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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Five People You Meet in Heaven, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Redemption and Forgiveness
The Connection Between All Humans
The Cycle of Life and Death
The Value in Ordinary Life
Time
Gender Roles
Summary
Analysis
Another wind picks Eddie up, and he travels again through the colors of heaven. He travels through the stars, landing among the snow-capped mountains. He now feels heavy and slow, as he remembers feeling when he was middle-aged. He comes upon an old-fashioned diner, which he doesn’t recognize. Looking in through a window, he sees people dressed in outfits from different decades, and many are badly wounded. To his shock, he notices his father among them. Eddie calls to him, but his father doesn’t hear.
As Eddie passes through the phases of heaven, he continues to age. In this new place, it seems that Eddie’s heavenly “lessons” are beginning to expand beyond his own feelings and experiences. Having seen the Blue Man’s pain and the Captain’s sacrifice, Eddie is now more disposed to empathize with the wounds of others.
Themes
