Five People You Meet In Heaven Flashcards
a teenage boy who frequently visits Ruby Pier. turns out to be the grandson of Ruby, for whom the amusement park was named. he loses his car key on the ride “Freddy’s Free Fall” a few weeks before Eddie dies.
Nicky
Eddie’s older brother. During their childhood, Eddie has to fight bullies for him because he doesn’t like to fight. As teenagers, he resists their father’s pressure to work at Ruby Pier, and instead works at the town swimming pool.
Joe
Eddie accidentally caused her death during the war. the fifth person Eddie meets in Heaven, helps him make peace with himself and his life.
Tala
A young, cheerful man who works with Eddie in maintenance at Ruby Pier. He and his wife’s families are from Mexico, where many of their relatives still live. Eddie and this person have a warm relationship, and after Eddie dies, he is the only person there to take care of Eddie’s arrangements. he also becomes the new Head of Maintenance in Eddie’s place.
Dominquez
Ruby’s husband, a young, handsome, risk-taking entrepreneur whose endeavors bring him great wealth. He is enthralled with glamour, money, the ocean, and Ruby herself. He pours his energy and money into building and maintaining Ruby Pier in dedication to his love for his young wife.
Emile
One of the men in Eddie’s unit during the war. After the members of the unit are kidnapped by the enemy and forced to work in a coalmine, he “keeps a poker face” during the days of their captivity, but screams at night. He catches a fever while working in the mine, and when he falls out of weakness, Crazy Two shoots him in front of everyone. To Eddie, his death signifies the meaninglessness and darkness of the war.
Rabozzo
An alcoholic Irishman, the longtime close friend of Eddies’ mother and father. Mickey is impulsive, festive, and lonely. he helps Eddie’s father get his job at Ruby Pier, and when Eddie is born, he gives his parents money for their financial struggles. He is affectionate with Eddie, though often too rough.
Mickey Shea
Eddie’s friend during his thirties, she runs a laundry business. she is obsessed with the racetrack, and frequently influences Eddie to indulge with him in their shared gambling habit. she is with Eddie at the racetrack on the birthday when Marguerite gets into a car accident. From then on, Eddie gradually stops seeing her, as she becomes a reminder of Eddie’s fault in causing Marguerite’s accident.
Noel
A member of the human “freak show” at Ruby Pier during Eddie’s childhood, and one of the five people Eddie meets in heaven. He is an anxious, lonely, and forgiving man. Born Joseph Corvelzchik, his first memory is his mother lifting him over the ocean as they emigrated from Poland. As a small child, his parents forced him to work in a sweatshop out of economic desperation. He was then given silver nitrate for his nerves, which turned his skin the color blue. Shunned by society, he was invited to join a traveling circus. After years of traveling, he settled permanently at Ruby Pier, where he found community and a sense of home. He died from a heart attack, caused by the shock from a young Eddie running into the street after a lost ball on his birthday. The Blue Man teaches Eddie that all lives are connected, even strangers.
The Blue Man
The novel’s protagonist, a lonely, elderly man who has spent his life working in maintenance at Ruby Pier, an amusement park by the ocean. he is from a working-class family of Romanian origin, and he is tough, hardworking, and concerned about the well-being of others. Abused by his father throughout his youth, he learns to keep his emotions inside. As a young man, he works at Ruby Pier with his father to save up to study engineering elsewhere. When WWII begins, however, he enlists to prove his masculinity, and is sent to an island in the Philippines. When he returns, he marries his sweetheart, Marguerite. After the war, he spends the rest of his life fighting depression. His depression worsens as everyone he loves dies before him.
Eddie
Eddie’s only love interest, a sunny and energetic woman. Like Eddie’s mother, she is kind and gentle, and preoccupied mainly with her husband and having children. However, in contrast with Eddie’s mother, she exerts her wishes somewhat more freely. While Eddie dreams of greatness away from Ruby Pier, she makes the best of their situation in the present. Her primary goal is to have children, but she is infertile. Her attempt to arrange an adoption fails when she gets into a car accident that drains their financial resources. she is the central source of Eddie’s happiness, and his life plunges when she dies of brain cancer at the age of 47. In heaven, she takes Eddie to a heaven full of weddings, where she teaches him that true love never dies.
Marguerite
the darkest character in the novel. A violent, misogynistic alcoholic who works a low-paying job as the head of maintenance at Ruby Pier, he neglects and physically abuses Eddie and his brother Joe throughout their childhoods. As a child, Eddie tries to win over his love, but his attempts are never met with anything but a total lack of affection. The only times he shows any interest in his son is when Eddie wins fights, baseball games, or fixes equipment at the maintenance shop. he dies from pneumonia, which he caught while saving his friend Mickey Shea during an ocean storm. He represents extreme male aggression and toughness.
Eddie’s father
The third person Eddie meets in heaven, the woman for whom the first version of Ruby Pier was named. She is graceful, competent, and smart. Like the other women in the novel, she dedicates herself to caring for others: her husband Emile, her children, and in heaven, the souls of all the people hurt at Ruby Pier. Born years before Eddie, she was the prettiest daughter in a working-class family. She was a young waitress at a diner called the seahorse grill, by the ocean, where she became engaged to the rich Emile. Emile gave her an extravagant life, and built Ruby Pier in dedication to her. After a fire destroyed the park and their wealth, they led a difficult life. her husband was later hospitalized in the same room as Eddie’s dying father, allowing her to witness Eddie’s father’s dying words of regret. In heaven, she tells Eddie the true story of how his father died saving Mickey, and teaches him the lesson of forgiveness.
Ruby
A little girl whom Eddie has spoken to a few times at Ruby Pier, and who calls him “Eddie Maint’nance.” Eddie dies saving this little girl, whose name he can’t remember. When he sees her under the collapsing ride, he runs to push her out of the way. All through heaven, Eddie asks everyone if he succeeding in saving her. After Eddie’s journey through heaven, he waits in heaven to become one of the five people who will one day teach her a lesson about her life.
Amy or Annie
The leader of Eddie’s unit in the Philippines during WWII. Born into a military family during wartime, battle is at the center of the his life. he is intelligent and sensible, and does everything he can to keep his unit alive during the war. While escaping captivity, he shoots Eddie in the leg because he believes it is the only way he can get Eddie to leave with them. During the escape he is trying to clear a path for his unit to get out, and he is killed by a landmine. In heaven, he teaches Eddie that sacrifice isn’t the same as loss, but rather that it connects humans to one another and gives meaning to life.
The Captain
