Tuesdays with Morrie: Chapters 16–21

by Mitch Albom
In this work of nonfiction, Mitch Albom reconnects with a favorite college professor and learns valuable lessons in the last months of the elderly scholar's life.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–15, Chapters 16–21, Chapter 22–Afterword
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. inclination
    a characteristic likelihood of or natural disposition
    I'm an independent person, so my inclination was to fight all of this — being helped from the car, having someone else dress me.
  2. revel
    take delight in
    Now I enjoy when they turn me over on my side and rub cream on my behind so I don’t get sores. Or when they wipe my brow, or they massage my legs. I revel in it. I close my eyes and soak it up.
  3. unconditional
    not subject to any restrictions or limitations
    We all yearn in some way to return to those days when we were completely taken care of — unconditional love, unconditional attention.
  4. oblivion
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    I had gone from being proud to say my age — because of all I had done so young — to not bringing it up, for fear I was getting too close to forty and, therefore, professional oblivion.
  5. perspective
    a way of regarding situations or topics
    Morrie had aging in better perspective.
  6. manipulate
    control or influence skillfully, usually to one's advantage
    Who wants to live every day when you don’t know what’s going on? When people are manipulating you, telling you to buy this perfume and you’ll be beautiful, or this pair of jeans and you’ll be sexy — and you believe them!
  7. inconsequential
    lacking worth or importance
    Because I worked among rich and famous athletes, I convinced myself that my needs were realistic, my greed inconsequential compared to theirs.
  8. status
    the relative position or standing of things or persons
    Status will get you nowhere. Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.
  9. irony
    incongruity between what might be expected and what occurs
    His legs needed constant tending (he could still feel pain, even though he could not move them, another one of ALS’s cruel little ironies), and unless his feet dangled just the right number of inches off the foam pads, it felt as if someone were poking him with a fork.
  10. engender
    call forth
    Every birth must therefore engender a death, and every death bring forth another birth.
  11. replenish
    fill something that had previously been emptied
    What we take, we must replenish.
  12. intuitive
    spontaneously derived from or prompted by a natural tendency
    Now, I am married to a woman blessed with far more intuitive kindness than I.
  13. inherent
    existing as an essential constituent or characteristic
    Morrie believed in the inherent good of people. But he also saw what they could become.
  14. defect
    a failing or deficiency
    Look, no matter where you live, the biggest defect we human beings have is our shortsightedness.
Created on Sun Nov 29 17:57:06 EST 2015 (updated Fri Jul 11 12:45:53 EDT 2025)

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