One Last Chance The book “For One More Day” written by Mitch Albom tells us the story of a son meeting his dead mother after he failed on taking his own life. Charley Benetto’s life is crumbled by alcohol and regret. He hit the rock bottom when he discovered his only daughter shut him out of her wedding then he decided to take away his life. What comes next is the day that everyone was yearning for, a day to explain everything, to ask for forgiveness and to say goodbye. That day was given to Charley with his mother, Posey Benetto, as he tries to put his crumbled life back together. Charley had taken for granted his mom’s love for him that made him regret until he decided to end his life. The main theme of “For One More Day” is forgiveness, of others and of one 's self. Life started for Charley “Chick” Benetto when he was told by his father “You can be a mama’s boy or you can be a daddy’s boy, but you can’t be both.” He chose his father and lived up to his dad’s expectations and dreams for him that he even denies his mother, until that person left. Despite his embarrassment and yearnings for a complete family, his mother still tried to raise them on her own. When he met his father and pressures him to continue in his baseball career, he struggled to fulfill and to make his father proud of him but he didn’t make it. Then he knew that after he lied and left his mother to fulfill his father’s demand, his mother died. Chick’s frustrations and self-hatred led him to alcoholism that made him jobless. Then his marriage collapsed and he left his family. What made him break down is realizing that his only daughter didn’t want him to be on her wedding. It made him miserable, lonelier and he found no difference if he died. On that “day” he was with his deceased mother, he remembered the times she stood up for him and the times he didn’t stood up for her. During the last moments with his mother, he learned that his father has another family. He couldn’t for give
References: Albom, Mitch. For One More Day. United States of America: Hyperion, 2006.