TUE S DAYS WI TH MO RR I E

A review of The 5 Stages of Greif

Health Science 2 CNA
Nolan

S TA G E S O F D E AT H & D Y I N G
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Swiss/American Psychiatrist
Published her research as a
book
Kubler Ross states that these
stages are universal, but not
permeant
Someone may experience
anger, than go into
depression, or experience all
of the stages expect for
acceptance, and dies never
accepting their outcome of
death.

TUESDAYS WITH
MORRIE
A heartfelt memoir/movie that
looks at the last days of a
professor, Morrie, suffering
with ALS, with his past college
student, Mitch.

S TA G E S O F D E AT H & D Y I N G
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

DENIAL
Not, not me!
Includes feelings of
Shock
Numbness
Disbelief

This stage protects

people from the
realization of what is
actually occurring.

DENIAL
Morrie consciously "detaches
himself from the experience" when
he suffers his violent coughing
spells
Morrie derives his method of
detachment from the Buddhist
philosophy
One should not cling to things,
as everything that exists is
impermanent
Morrie is able to step out of his
tangible surroundings and into his
own state of consciousness,
explicitly for the sake of gaining
perspective and composure in a
stressful situation.

ANGER
Why!
Anger comes in many forms. Angers at

Your love ones

Others
God
World
Yourself

People who suppress their anger turn it inward, toward

themselves
Guilt
I should have done something
Bettered my life

ANGER
Morrie speaking of his favorite uncle

Taught him to drive

Teases him like a father would
Taught him the love of music

Thats who [he wanted] to be when [he

grew] up.
His guilt for turning a shoulder toward his
uncles pain (ignoring the signs of death.
Moorie feels like he owes his uncle because
he believes he let him die.

BARGAINING
Gambling w/ fate
In bargaining theres a sense that we just want
life back to the way it used to be.
Wanting to replace those inevitable moments in
life.

Feeling guilty; focusing on if only

Religion
Some get closer to religion
Some lose faith, asking God why?
Some become religious, asking God to spare their
lives

BARGAINING
In the absence of love, there is a void that can filled only
by loving human relationships.
Morrie divulges that love is the essences of every person,
and every relationship, and that to live without it, is to
live with nothing.
Moorie clings to life not because he is afraid of death
but because he wishes to share his story with Mitch,
in hope that he will share it with the world.
Moorie says he is bargaining with him up there to let
him live to express those feelings with Mitch.
This is the first time Moorie talks about religion

DEPRESSION
Deeper level of grief:
Melancholy
Worthlessness

Things become a burden

Exhaustion and apathy can set in
Whats the point?

Not a clinical depression, but rather a bereavement and

mourning period.

DEPRESSION
When youre in bed, youre dead
Throughout Morries struggle

with ALS, he refuses to stay in bed

Seen as a form of surrender

Morrie associates the bed with:

Depression
Solitude

Nightmares of his father while in

bed,

ACCEPTANCE
Okay with the outcome
Doesnt mean the person is cured or all
right with the situational outcome

Ready to try and move on

Accommodating ourselves to the outcome

When people experience the depth, flavor, and

subtlety to life.

ACCEPTANCE
Morrie recounts a story of a small wave
The small wave seeing the waves ahead of him crash on the share and
disappearing into nothingness
Morrie suddenly brims with fear upon the realization that he too will
soon crash on the shore
The bigger waves comfort the small one with news that he return to
become a small part of the larger ocean

The small wave is symbolic of Morrie, as he too is on the brink of

crashing into a theoretical shore, a symbolic embodiment of his death.
Like the wave, Moore is comforted by the knowledge that he will soon
return to something large in afterlife.
Morries affinity for the parable creates the understanding of acceptance
the fact that he knows he is too of something bigger