The Five People You Meet In Heaven

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES

1. “No story sits by itself. Sometimes stories meet at corners and sometimes they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river” (10) - Narrator

The narrator is referring to the major theme of the novel. He uses this quote to tell how the key became locked in the base of Freddy’s Free Fall which lead to Eddie’s death a few months later. The major theme of the novel is that there are no random acts in life and that all lives and stories intertwine in some way. Eddie then learns, in his first lesson, his actions ended up killing the Blue Man. We find it ironic that Eddie was killed in such a way as well.

2. “This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for” (35) - Blue Man

The Blue Man is the first person Eddie meets in heaven; he is thus introducing that Eddie will meet five people in heaven who will help give meaning and an understanding to his life on earth. We see through flashbacks, in the story, that Eddie suffered much pain and misconstrued events throughout his life on earth. As the events unfold we see that throughout his life Eddie was searching for some kind of peace within himself, which he never seemed to find. Eddie does not find this peace until he meets Tala, the fifth person in heaven. She is able to finally give Eddie the peace he has been searching for.

3. “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else” (94) - the Captain

In his second lesson, Eddie learns about the nature of sacrifice. Here the Captain explains that from his death, he passed life on to Eddie and the other soldiers that would have died, had they driven over the land mine. The Captain wants Eddie to see that by his death, both he and Eddie gained something: the Captain kept his promise of not leaving Eddie behind, and Eddie gained the remainder of his life. In a way the Captain passed his life on to Eddie.

4. “Life has to end. Love doesn’t” (173) - Marguerite

This quote summarizes the fourth lesson. Marguerite teaches Eddie that lost love does not end; it merely takes a different form. Eddie said he felt angry with Marguerite for leaving him so young; however he still felt in love with her after her death. Marguerite could feel Eddie’s love and her love for him did not end when her life did.

5. “Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. ... hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.” (141) - Ruby

Here, Ruby is trying to teach Eddie that he must let go of the anger he harbors for his father. Ruby tells Eddie that no one is born with anger; then when we die the soul needs to free itself of it. This quote gives insight to one of the reasons why Eddie was so miserable on earth: he lived his life holding so much anger and hatred for his father that he, in turn, cast hatred upon himself and lived his life sad and frustrated (result of the “curved blade” (141)).

6. “It’s fixed.” (144) - Eddie

Eddie said this quote to make peace with his father. It is important to realize the significance of this quote which was referenced earlier in the story as well.

When Eddie was in junior high he worked with his father, doing maintenance. His father would always test him with maintenance problems and say, “Fix it” (107). After Eddie solved the maintenance problem he would tell his father, “It’s fixed” (107). Eddie only felt a slight sense of approval from his father after he fixed a maintenance problem and had dirty, greasy hands. This is the only time in his life it seemed Eddie had some kind of peace with his father.

In heaven, once Eddie realizes that he has to let go of the anger he holds against his father, he tells his father, “It’s fixed” (144). Although, Eddie’s father cannot reply to him, we can assume that peace has finally been made between Eddie and his father. Since Eddie’s father was only happy with him after he had fixed something, as noted above, we can assume that Eddie’s father accepts Eddie’s apology.

7. “Things that happen before you are born still affect you. And people who come before your time affect you as well.” (123) --Ruby

Eddie does not understand, at first, why he is meeting Ruby in heaven. Although Ruby and Eddie never met, on earth, we still see the significance Ruby’s actions played in Eddie’s life. Ruby’s husband, Emile, built the pier for Ruby. The pier caught fire one year and Emile became injured. He and Ruby moved away and sold the pier. When Eddie’s father was dying in the hospital, Emile was staying in the bed next to him. The night before Eddie’s father died, Ruby saw him get out of his hospital bed and over to the window. He called for his family, Eddie, Eddie’s mother and Joe, right before he died.

Had it not been for Ruby and Emile, there would have been no pier and Eddie would have never worked there. Since Ruby also saw Eddie’s father calling his name out the window, right before he died, she was also able to bring this to Eddie’s attention, which helped him see a different side to his father and to eventually let go of his anger toward him.

8. “...all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” (1) - Narrator

This quote is found at the very beginning of the novel and serves as the basis for the remainder of the story. The novel begins with the end of Eddie’s life however, it is the beginning of his journey in heaven where he will meet the five people who will help him finally see the meaning of his life.

9. “Children. You keep them safe.” (191) - Tala

When Eddie meets Tala, he still doubts the purpose of his life. He states that he was so sad because he never felt like he did anything with his life. He felt like he accomplished nothing and that he wasn’t even supposed to be on earth. Tala, the fifth person he meets in heaven, finally tells Eddie that his purpose in life was to keep the children safe at the pier. For his entire life Eddie had completely focused on the negativity of working at the pier and never realized just how many children he had kept safe by testing the rides and his daily maintenance work.

10. “You burn me.” (188) - Tala

This is a major turning point for Eddie and also the climax of the novel. Eddie always doubted and regretted his decision to run back into the burning hut, during the war. He felt so strongly that there was an innocent child in the fire however, before he could find out, the captain shot him to try and save his life. For the remainder of his life Eddie would question himself if there was a child in the fire, especially since he caused himself a chronic injury. When Tala tells Eddie that he burned her, he finally realizes that there was a child in the fire who he was trying to save. Eddie no longer has regret for running into the fire that night, and costing himself his leg injury.