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
On earth, nobody has come to the morgue to collect Eddie’s few personal effects, including his wedding ring. The park employees have arranged a funeral for Eddie, paid for with his last unclaimed paycheck. They’ve chosen the nearest church so that all of the employees can go back to work after. Before the service, a priest asks Dominguez to tell him something about who Eddie was. Dominguez thinks carefully, and then tells the priest gently, “Eddie really loved his wife.”
That the church is chosen for its nearness to Ruby Pier is ironic—even in death, Eddie can’t get far from the park. Eddie’s impersonal funeral and unclaimed effects make it seem like he died alone, but what Dominguez says about Eddie’s love for his wife shows that he knows one of the truest, most tender things about Eddie—and this in turn shows that Eddie didn’t die among strangers.
Themes
