The second person Eddie, the main character, meets in heaven is his captain from the army in WWII. Eddie had a crippled leg after the war, that plagued him his whole life. In this, his second person and second lesson he learns in "heaven," which isn't paradise at all, but rather a learning experience for people about their lives on earth, Eddie learns that the captain was the one who shot his leg. The cool part about this book is that the reader learns things along with the main character. Dramatic irony is definitely not part of the story, the story follows Eddie's thoughts, and the reader discovers things with him. I'm not much for books where everything has a lesson, I've always thought that they were a bit cheesy, but this one isn't too bad so far. It reminds me of the plotline of Darles Chickens's A Christmas Carol. I've never actually read it, but everybody knows what it's about.
Eddie's captain shot his leg because Eddie was about to run into a burning building. He was under the impression that there was someone in the building that he needed to save. Eddie would have died in the fire had the captain not shot him in the leg. The lesson was sacrifice. The captain took his leg, but saved his life. Later, the reader also finds out that the captain dies because he stepped on a land mine while trying to help the others escape from an enemy camp in the Philippines.
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