Teaching and Learning Theme Analysis

At various times throughout the book, Mitch describes the book he's written as a "long paper" or a final thesis, written for the final “class” – a class containing only Mitch – that his dying college professor, Morrie, will teach. The entirety of the text, then, is centered around the idea of teaching and learning. The book takes its structure from Morrie's "class" syllabus – each week/chapter is a lecture in Morrie’s class on death – and focuses not just on what is taught but on the teacher/student relationship developing between the two men. As the book progresses and depicts how Mitch and Morrie's relationship grows, we're asked to consider where the student/teacher relationship exists, what the relationship consists of, and to what extent a teacher can affect change on his or her students' lives.

Each of the Tuesday meetings is preceded, and sometimes also followed, by one of Mitch's memories from when he was in college. These memories are primarily focused on his interactions with Morrie. This narrative tool serves two functions – first, to provide an opener or intro to the present day Tuesday meeting, and then to chart the development of trust – from their interaction in college to their relationship as Morrie is dying – between teacher and student. By doing this, the book makes it clear that while teaching and learning can be considered just a transfer of knowledge from one person to another, deeper learning and understanding depends on, and is in fact only possible through, a caring relationship between teacher and student. This relationship begins for Mitch and Morrie in Mitch's first class, when Morrie asks him if he'd prefer to be called Mitch or Mitchell. Mitch had never had a teacher before who cared what he wanted to be called.

The reason that Morrie is able to form such lasting and positive teacher/student relationships can be attributed, at least in part, to the fact that he's a professor of sociology, or the study of how humans relate to each other. In effect, his job is to study relationships, which he does both within and without the university setting. Many of the college memories Mitch mentions, as well as what he teaches Mitch during their Tuesday visits, focus on the critical importance of relationships, and the importance of “relationship skills” such as love, compassion, and forgiveness. In college, Mitch dismissed many of these ideas as "touchy-feely stuff." However, over time, the relationship between him and Morrie grows from being purely student/teacher into something more familial. As their relationship evolves, Mitch becomes more receptive to Morrie's lessons and begins to apply them to his own life. Thei relationship becomes not just a way to learn, but a model for how to have powerful relationships with others.

As Morrie's death creeps closer, his sense of urgency about the need to teach what he knows and what he is learning about death grows more powerful. He begins by writing simple aphorisms on scrap paper, which develops into a newspaper article about him and then being asked to do Nightline interviews with Ted Koppel. The Nightline interviews become an opportunity to teach as many people as watch the show, and the attributes that make Morrie a fantastic teacher in the classroom – a desire to understand and connect with people – are evident on television as wel, and he even manages to teach Koppel something about friendship and compassion.

Finally, Morrie's lessons live on in this book, and in Mitch's other books, not just because they are wise and worthwhile lessons, but because Mitch’s relationship with Morrie is so profound that it compelled him to share the lessons with an even wider audience. Through the publication of the book, the reader becomes the student, and both Mitch and Morrie become teachers of these lessons.