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
Eddie is seven years old, playing ball with his older brother, Joe. The ball rolls into the road, and Eddie runs after it. The ball rolls down the road and the boardwalk, and Eddie and Joe run after it all the way to the ground behind the tent of the “circus freaks.” A very hairy man scares Joe by asking him what he is doing there, but Eddie retrieves the ball.
The Blue Man was one of many “circus freaks” whom Eddie only thought of as scary. Eddie didn’t get to know these workers as people during his life. Still, he is connected to them both because they were a part of his reality, and through whatever happened between him and the Blue Man.
Themes
