How It All Goes Down
The Student
- Mitch now needs to explain where he's been this whole time.
- Not only did he lose touch with Morrie, but he also left behind pretty much everything else from his college days, too.
- He suffers from the typical post-college blues: paying rent, working random jobs, and waiting for something to make his life change. He's got a vague idea that he wants to be a musician, but it doesn't amount to anything.
- He has a first encounter with death when his favorite uncle dies quickly in his mid-40s. Mitch doesn't know how to deal with his uncle's last couple months on earth, but after the death he finds himself valuing his life a whole lot more.
- Without wasting time, he get's a master's degree and starts working all the time.
- He gets a job with the Detroit Free Press as a sports journalist, buys a house, and marries a woman who somehow "loved me despite my schedule and the constant absences" (3.11).
- But hold on… Rather than feeling awesome about his accomplishments, Mitch says that he is "buried" (3.12) in them. Buried doesn't sound good, right?
- Sometimes he thinks about his old professor who taught him some vague life lessons, but he shoves these thoughts aside.
- That is, until he sees Morrie on television.