions to filch the money of the people; in the long run, they get richer every month, and the poor people gets poorer day by day. In the story of the book, the blue man died because of Eddie because of the car accident that Eddie doesn’t even notice. The example that I have given is far from the story, but as you analyzes it well, the governors can be Eddie, they did things that they don’t notice but they’re acquainted with, and the poor people can be the blue man who will be affected.
Thus, we should think before we act, not by the usual things that we do, but by the things can make us regret.




 - Good job Arjun, but I will add something, that line of The blue who Eddie first met in heaven simply says that our lives are connected to eachother, even those people who you just met in the highway or the people who you just met in the mall, we just dont know what they will going to be in our lives, that simply says that we should value those people whom we met.


John  Salvador Demdam (Connector)
 John as the connector, connected the novel The fFive People You Meet in Heaven to the song 100 years by Five for Fighting.



 I'm fifteen for a moment
Caught in between ten and twenty
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are
 I'm twenty two for a moment
 She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
Fifteen, there's never a wish better than this
 When you only got hundred years to live
 I'm thirty three for a moment
 Still the man, but you see I'm of age
 A kid on the way
A family on my mind I'm forty five for a moment
 The sea is high And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy, time to lose yourse
lf Within a morning star
Fifteen I'm all right with you
 Fifteen, there's never a wish better than this
 When you only got hundred years to live
 Half time goes by Suddenly you're wise
Another blink of an eye Sixty seven is gone
 The sun is getting high
 We're moving on I'm ninety nine for a moment
Dying for just another moment
 And I'm just dreaming
 Counting the ways to where you are
Fifteen there's still time for you
Twenty two I feel her too
Thirty three you're on your way
 Every day's a new day
Fifteen there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey fifteen, there's never a wish better than this .
When you only got hundred years to live 


The song just simply tells us that we should live our life according to what we want and loved to. If we have just that 100 years assurance to live, that we can do all of the things we want. But then, life is sudden, that we cannot assure on what year in our life all of these things will end. As soon as we have already the maturity in us, that we may weigh things, we may think a hundred times in decision making and even show or express what we feel. By this, some points in our life will just come along without any regret and frustrations for there were no expectations. Let's have some lines from the song. Fifteen there's still time for you Time to buy and time to lose Fifteen, there's never a wish better than this When you only got hundred years to live. We may have all what we want and do what we want to do at this point of time, at this point of being in early age. But of course losing everything of what we have is present as well. So as long as we are living, we should make use of our time wisely. As long as we have the strength to exert all of our extra effort just to show to all VIP's in our life, let's do it accordingly to what we want. Let us not wait for the next time. Let us do it this time.

- It is very good to connect the novel The five people you meet in heaven to the song 100 years, it is  just simply saying that everything we've done, do and will do should be cherished and should  be worth doing for, because we only live once and death is inevitable, and we don't know when are we going to die. We should value everything while we are still alive, the things we had, the people who made us happy and even those people who we just simply met in the way, because we don't know, he or she will be having a part or a role in our life.

Ryan Mark Catanio (Character Captain)



Major Character’s Characterization:
Eddie “The Maintenance”
-          The protagonist and the main character that the novel centers. Eddie is 83 years old amusement park maintenance and a war veteran. The novel introduced him first in his death, but it was also said that his death is only the beginning. “All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.” (1). Eddie is children lover, a loyal husband and a good brother. But he was changed because of war; he lost his leg and becameoblivious. Eddie is also a good man, sacrificing his life to save a little girl named Amy.  As the story progresses, he will meet the five people in heaven that has a significance in his life. Eddie will learn from this five people about fairness, sacrifice, realization, forgiveness,loyalty, love, peace. This five people will also change him from being oblivious to someone who can appreciate life as it should be.

Ø  Eddie is a “man twisted by war”. He was an ambitious man, a man full of dreams before, the war changed him. “Eddie, before enlisting, had been working to save money to study engineering. That was his goal—he wanted to build things, even if his brother, Joe, kept saying, ‘C'mon, Eddie, you aren't smart enough for that.’ ” (68). Because of war, Eddie lost his leg, and by that Eddie lost hope in his life. His fiery passionate dreams died, as the beautiful flower burned by fire.

Ø  Eddie becomes an oblivious man. He is an oblivious man, because he keeps himself from drowning deeper into his own oblivion of regression. He did not do anything to raise himself up from the war that has changed his life. Instead, he blamed himself, his father and all the things that surround him that caused his the miserable life.

Ø  Eddie is also a good man. Eddie sacrificed and died in order to save Amy’s life, a girl who is standing on the "ride's metal base" that one of Freddy's Free Fall's carts comes crashing down on.Eddie doesn't know whether or not he saved her until the end of the book.
Joseph Corvelzshick “The Blue Man” – Fairness
“…there are no random acts… we are all connected… you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.”(50)The First Lesson
-          Joseph Corvelzshick, the first man in Eddie’s journey to his heaven. Joseph Corvelzshick a middle-aged man who became blue, due to the side effect of repeated ingestion of silver nitrate. He was called the Blue Man, because he worked at the freak show and people like calling him that.
-           The Blue Man is the first to introduce and to inform Eddie on the journey that he is facing. The Blue Man also explained the true meaning of heaven and that everyone has its own heaven and everyone has its own five people to meet.
-          “‘There are five people you meet in heaven,’ the Blue Man suddenly said. ‘Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.’ ‘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.’ ” (42).
-          The Blue Man died on an accident that Eddie had cause. But the Blue Man forgave Eddie and teaches him about “fairness” of life.
-          “ ‘Fairness,’ he said, ‘does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young.’ ” (54). The Blue Man died has died but Eddie has live to continue his life on earth. A good man died, another good man live. Fairness.

"Strangers," the Blue Man said, "are just family you have yet to come to know."
-The Blue Man, The Five People You Meet in Heaven-


The CaptainSacrifice

“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it.  You’re just passing it on to someone else.”(98)  The Second Lesson

-          Eddie's commanding officer at war and the second person on his journey towards his heaven. The Captain is a man of his 30’s with a full head of dark hair. He was raised to be a soldier for his father and ancestor was also a soldier.“‘Did you know,’ the Captain said, ‘that I come from three generations of military?’ Eddie shrugged. ‘Yep. I knew how to fire a pistol when I was six. In the mornings, my father would inspect my bed, actually bounce a quarter on the sheets. At the dinner table it was always, 'Yes, sir,' and, 'No, sir.'”(100).
-          The Captain isthe one who shoot Eddie’s leg to save Eddie’s life. Eddie did not know about it, till the captain told him so. “‘Because I was the one,’ he said, ‘who shot you.’” (100). The Captain did so, because the Captain always promised he would "leave no one behind," nomatter what happened, even though it means to sacrifice its own life.
-          “ ‘Sacrifice,’ THE CAPTAIN said. ‘You made one. I made one. We all make them. But you were angry over yours. You kept thinking about what you lost. ‘You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father. ‘A man goes to war. . . .’ ” (108).
-          Sacrifice is what Eddie learned from the Captain. The Captain sacrificed his life to save Eddie, and Eddie sacrificed his life to saved Amy.

Sacrifice“It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.”
-The Captain, The Five People You Meet in Heaven-

RubyRealization, Forgivenessand Loyalty

“Which was worse when left unexplained: a life, or a death?”(148)The Third Lesson
-          Eddie’s third person to meet in heaven. Eddie meets Ruby at a diner. She is described as woman with a gaunt face, with sagging cheeks, rose-colored lipstick, and tightly pulled-back white hair. Ruby was a poor working girl until she met Emile, a sophisticated, self-earned, rich man. Emile builds Ruby a beautiful, red and crème amusement park and names it Ruby Pier, after Ruby. The amusement park later sets on fire and kills Emile, who tries to save it. He is hospitalized in the same room as Eddie’s father. Ruby always taught that it was all of her fault: her husband’s death, Eddie’s father’s death and pier worker’s miserable life. She wished that the pier should have never been built. It was her past, Ruby learned to forgive herself in heaven. And so, Ruby past it on to Eddie.
-           Ruby helps Eddie to “realize” and to explain his life and most importantly his father’s mistake.
-          “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.”(110). 
-          Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them.  They move on.  They move away.  The moments that used to define them – a mother’s approval, a father’s nod –are covered by moments of their own accomplishments.  It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.”(133).
-          “Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.” (141).
-          And with his realization, Eddie forgave himself and his father.
-           Ruby did not only teach Eddie about the realization and forgiveness, but also about loyalty.
-          “ ‘Fifty-six,’ the old woman repeated. ‘His body had weakened, the ocean had left him vulnerable, pneumonia took hold of him, and in time, he died.’ ‘Because of Mickey?’ Eddie said. ‘Because of loyalty,’ she said. ‘People don’t die because of loyalty.’ ‘They don’t?’ She smiled. ‘Religion?Government? Are we not loyal to such things, sometimes to the death?’ Eddie shrugged. ‘Better,’ she said, ‘to be loyal to one another.’ ”(138).
-          Ruby turned Eddie into a something new: a person who’s past is at deepest oblivion is now at end and at peace. As beautiful flower burned by fire, yet revived to become more glowing and more beautiful.

“You have peace when you make it with yourself.”
-Ruby, TheFive People You Meet in Heaven-


Marguerite “Eddie’s WifeLove
“Love like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive.”(164) The Forth Lesson
-          Eddie’s forth person to meet in heaven. Eddie’s wife, Marguerite, is introduced in the very beginning as a “wound beneath an old bandage… a bandage he had become accustomed to.”(11).
-           She is the love of Eddie’s life, but dies at the young age of 47. Although both Eddie and Marguerite love children, Marguerite is not able to conceive and they try to adopt. Marguerite, after a car accident is hospitalized and due to the months spent in recovery they are never able to adopt a child. Although this tests their marriage, they overcome even this and slowly start to be happier. That is until Marguerite is suddenly diagnosed with a brain tumor and leaves Eddie. Eddie meets Marguerite in heaven and learns that she did not just leave Eddie and that Eddie’s love for her was never weakened due to her death.
I never wanted anyone else,” he said quietly.

“I know,” she said.

“I was still in love with you.”

“I know.” She nodded. “I felt it.”

“Here in heaven?” he asked.
“Even here,” she said, smiling. “That’s how strong lost love can be.”

“Lost love is still love.  It takes a different form, that’s all.  You can’t see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor.  But when those senses weaken, another heightens.  Memory.  Memory becomes your partner.  You nurture it.  You hold it.  You dance with it. 
Life has to end.  Love doesn’t.”  
-Marguerite, The Five People You Meet in Heaven-


TalaPeace
"Not her hands," she said. "My hands. I bring you to heaven. Keep you safe."(213)
The Fifth Lesson
-           Eddie’s last of five, Tala. Tala is a young 6 years old Filipina girl, who Eddie accidentally burned inside the nipahut in the Philippines.
-          “With a beautiful cinnamon complexion, hair the color of a dark plum, a small flat nose, full lips that spread joyfully over her gapped teeth, and the most arresting eyes, as black as a seal's hide, with a pinhead of white serving as a pupil.”(214)
-          Tala is an innocent girl who did not deserve to die at a young age. Tala forgave Eddie for murdering her.
-          Tala’s purpose is to tell Eddie that her death is only an accident and only intentional. And that Eddie should not blame himself and have peaceinside of him.
-          Tala is also the one who told Eddie that he saved Amy.

"Children," she said. "You keep them safe. You make good for me."
-Tala, The Five People You Meet in Heaven-

 
- The Character Captain really gave us the precise and good characterization, but please (for Ryan) next time, kindly past your work before the deadline so that there will be no delays of presenting or passing our literary circle blogs.Thankyou :)



Hara Vessa Escabarte (Artistic Adventurer)

 

  
- It is very clever to use that photo of ours to present the artistic adventure. ( :D ) Good job Hara!


Ronald Surilla (Vocabulary Enricher)


Vocabulary

Protude (pg.2)
(V) extend beyond or above a surface.
Squint (pg.112)
(V) look at someone or something with one or both eyes partly closed in an attempt. to see more clearly or as a reaction to strong light.
Feign (pg.176)
(V) pretend to be affected by (a feeling, state, or injury).
Embankment (pg.181)
(N) a raised bank or wall that is built to carry a roadway or hold back water.
Shudder (pg.180)
(V)
(of a person) tremble convulsively, typically as a result of fear or revulsion.
Succulent (pg.100)
(Adj.) of plants : having thick, heavy leaves or stems that store water.
Retaliate (pg.60)
(V) make an attack or assault in return for a similar attack.
Scabies (pg.63)
(N)
a contagious skin disease marked by itching and small raised red spots, caused by the itch mite.
Carbine (pg.62)
(N) a light automatic rifle.
Bandolier (pg.62)
(N) a shoulder-belt with loops or pockets for cartridges.
Phantom (pg.52)
(N) a figment of the imagination.
Faltered (pg.157)
(V) start to lose strength or momentum.
Squawk (pg.13)
(V) (of a bird) make a loud, harsh noise.
Smolder (pg.95)
(V) burn slowly with smoke but no flame.
Shortcoming (pg.95)
(N) a fault or failure to meet a certain standard, typically in a person's character, a plan, or a system.
Vouched (pg.137)
(V) assert or confirm as a result of one's own experience that something is true or accurately so described.
Flail (pg.136)
(V) wave or swing or cause to wave or swing wildly.
Pelt (pg.136)
(V)
attack (someone) by repeatedly hurling things at them.


- Hi Ron! Good job! :) Ronald as the vocabulary enricher gave us the meaning of the unfamiliar words in the novel, I was shocked for the word *squawk* i thought it is just a sound produce by an animal. hehe