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
One day, while Ed is visiting his Ma, he realizes she has replaced the coffee table she got him with one Tommy, Ed’s brother, bought her. When Ed expresses offense at this, Ma insults his personal taste and his abilities until he leaves. Ed thinks about how he prefers being Jimmy over being himself.
Ed’s preference of being Jimmy shows how adopting the identity of another can give someone the freedom from their personal issues needed in order to improve oneself and help others.
Themes
Later that evening, when Ed goes to visit Milla, she asks him to read to her. He reads Wuthering Heights to her until she falls asleep. In the book, Ed finds a love note dated back to 1941, addressed to Milla from Jimmy. At the next visit, Milla shows Ed a photo album and points out how handsome he used to be. Suddenly, she asks him if she treated him right. Ed assures her that she was the best wife anyone could have. Milla cries and laughs.
Milla’s questions and tears show that caring for someone, like she clearly cares for Jimmy, can come with the burden of loss and doubt. However, her laughter and Ed’s ability to reassure her show that caring for another person also leads to beauty and joy, which seems to make the act of caring worth the burdens it may cause.
Themes
A few days later, Ed is playing cards with his friends at his house when the phone rings. The caller asks Ed, “How’s it going, Jimmy?” before hanging up. Stunned by the call, Ed returns to his card game. Audrey looks at him with concern, and Ed wants to tell her what’s wrong, but he knows her opinion won’t change what he has to do. He knows he has fulfilled his mission for Milla by giving her companionship, but now he must move on to the next address.
The caller addressing Ed as Jimmy, and Ed’s interpretation of this as a sign he must move on, shows how while assuming a different identity helped Ed care for Milla, he cannot use this as a crutch to keep from improving himself. Though he’s not yet sure how he’ll do it, Ed knows that he needs to keep becoming stronger and more courageous if he wants to be of real service to others.
Themes
Later, Ed takes the Doorman to the cemetery to visit Ed’s father’s grave and look at the other tombstones. There, Ed runs into the cemetery security guard and asks him if he knows a grave with the name Johnson on it. Eventually, Ed finds the grave of James Johnson, who died in 1942 serving his country. Ed realizes Milla has been waiting all this time for Jimmy to finally return to her.
The cemetery and the graves show a continued preoccupation with the past for both Ed and Milla, contributing to the idea that one’s past inescapably influences the present. However, Ed’s ability to bring Jimmy back to Milla also shows how empathy can bring closure to past hurts.
Themes
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