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 drives the bleeding Marv home and Marv thanks Ed for his help. Weeks pass and their friendship contains the same petty arguments, despite the significant life event they experienced together. Ed is grateful their friendship hasn’t changed. One morning, Ed arrives at work and the secretary tells him someone called and requested Ed’s cab specifically. She gives Ed Suzanne’s address. Ed decides to go straight to Suzanne without calling Marv.
Despite Ed’s previous fears that his friendship with Marv was permanently changed, their return to normalcy shows that one can both care deeply for another person and still enjoy lighthearted moments with them. Suzanne’s call to the cab company suggests the courage of Marv and Ed has inspired her to defy her father.
Themes
Ed arrives at Suzanne’s house and she gets into the cab along with her daughter. Ed asks the child what her name is, and the child says Melinda. Ed recognizes that both Suzanne and Melinda are beautiful. Suzanne tells Ed that she hates her father and hates herself for obeying him. Suzanne asks Ed if he hates her for what she did to Marv. Ed says he doesn’t, because Suzanne was young, and her father was controlling. Ed says what’s most important is Suzanne coming to see Marv today. She tells Ed that no one has ever confronted her father like Ed did.
Ed acknowledgement of the powerful influence of Suzanne’s circumstances on her life along with his emphasis on her current choices shows how he now has a nuanced view on fate and choice. This view accepts that while one cannot change their past circumstances, they can choose how they proceed from those circumstances and begin to make up for the regrets of their past.
Themes
Ed drops Suzanne and Melinda off at a playground and then picks Marv up at work. Ed waits on the hood of his cab while Marv cautiously approaches Suzanne and Melinda at the park. Marv shyly shakes his daughter’s hand and then pushes her on the swing set. Suzanne comments to Ed that Marv gets along well with Melinda. Melinda gets off the swing and holds Marv’s hand. Ed can see that Marv is crying.
Marv’s connection with his daughter shows how the act of caring, as Marv clearly cares for his daughter, can heal past pain. The union of the family also demonstrates how bravery (as Ed, Marv, and Suzanne have all shown) can overcome unkind forces such as Suzanne’s father.
Themes
