Answer:
When he gets to heaven, he is met by five different people, some his acquaintances and some strangers. This is the ultimate unveiling of aspects of his life that he did not previously know. A good example of this is that he had not realized that his life was not meaningless at all. He had been an influence to people of whose existence he had been unaware. This revelation about his life and the fact that the five had been waiting for his arrival also makes him feel that he actually had an impact. The book is written in the third person and has many flashbacks and forwards which add and maintain the theme of the story.
The use of birthday’s to explain facts about Eddie is an elaborate plan by the Album to divide his life into segments. This is to try and show how the protagonist has failed to achieve his life’s goals. They add a more personal approach to the troubles that have turned Eddie into an 83 year old disillusioned man working as a maintenance man in the local amusement park. Alborn must have used this approach to show how each of Eddie’s problems in life has affected him and those around him.
Counting the final moments of Eddie’s life had a tense saddening effect. The fact that this dying moments are riddled with flashbacks of how he has gotten to this low point in his life. To him the place holds nostalgia for the bad version of his life. It is the end of his life, where he died trying to save a child. It shows how he tries to relive a part of his life that was redeeming and sad. Saving the child was something he had not planned to and he died trying. He is not even sure whether he succeeded in saving the child. He tries to know if he has died an honorable death, given the fact that he is a war veteran. He also views as the place where he overcame his physical disability.
Step-by-step explanation: