Horace Belfin chooses to create the phone calls to spread faith and belief into people's lives. From his point of view, he was helping these people behave well and treat each other kindly. He felt that he was making the world a better place. However, those who receive the calls and those who wish to receive them have many different point of views on this topic. The calls did not spread faith to everyone, as he had hoped.
Sully's revelations on the phone calls and Horace Belfin foreshadow that the calls are not a true miracle. The phone calls always occur on Fridays, and Horace takes off from work on Fridays. Horace is ex-military and used to work with wiretraps and phone intercepts. This means that he has the ability and knowledge to create a fake call from heaven. Horace also sits in on all of the meetings with the families of the deceased. All of these things foreshadow that the calls are all a hoax.
text to text: The First Phone Call from Heaven is very similar to another Mitch Albom book we previously read: The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Both novels are based on faith and heaven. Both teach the reader an important lesson on life and our religion. Both have a side theme of the military and both main characters live through loss and hardship. Therefore, these two novels are very similar. Text to world: Many people throughout the world have experienced, or claimed to have experienced a miracle, or some type of contact from heaven. What occurred in this book has occurred many times in the world. Text to self: Like the main characters of this book, we all have experienced loss in our lives. In this way, I can relate this book to myself and others.
I feel that The First Phone Call from Heaven is meant to show two sides of publicity, heaven, and miracles. Miracles can be construed as real by publicity, when in fact they are not real at all. This book shows that real miracles are not publicized widely and are often kept secret. The author of the book also believes that heaven is real and that miracles truly do happen and illustrates this throughout the story.
Two very similar characters in this novel are Jack Sellers and Sullivan Harding. Both lost their happiness and togetherness as a family. Both lost a family member that they were very close to. Neither have ever fully accepted their losses and both blame themselves for their relative's death. However, they lost different family members: Jack lost his son and Sully lost his wife. Jack also believes in the calls while Sully thinks they are not genuine.
There are many examples of symbolism in this novel. The most important and obvious symbol is Katherine's pink phone. This represents the calls from heaven and people's drive and motivation to receive phone calls. Another symbol is an airplane. The airplane represents Sully's prior life and former happiness.
At the start and middle of the novel, we are uncertain as to why Sullivan Harding is included in the book. As we approach the end of the novel, we see why his character is in the novel. His purpose is to prove that the calls are fake, and also to show that there is a heaven. Sullivan discovers that the call are fabricated by Elliot Gray aka Horace Belfin, the funeral home worker. He is also the reason that Sully went to prison. Although the calls were unreal, one call from heaven took place. Sully is called by his wife Giselle after Horace passed away. Therefore, Sully proves that the calls were fake, but that heaven and miracles are real.
Katherine Yellin: A red haired woman who receives calls from her dead sister. She forms a friendship with Amy Penn.
Amy Penn: A woman who is solely focused on advancing her career and becoming a successful news reporter. She puts her job above all else. Jack Sellers: A man who receives calls from his deceased son. He is the police chief of the town of Coldwater. He decides to keep the calls he receives a secret from his family and the media. Tess Rafferty: A blond woman who works at a daycare center. She turned away from her religion because she felt that the church was unkind to those who are divorced. She is called by her mother, who passed away of Alzheimer's disease. Pastor Warren: As the leader of his church, he feels that the calls from heaven are fake and that people are wrong to believe in them. He, like Sully and Elias, want the calls to end. Sullivan Harding: A man who was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. He blames himself for his wife's death and struggles to support his son. He feels that the calls are false and wants to prove that they are a hoax. Elias Rowe: An unfriendly hermit who runs a building company. He is angry and upset that he received the calls and no longer wants to receive them. He does not wish to discuss the circumstances of the call he received with anyone, but he does hope that they are proven to be a fraud. Disability:
Doubt:
Faith:
In chapter 9, during a meeting of Coldwater residents, people shift in mood and their opinion on whether the calls from heaven are real. Many people claim to have received these heavenly calls. People and citizens of Coldwater begin to acknowledge the presence of these calls and hope to become one of the recipients of them. This turn of events represents a shift in mood from a previous belief: that the calls are a fake.
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