Tuesday's with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Mitch comments early on that Morrie is a messy eater. Why does food keep popping up in this story?

• Why is food important in this book? (topic sentence)
• How does Morrie’s ability to eat change? What might be said about food as a symbol of nourishment? Offer three examples in which food is mentioned to support your answer.
• Finally, in your concluding sentence or sentences, connect this discussion of food back to either the theme of Death as a Lesson or the theme Giving is Living.

2. Mitch and Morrie’s relationship is portrayed both in the present and in flashbacks returning to Mitch’s days at Brandeis University. How is their relationship different and how does it continue to change throughout the book?

• What role has Morrie played in Mitch’s life? (topic sentence)
• How has Morrie’s role in Mitch’s life stayed the same and how has it changed? Offer at least two examples in comparing Mitch and Morrie’s relationship at Brandeis with their relationship at the end of Morrie’s life.
• Finally, in your concluding sentence or sentences, connect this discussion to how Mitch changes over the course of the book.

3. Morrie is very critical of commercial culture. How does he relate this to how he thinks people should live their lives?

• What, according to Morrie, is the effect of culture on people’s lives? (topic sentence)
• What are three changes that Morrie thinks people should make to shift away from a focus on culture? Connect these back to your main argument.
• Finally, in your concluding sentence or sentences, connect this discussion back to the theme of If the Culture Doesn’t Work, Don’t Buy It.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Tuesdays with Morrie is not a biography, and it is not a memoir written by Morrie himself. In many ways, it is a guide for living (and for dying). Albom concludes by saying that “[t]he teaching goes on.” How is this illustrated in the way that the book is structured? Write an essay in which you argue that the book is a guide for living and dying. Consider what Morrie might want the outcome to be and use examples from the text to support your argument.

2.   Relationships are central to this book, and Morrie often describes his relationships with friends and family. Focus on one of the relationships that Morrie describes (with Mitch, with Ted Koppel, with his wife, etc.) and consider the theme Giving is Living. How does the relationship fit in with this theme? Use at least three examples from the text to support your argument.

3. Morrie is very critical of culture at times, arguing that it has made people selfish. What might have brought him to this conclusion? Use examples both from his earlier life as Albom describes it in this book, whether those be from his childhood or his early career, and make an argument about how Morrie might have come to his conclusions about culture. Ultimately, connect this back to the theme If the Culture Doesn’t Work, Don’t Buy It.