The Five People You Meet in Heaven Study Guide

Chapter 9: The Fourth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven

Eddie finds himself in a small room. He notices that his body has aged since when he saw Ruby. He pushes through many different doors and through each can see a different wedding reception with different languages and varying cultures. The final reception Eddie sees appears to be in an Italian village. Eddie notices a young bridesmaid and knows that it is Marguerite.

The chapter brings us back to Eddie's 38th birthday. He and Joe are in the maintenance shop when Marguerite enters and asks Eddie to come outside. A group of children and a cake were waiting for Eddie outside. Marguerite organizes all of the kids and lights the candles on the cake.

Marguerite and Eddie walk away from the reception. Eddie recalls their wedding at a Chinese restaurant with a few guests and an accordion player. He can not believe that he is finally back with Marguerite; she asks about how he died and without finishing the story he tells her how much he has missed her.

On the day of Eddie's 39th birthday, he and his friend Noel are gambling at the racetrack. Eddie wins money and calls Marguerite to share the news. She is not happy with him and tells him to come home immediately. She then feels bad for yelling at Eddie on his birthday and decides to drive to the racetrack to apologize and bring him home. As she is driving, two teenagers drop a whiskey bottle from the overpass above her, into her windshield. The impact shatters her windshield and causes her to crash into the concrete median.

After the accident Marguerite was bed ridden but eventually healed. She and Eddie became too old to adopt a child and a silence fell between them; Eddie stopped betting on the horses and eventually stopped seeing Noel as a result of his guilt. Marguerite eventually was overcome by cancer and passed away at age 47.

Back in heaven, Eddie and Marguerite walk through the different weddings and spend much time talking.

Notes

Marguerite leads Eddie through many different wedding receptions, in this chapter. She specifically chose this setting in heaven because she wanted to observe the love between the bride and the groom. She and Eddie pass through receptions of all different cultures and also in different countries. She states that the love between the bride and the groom looks the same throughout the world; “They truly believe their love and their marriage is going to break all the records” (157). This is foreshadowing her lesson about the power of love.