Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

The book is about an old maintenance man named Eddie who works at the Ruby Pier amusement park. He spent his whole childhood playing at the amusement park with his friends and older brother. On one normal routine day, an amusement park ride malfunctions because of a loose wire. He did everything he could to fix the ride but his best was not good enough. The wire was cut off and the ride fell off its tracks. He then died suddenly while trying to save a girl from the falling amusement park ride. After he died, he was sent to Heaven where he meets five people that played some important part in his life. Each person he meets explains to Eddie how they died and the reason for encountering one another again. Each person had some kind of life lesson to teach Eddie. After he died, he realized the point of his life. Eddie did not have a good relationship with his drunken father who beat him. Eddie home from war one day and his father took a drunken swing at him. Eddie resisted by grabbing his father's arm and they never spoke again. A few years later his father died from pneumonia. Eddie's mother could not cope with the death of her husband so her and Eddie moved to the apartment where he grew up. Eddie has always wanted to be an engineer but his father thought differently and wanted Eddie to follow his footsteps and become a maintenance man. Eddie fell in love to a woman named Marguerite and soon after they were hitched. I can not say the five people Eddie met without ruining the story. The theme of The Five People You Meet in Heaven is it is a story of a man's journey to eternal piece after he struggled all his life.

1. If you were in Eddie's position, would you try to save the little girl's life even if you were risking your own?

2. Would you have done what Eddie did when his father took a drunken swing at him even if you knew you may never speak to him again?

27 comments:

Kyle N.1-2 said...

1. I don't know. I would certainly love to say that I would, but I don't think I could. If I knew the person, I would definitely try, but for a stranger, I don't know.

2. I don't think I would still let him harm me. I think he's doing it has kind of a symbol that he is no longer under his father's control. After your whole life of being beaten, I think I'd get tired of it.

Anonymous said...

I would also love to say that I would save the little girl's life but no one knows for sure what they will do until the time comes.

I would also not let my father harm me because as a person I have rights and no one person should be harmed in such a way.

AnaleeL7-8 said...

1) Yes I think I would save the girls life even though I was risking my own because I would have just acted on instinct and not thought about consequences.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

1. I agree that it would be difficult to save a stranger. I think that there are the people who act on instinct, as Analee said. However, many people are concerned only about themselves. I think in Eddie's case he worked in a park and loved to make people happy, so for him it was instinct to save the little girl. However, I don't know if I could.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

1. If i was in Eddie's position, I would love to say that i would save the little girl's life but I honestly don't know if I would. I think i would try, not thinking about my own life being taken.

2. I think I would, Eddie had been abused and could finally be free from it, so if it meant not speaking to him, then that's what he had to do.

Natesa W. 7-8 said...

1. I agree with Sydney. I would like to think that I would save them, but I honestly don't know. I have never been in a situation like that.

2. Eddie was hurting from the abuse. He had to do something to end it, no matter what the cost. Even if it means never talking to his father.

Nicole H. 7-8 said...

1. I agree I would love to say I would save the girl's life rather than just watching the whole thing happen. I think it would be more likely for me to risk my life for someone I knew though.

Laura P 7-8 said...

1.) I would hope that if I were in Eddie's shoes I would have done the same, because if I didn't I would probably always wonder what would have happened if I had.

Megan M 1-2 said...

1. If i were Eddie I would have try to saved the girls life, yes because it's the right thing to do but also because I would not be able to live with myself if I knew she died and I did nothing to at least try and save her.
2. I agree with Natesa, he could not keep living like that, so if that means never speaking to his father again, its better then what he was living with.

Brandon Messner said...

1. Sure, if I was an old geezer who had nearly fully experienced life then I would try to save a little girl who still deserves so much more of life. It would be a beneficial trade. Of course, that sounds like a split second decision slow-motion dive sort of deal so I'd think that instincts would take over rather than making a rational decision about whether to save the girl or not.

2. No, I don't think I would've done that, because he was drunk so daddy's real feelings were probably an extremity at that point in time; in a way, it was not even "him" making the swing, you know.

Tyler W 1-2 said...

I would try to save the girls life because she has barely lived and has not experienced life yet.

Lisa T. 1-2 said...

1. I would want to save the girl's life, because I think it'd be worse to know that I let a little girl die when I could've at least tried to help her. However, I don't really think that fast and would not have time to make that decision.
2. I think that because Eddie's father was willing to beat his own son, he clearly didn't care about their relationship, so it was for the better that Eddie stopped him.

Ashlyn W. 7-8 said...

1) I would really like to think that I would save the little girl if I were put in that situation. I really don't know what I would do though if I was in that situation.

Avi D. 7/8 said...

1. I would definitely save that girl and for two distinct reasons. First, was really old and their is really nothing else I can do. Second, the death was relatively quick and painless. I would rather die noble and painlessly than slowly and painfully.

Avi D. 7/8 said...

1. I would definitely save that girl and for two distinct reasons. First, was really old and their is really nothing else I can do. Second, the death was relatively quick and painless. I would rather die noble and painlessly than slowly and painfully.

Sarah H 1-2 said...

I also hope I would have done the same thing as Eddie and tried to save the little girl, but im not positive that I would have the courage to save a stranger. If she were a loved one that I was very close with then I know I would have tried to save her.

Yes I think I would have done what Eddie did to his father because he was just defending himself and no one deserves to be treated the way Eddie's father treated him.

Unknown said...

1. I honestly would love to help the little girl and save her life but I do not know if I would be willing to risk my own life.

2. Yes I think I would have done what Eddie did. It was self defense.

Monica J. 1-2 said...

1. i think i would try to save the little girl because when you have a split second to make that kind of desiscion you tend to worry bout other people before youself.
2. Yes i would have done that becaus eit is never right for a parent to swing at there child and i wouldnt want someone like that in my life.

Freddy B. 7-8 said...

1. I agree with Kyle. You really don't know how you would react in one of those situations unless you're in them.
2. If this happened now I might not talk to my dad for a little bit but living in the same house I'd have a pretty hard time avoiding him. If it happened later in my life I'd probably give him a chance to apologive when he's sober and if he didn't I would avoid him for a few months then try again.

Morgan O 7-8 said...

1) Yes I would do everything I could to save the little girl even if it meant risking my own life. It would be to hard for me to live knowing I didn't try to save her, so even if there was a possibility I could die, I would try to save her.

2) Yes I would do what Eddie did because I wouldn't be able to think of all the consequences it would have in the future, not to mention i don't think its realistic that one event such as this would lead a son and father to never speak again.

Heather B. 1-2 said...

1.) I would hope I would have the courage and strength to do what Eddie did and save the life of the little girl.

2.) I think a sense of self-preservation would have kicked in and I would do anything to protect myself. However, I might regret not speaking later in life.

Nathan S. 7-8 said...

2) If I were in his situation, I would probably think, "Hey, just because my dad can't hold his liquor and had a weak moment doesn't mean I can't speak with him."
I'd defend myself and patch things up when he's sober.

Kaitlyn K 7-8 said...

right now thinking about it I would say I would at least try to save the little girl but if I was actually in the moment I don't know if I would actually have the courage to risk my life for a stranger.

Andrew C 7-8 said...

If i was in Eddy's position i would probbably try to save the girls life but i would never know how i would react until i was actually in his position. What i say i'd do and what i would actually do can and probbably would be diffrent.

Jacob C. 1-2 said...

1. Well. at Eddie's age, I would save the girl. She has a whole life ahead of her while I have lived my life.

2. I would have made the same choice as Eddie. In my opinion, a father that abuses the child no longer deserves to be called that child's father. So in Eddie's case, he was free from his father's control.

Garret Edward Patrick Graehling 1/2 said...

I would save the girl if i could being 83 and barely able to walk. I would have fought back for sure if my dad was swinging at me he can not do that i do not care if he is drunk.

Mrs. Sherwood said...

thread graded and closed.