Comparing Five People You Meet In Heaven And The Film Pay It Forward

C.S. Lewis's take on literature spectacularly and accurately encompases the opinions of many, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” The words of an author or script often influence the lives of a person, bringing the audience to tears, joy, or anger. Sharing themes of love, generosity, and child abuse, the novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven and the film Pay It Forward diverge on a few levels, but also parallel. In Mitch Albom's novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Eddie's wife Marguerite never loses her love for him, even after death. For years she waits watching acts of timeless love take place. She attends wedding after wedding, saving her own to watch last with her long lost
Whether he is as drunk as a fish or angry because of a bad round of cards, "He raked through the meager toys, hurling them against the wall. Then he made his sons lie face down on the mattress while he pulled off his belt and lashed their rear ends, screaming that they were wasting his money on junk. Eddie used to pray for his mother to wake up, but when the times she did, his father warned her to 'stay out of it.' Seeing her in the hallway, clutching her robe, as helpless as she was, made it all even worse" (Albom 105). Eddie's father never needs a reason to punish his sons. He does so on his own free will, much like Ricky, Trevor's father. Ricky drinks to drink and drinks some more. Although he never physically harms Trevor, "'All he has to do is not love him" and that is enough according or Eugene Simonet (Pay it Forward). Trevor spends nights shaking in the rhythm of sobs as he listens to his mother cry through the pain. He knows Ricky does not love him, and of course knows Ricky could not possibly love his