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

Reading Check and Short Answer Questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapters 1-5

1. Where did Morrie Schwartz teach?

2. What is the name of the disease that Morrie has?

3. What is Mitch’s job?

4. Where does Mitch first see Morrie after graduating from college?

5. What was Mitch’s nickname for Morrie?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.  

1. How does Albom introduce the book? Why might Albom title Chapter 1 “The Curriculum”?

2. Why does Morrie decide to make his death the subject of study?

3. Why is Albom taken aback when he and Morrie first meet? What does this tell us about Morrie?

Paired Resource

(Tuesdays with) Morrie Schwartz: Lessons on Living, Ted Koppel Nightline Interview

• Series of segments on Morrie Schwartz from the television news program Nightline
• How does Morrie think about his death? How does he connect it to his life?

Chapters 6-10

Reading Check

1. What, to Morrie, will always win in life?

2. What meeting schedule do Mitch and Morrie agree to?

3. When Mitch is in college he reminds Morrie of whom?

4. When does Morrie allow himself to feel self-pity?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.  

1. What do Morrie’s questions about Mitch’s life make Mitch realize?

2. What did Mitch envy about Morrie’s time?

3. How does Morrie frame his feeling of being dependent?

4. Why does Mitch bring a tape recorder to his sessions with Morrie?

Paired Resource

Living with Chronic Illness: Why Some Cope and Others Don’t

• An interview with a psychologist on the psychological effects of being diagnosed with a chronic illness like ALS
• In what ways does Dr. Helgeson’s research on those with chronic illnesses sound like Morrie? How is Morrie similar to those Dr. Helgeson describes? Different?

Chapters 11-15

Reading Check

1. Who interviews Morrie for a second time?

2. What job does Morrie get to support his family?

3. How many sons does Morrie have?

4. What does Morrie’s wife tell Mitch that he brings Morrie?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.  

1. To what fear does Morrie admit about ALS?

2. Why did Morrie decide to become a teacher?

3. According to Morrie, what would happen if people accepted that their time was limited?

4. Why does Morrie try to feel all of his feelings fully?

5. Why might Morrie want to be reincarnated as a gazelle in particular?

Chapters 16-21

Reading Check

1.Name at least one social movement in which Morrie’s students were involved during the 1960s.

2. According to Morrie, how do you stay alive even after your death?

3. What is Mitch’s wife’s name?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.  

1. Why did patients at the mental hospital open up to Morrie?

2. Why would Morrie and his colleagues sometimes give As to students falling behind in their coursework?

3. Why doesn’t Morrie envy those who are younger than he is?

4. Why does Mitch feel ashamed when Morrie says that Americans have been brainwashed into wanting more stuff?

5. What does Morrie mean when he says that, in America, people feel threatened?

Chapters 22-Afterword

Reading Check

1. What makes Morrie say “I’m getting to him” about Ted Koppel (Chapter 22)?

2. What is Morrie’s advice to Nightline viewers?

3. What is Morrie’s regret that he tells Mitch about when discussing forgiveness?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.  

1. Why do both Mitch and Morrie enjoy when Mitch gives him a foot rub?

2. Why does Morrie believe that Mitch will find his way back to his brother?

3. Mitch thinks that Morrie smiles at him when they say goodbye because Morrie got him to cry. Why might this make Morrie smile?

4. What advice would Mitch give to his younger self?

Paired Resource

"Politics"

• A poem by William Butler Yeats that touches on the theme of If the Culture Doesn’t Work, Don’t Buy It
• How might Yeats’s views differ from Morrie’s? What might Morrie say to Yeats?

“Nearly 20 Years After His Death, Morrie Schwartz Lives On”

• A Boston Globe article about the long-lasting effects of Tuesdays with Morrie
• What might Morrie say about his fame? What makes his story long lasting?

Recommended Next Reads

The Last Lecture

• A lecture given by Randy Pausch after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
• The Last Lecture on SuperSummary
• How do the lessons of Randy Pausch’s last lecture compare with Morrie’s final class?

Truth and Beauty

• A memoir by Ann Patchett that discusses her friendship with poet Lucy Grealy, who passed away from a heroin overdose
• Truth and Beauty on SuperSummary
• How does the relationship between Grealy and Patchett compare with the relationship between Morrie and Albom?