The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapters 6-7

Chapters 8-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-13 and Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 8-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 8 Summary: “The Third Person Eddie Meets in Heaven”

Eddie finds himself in the mountains outside an old-style diner. Inside, he observes a group of diners who have all been injured in some way. Among these diners is Eddie’s father. Eddie tries to talk to his father, but his father cannot hear him.

Eddie fought for his father’s attention as a child, but his father was always busy working or playing cards. Sometimes his father would come to the bedroom Eddie shared with Joe and beat both boys for imaginary transgressions. Despite all the bad times, Eddie adored his father and wanted nothing more than his approval, which he got on rare occasions. Eddie knew his father was proud of his ability to stand up for himself and his ability to protect his older brother. However, after Eddie returned from the war, he and his father got into an argument because Eddie was depressed and failed to get a job. During the fight, Eddie’s father attempted to throw a punch, but Eddie stopped him. Eddie’s father refused to speak to him again after that fight.

A woman approaches Eddie and tells him that his father cannot hear him because he is a “part of my eternity” (111) and was not there. They go together to the top of the mountain and the woman tells Eddie her story. The woman says she once worked as a waitress at a diner where many men came and tried to court her. She refused them all until one man, Emile, came. He was a wealthy man who made his money in lumber and steel. He swept her off her feet and they married. Emile loved amusement parks, so he built one for her wife to celebrate their love. He called it Ruby Pier for his wife.

Ruby tells Eddie that Ruby Pier was very successful and brought her husband great joy. However, there was a fire one Fourth of July, and her husband was injured while trying to fight the fire. They had only a little insurance and were forced to sell for less than Ruby Pier was worth. Emile lost his fortune and was sickly for the rest of his life, but they had three children and a decent life.

Ruby says she is there to tell Eddie about his father. Eddie knows his father died after contracting pneumonia following a night when he came home wet. Eddie always assumed his father got drunk and fell into the ocean. Afterward, Eddie’s mother lost touch with reality, so he and Marguerite moved into his childhood apartment to care for her.

Snapshot 7 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

Eddie is in the hospital recovering from his leg wound. His mother leads a group of visitors that include his father, Mickey Shea, and Marguerite, in a celebration of his 24th birthday. Eddie is brought to tears but hides them in front of his father.

Snapshot 8 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

Eddie is 33 years old. He drives a taxi and is married to Marguerite. He still has nightmares about being a prisoner in the Philippines. When he returns home from work, Marguerite waits with taffy from the pier, a gift that has become their tradition. Before they can celebrate, their downstairs neighbor knocks to let them know his mother is on the phone.

Snapshot 9 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

Eddie is now 37. He has breakfast with his friend, Noel. Noel convinces Eddie to go to the racetrack after work.

Chapter 9 Summary: “The Third Lesson”

Ruby shows Eddie images from the past, explaining his father’s death. Eddie sees Mickey Shea coming on to his mother after losing his job due to his alcoholism. Eddie’s father walked in, and Mickey fled the apartment. When Eddie’s father caught up with Mickey, he found him attempting suicide by jumping into the ocean during a rainstorm. Eddie’s father jumped in to save Mickey, but the effort left him cold, wet, and exhausted. When Eddie asks why his father would bother saving Mickey, Ruby tells him that Mickey was the one who helped his father get the job at Ruby Pier.

Ruby tells Eddie that his father gained consciousness on the last night of his life, and he went to the window, opened it, and called for his wife, both his sons, and Mickey. Then he died. The nurses found him and moved him back to his bed before calling Eddie’s mother. Ruby tells Eddie she knows all this because her husband was a patient in the other bed of his father’s hospital room. She tells him that her heaven is the desire to put all those injured and killed at Ruby Pier in one safe place. Those are the diners in the small diner down the mountain. Ruby tells Eddie he must forgive his father.

Eddie goes down to the diner and kneels beside the booth where his father sits. He takes his hand and tells him he understands and that he’s sorry he was always so angry with him. Eddie tells his father that he felt stuck, and he blamed him. Finally, Eddie tells his father “it’s fixed” (143), something he always told his father when he worked with him at Ruby Pier.

The current owner of Ruby Pier pays for Eddie’s funeral. Dominguez tells the pastor performing the service that Eddie loved his wife.

Chapters 8-9 Analysis

Eddie’s relationship with his father is explored in these chapters. Eddie was angry with his father for most of his life. His father abused him and his brother, but his anger grew as he got older, and he found himself trapped in the same life his father lived. Eddie saw his father as an angry drunk and blamed him for the fact that Eddie never went to school or left his hometown. Eddie ended up in the same job as his father and living in the same apartment.

The third person Eddie meets in heaven is not someone he knew in his life, but she is a woman who had a profound impact on his life. This woman impacted Eddie’s life because she was the inspiration for Ruby Pier. Ironically, both Ruby and Eddie spent a lot of time wishing Ruby Pier never existed. Ruby Pier had a large impact on both their lives, first destroying Ruby’s husband and his fortune while becoming the albatross that Eddie felt was holding him still, refusing to allow him to grow and have a bigger life than the one he lived. However, Eddie did benefit from Ruby Pier. He learned to juggle there; a skill that helped him escape from the prisoner of war camp where he was held in the Philippines. He also made a living there and touched many lives, a fact that will prove in later chapters to have played an important part in his life.

Eddie has learned two lessons before meeting Ruby: that everyone’s lives intersect, and that life requires sacrifice. While speaking to Ruby, he discovers the truth about his father that allows him to see his father as a man, and not just as the father he felt he disappointed; the father whose actions held him at a standstill in his life. Eddie begins to relate to his father after learning the truth of his death and this allows him to learn his third lesson: forgiveness.