Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in I Am the Messenger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Circumstance vs. Choice
Heroism, Sainthood, and Ordinariness
Purpose, Success, and Meaning
Hope, Caring, and Beauty
Summary
Analysis
Ed moves on to the next name on the stones, Angie Carusso. He looks her up in the phonebook and discovers she is a pharmacist with three kids, whom she walks to school every single day. Ed observes that as soon as she gets paid, she always takes her kids to the park and buys them ice cream. Ed knows exactly what he has to do for Angie, and he knows this task will be easy. He watches Angie and her children leave the playground and feels sad that Angie seems to move too slowly for her young age.
Angie’s life, which she spends caring for her children to the point of exhaustion, hints at the downsides of being completely dedicated to others. Ed’s decision to act shows that others have a moral obligation to take care of individuals like Angie, who rarely take care of themselves. Ed’s task for Angie also shows that while helping others can be difficult, it is also sometimes easy.
Themes
Ed works during the day and spends his nights walking around town. He visits the house of the abusive man and watches the wife and daughter eating dinner by themselves. He passes by Milla’s house and checks on Father O’Reilly. His church is not as full as it was on the Sunday of the party but has far more people in it than before Ed intervened. He also searches for the third name on the stones, Gavin Rose. Unfortunately, he discovers, teenage Gavin is a horrible person.
Ed visiting the houses of those he has helped suggests that acts of caring for others have lasting effects upon their lives. Therefore, Ed also has a lasting influence on their lives, which makes him somewhat like the significant historical figures he used to envy, even though he started out as such an ordinary person.
Themes
Ed watches Gavin harass shop owners, steal from shops, and pushing around weaker children. Gavin lives with his hard-drinking mother and equally criminal brother in the poor part of town. The brothers fight constantly. One night, Ed sees the older brother, Daniel, severely beat Gavin on the front lawn of their house. Afterward, Gavin walks down the street, grumbling about killing his brother. Ed sees an opportunity.
Gavin’s flaws show that one has a moral obligation to help others even if those in need of help may not immediately seem worthy. In fact, those with flaws may be in the most need of help, as implied by the fact that the card has directed Ed to this specific dysfunctional family.
Themes
Ed approaches where Gavin is sitting on the side of the street. Gavin tells him to go away or else he will beat him up, but Ed refuses to leave. He sits down a little bit away from Gavin and asks him what happened. Gavin answers that his brother is a jerk. He repeats again that he wants to kill Daniel. Ed leaves, thinking about how these boys need to experience the real world for once in their lives.
Ed’s opinion that Gavin needs to experience the real world shows that Ed defines reality as something beyond the mundane squabbling of families. Ed’s reflections here suggest that, in order to mature into a more moral individual, one must be exposed to forces beyond their immediate family and home.
Themes
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