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Charlotte is Morrie’s wife. Although her appearances in the book are brief and usually relegated to the background, Mitch asserts that Morrie greatly values her opinion and wishes. Morrie and Charlotte have been married for more than 44 years, and Morrie claims that marriage works when both parties believe in the importance and prioritization of the marriage. Morrie and Charlotte’s marriage is built on similar values and deep mutual respect. Mitch notices they are great at communicating through a single touch or simple eye contact. Some of the few times Morrie omits thoughts from his answers to Mitch’s questions are when he thinks it would violate Charlotte’s privacy. Morrie emphatically advocates for marriage, saying people who never try it miss out on a “very important thing.” When Morrie talks about his condition, he emphasizes how much less bearable it would be without the love of his family. In particular, he says there is no other relationship or support system that works in the same way as marriage.
Beyond that, Charlotte is largely an offstage character. She is rarely at home when Mitch visits Morrie because she teaches at MIT. Morrie asked Charlotte and their sons to continue living their normal lives when he got sick because he did not want his incapacity to incapacitate the people he loves. As his disease worsens, however, Charlotte is home more often, and his whole family makes a point to be present when he dies. When Morrie does pass, Charlotte and their sons are in the other room, and Mitch suspects Morrie waited on purpose so they would not have to see life leave him.
Long before Morrie gets to the point of death, Charlotte stays home with him on particularly bad days. Once, when Mitch arrives with his usual soft foods he has brought for Morrie, Charlotte answers the door instead of Morrie’s caretaker. She is distracted and melancholy, and she tells Mitch that Morrie has not been able to eat the food he brings for some time. Morrie didn’t tell Mitch because he doesn’t want to hurt Mitch’s feelings, but Charlotte seems saddened by all the food leftover in the fridge. When Mitch says he wants to feel like he can give something back to Morrie, Charlotte reassures him that Morrie sees their time together as a gift. Initially, Mitch attributes her distraction and faraway attitude to her lack of sleep. Because Morrie is often up coughing in the night, Charlotte is awake with him. However, Mitch can also see how Charlotte grieves the slow loss of her husband. Despite her grief, Charlotte is patient with Morrie’s visitors and does not seem to begrudge how much of his limited time they take.
