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
Later that night, Ed is driving his taxi in the city and enjoying the quiet. He picks up a rough-looking woman he assumes is a sex worker. She addresses him as “honey” and “sweetie” as he drives her to a hotel. As she gets out of the taxi, she tells Ed that he looks nice. She says that, unlike her clients, Ed can call her by her real name, Alice. She tells him not to worry so much, before walking away.
Though Ed’s passenger is an individual often discriminated against by society, she shows him genuine compassion. This shows that one does not need to hold a high status in society in order to show compassion to the others. In fact, this scene suggests, maybe those who experience adversity are the best equipped to empathize with others.
Themes
Ed waits for Alice to turn around and say something else, until a car behind him honks and he has to drive away. As he drives, he imagines himself having sex with Alice. He is so distracted he almost runs a red light, but he enjoys the welcome distraction from his worries about Audrey and the cards.
Ed’s fantasies show that he still desires the success he associates with sex, which indicates that his ideas about success haven’t yet completely transformed, even though he’s starting to understand other ways of defining success.
Themes
