Five+People+two

=The Five People You Meet in Heaven= Discussion Question 2

==**Throughout the novel, we learn about Eddie by hearing about various bithdays. What do these birthdays teach us about him? What do they add to the story? Why did Albom choose birthdays for this purpose?**==

The birthdays provide the reader with details regarding the relationships Eddie has with the people in his life. The birthdays illustrate the milestones in Eddie's life and his feelings about the events. I think birthdays were chosen because, most people mark birthdays as an important occurances in their lives. They are special because they only occur once a year and it's usually a day when the birthday person is the focus of attention. The day that someone is born is usually marked with a celebration. Unfortunately for Eddie, in many instances, instead of the day being celebratory it was devastingly tragic. --LDJ

Birthdays in this story and for all of us are, or should be, milestones. I think it was really an effective vehicle for moving the story along. He could have used Christmas, or the annual opeing of the pier or Fourth of July. I don't think it really mattered all that much. However, using birthdays gave the story a rather ironic flow considering we all knew Eddie was dead. Conan