The Five People You Meet in Heaven

In the book, The Five People You Meet In Heaven written by Mitch Albom introduces an eighty-three old man named Eddie. Eddie worked at an amusement park Ruby Pier as a maintenance man. Eddie was drafted into a war in the Philippines, and after the war he had no ability to fill his life with happiness. During the time growing up, Eddie felt far apart from his father. Eddie's father abused and acted rudely towards him. Eddie blamed his father for his problems to where he was at in his life. Eddie's death introduced the beginning of the book. After dying Eddie goes on a journey through heaven meeting five people who share the importance of sacrifice.

As the beginning of Eddie's journey to heaven began, he first met "The Blue Man". The Blue Man shared the significant moments of his life to Eddie. The Blue Man's real name is Joseph Corvelzchik. He was a middle-aged man who had sorrowful memories as a child. His family were immigrants from Poland and arrived in America in 1894. As the only boy in the family, he went to work with his father in a sweatshop fixing coats. One of the days Joseph went to work with his father, he clumsily dropped a bucket of buttons. Joseph's father was embarrassed when the foreman scolded at his son. Joseph felt humiliated and ashamed of his accident. He then went to a chemist to find a cure for his clumsy nerves, but what he got was silver nitrate, a poisonous toxin. The silver nitrate had turned Joseph's skin from ash grey to blue. Joseph lived a life where he felt outcast from the normal people in life. As Joseph was on the run to find a somewhere safe and not be judged, he came across into carnival entertainers. Joseph without any hesitation approached them. After that moment of fearfulness, he became an entertainer in the freak show at Ruby Pier, being known as The Blue Man. The Blue Man finally felt a sense of freedom for being different. The Blue Man advised Eddie, "that there are no random acts- that we all are connected." (48) He gave his family a normal life by fleeing away.

The second person that he meets is "The Captain", Eddie's former commanding officer when he was drafted as an soldier into the war at the Philippines. He had compassion being a military man from a generation of military family. His loyalty lied on his soldier's in the regiment. During the warfare, his regiment went to burn down huts. Before the last one was burned down, Eddie was approaching it because he saw a shadowy figure that looked like a child. Eddie's colleagues stopped him before he went within the burning hut to determine what the figure was. Before Eddie had a chance to go in, he was shot in the leg and immediately sent back home to be hospitalized. After that, The Captain and the rest of the soldiers left in a vehicle to head back out. But what appeared to be was wired gate with no entrance, The Captain had stepped out with his rifle and to check the perimeter. He waved to his soldiers to notify the clear path, but by the second there was a plane that had flown over and spotted him. Before he knew, there was a land mine right under his foot, and it had blown him up. The Captain shared his darkest secret until he met Eddie in heaven. He explained to Eddie that he was the one who shot the bullet. That he shot the bullet to Eddie's leg to prevent Eddie from dying. Eddie was furious with The Captain. He didn't understand why that was a reasonable thing to do. The Captain had a lot of loyalty for his soldiers and felt that "no one gets left behind."(86) He sacrificed his life because he saw the great ambition in Eddie. He believed in the aspiration of sacrificing "is a part of life."(93) Everybody does sacrifices throughout their life, whether it's small sacrifice or big sacrifice. It's the thought and emotions that count.

The third person that he meets is Ruby, who was a stranger to Eddie in his life. The time period of this heaven came across from the late 1900's as Eddie approached a window from a diner, seeing the type of clothing people were wearing. Ruby had sacrificed so much in life that she wished to be at her simplest during the times that were hard. Ruby's heaven was at Seashore Grille, the diner she had worked at when she was a poor young woman. She was married with Emile. Emile was a wealthy man who came into the diner and charmed her. Emile made Ruby the happiest woman, taking her to different amusements and resorts. He saw the joy she had with the resorts, and promised that he would build one for her. He named the amusement park, Ruby Pier. The important part of the park was the exquisite entrance sign, with a painting of Ruby. Eddie had memorized the picture of Ruby, but he never had seen the sign since it was destroyed. Ruby explained that the sign had burned down the night before Independence Day. It was overall the most hated memory for Ruby, because she had not only lost the best gift, but Emile was injured critically. That night on Independence Day, Emile saw Ruby Pier burning as the smoke clouded the air. He had left Ruby at home, rushing to save it. He was out of his mind, and didn't notice the columns of the entrance sign falling. Emile was unconscious when the column had fell on him. Ruby was devastated and sad. She