The Five People You Meet In Heaven

What is important about the story the Blue Man tells Eddie? What lesson does he teach him? Why is this an important lesson for Eddie to learn? How does it help him prepare for the four other lessons he will learn in heaven? What is the point of these lessons?

What impact did Eddie’s relationship with his father have on the rest of his life? How might Eddie have lived a different life if he’d had a different relationship with his father? How were Eddie and his father different? How were they the same? How does Eddie’s life parallel his father’s?

What advice does Mickey Shea give to Eddie? How does Eddie take this advice? What does this advice suggest about Mickey Shea’s past, and how might it have impacted his life? Compare and contrast Mickey Shea’s struggles with Eddie’s. How are they similar? How are they different? How might both have been impacted if either man had never gone to war?

Albom says in the novel that men go to war because it shows they are brave. Is this true? Why is it important for a man to prove his bravery? Why is refusing to serve in the military during wartime viewed as cowardice? Is Eddie braver than his brother for going to war? How do Eddie’s experiences in the war change his future? How does Eddie’s life differ from his brother’s, who didn’t go to war? Is Eddie’s brother considered a coward for not going to war?

The captain tells Eddie that he shot him in the leg to save him from himself. Why did the captain believe Eddie was suffering battle fatigue at that moment? Why did no one believe that Eddie saw a person inside the burning building? Was there any other way the captain could have stopped Eddie from hurting himself that night? What sacrifice did Eddie make that night and how did it affect the rest of his life?

Why is Eddie’s father among the people in Ruby’s heaven who were injured in some way at Ruby Pier? What things did Eddie not know about his father? Why might these things change Eddie’s opinion of his father? What was Eddie’s opinion of his father and how did that relate to his feelings for his own life?

Eddie meets a young girl he inadvertently caused to die in the Philippines. How did Eddie cause this girl’s death? How does Eddie make amends for this death in heaven? How did he make amends for the death during his lifetime? How does this knowledge help Eddie to see that his life was not unimportant? How does this knowledge ease Eddie’s guilt for what he has done? How does this knowledge relate to all the lessons he has learned in heaven?

Why does Albom choose Eddie’s birthday to illustrate important moments in his life? How do these birthdays illustrate the theme of an unimportant life? How do these moments compare Eddie’s feelings about his own life and the feelings others around him might have?