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 sweats and bleeds onto his bed, but he still feels happy. He laughs as he takes a shower and returns to the bedroom. He looks at the two cards and remembers the stories associated with the instructions the cards gave him. He wishes the best for all the people he met in those stories. He wonders what the next card will bring. Ed wants the next tasks to be clear and direct, but he knows that every time he wishes for simplicity, his life only becomes more complicated.
Ed’s thoughts reveal that while helping others may be morally good, doing so is also often complicated. Ed’s acceptance of complexity shows his development as a character, because at the beginning of the novel he separated the world into binaries such as success and failure. His reflections here show how helping others leads to a maturing of one’s own character.
Themes
Ed is sleeping on his couch when he hears knocking at the door and assumes it’s Keith and Daryl. Marv walks in. He asks Ed how he got injured. Ed says he was randomly attacked by a gang. Marv asks if Ed can still play in the soccer game that afternoon. Ed says yes, because for some reason he wants even more physical struggle. Marv offers to buy him breakfast.
Marv’s limited concern over Ed’s injuries and his significant concern over the football game reveals his misplaced priorities. Unlike Ed, it seems that Marv has not yet learned to value caring deeply for others.
Themes
Ed and Marv go to breakfast at a cheap café. The waitress hassles the boys while they attempt to order from café’s limited selection. She handles their typical sarcastic attitudes and snaps back at them. Their food is inordinately expensive and delivered late. When their food finally does arrive, Ed is disappointed with his meal and Marv offers him part of his food. Ed asks Marv why he is being so nice to him today. Marv admits that he is trying to ensure that Ed shows up to the soccer game later that day.
Hostility from the waitress further emphasizes Ed’s viewpoint that people are generally selfish and preoccupied with their own issues. This suggests that one must make an intentional effort, such as what Ed is doing with the cards, in order to break from this norm. Marv continues to show his misplaced priorities, which the novel suggests come from the fact that he does not have any significant responsibilities in his life.
Themes
Ed stops at home and picks up the Doorman. Together, they head down to the community athletics fields. Ed remembers all the time he spent with Sophie here. He holds onto the image of Sophie running for a while, before turning toward the ugliness of the soccer game. The two teams are made up of mostly amateur, rough-looking, barefoot middle-aged men. One of the men, whom they call Merv, grumbles at Ritchie for being late. Ritchie asks Ed why he is all beat up, but does not care enough to press the issue, which is why Ed appreciates his friendship.
The rough, ugly atmosphere of the soccer game emphasizes the general hopelessness of Ed’s town, given that such a brutal event is so popular among men in his town. Meanwhile, Ritchie’s tactful decision not to ask more about Ed’s injuries shows that empathy can come in many forms; sometimes, not helping is the most helpful course of action.
Themes
Get the entire I Am the Messenger LitChart as a printable PDF.
Ed realizes he has been assigned to guard the largest player on the opposing team. However, Ed is not worried. Merv gathers the team together and gives them a pep talk about destroying the other team. Before the game, Ed goes to check on his dog. He finds a young boy named Jay petting the Doorman and asks the boy if he minds watching the dog during the game.
The violent tone of Merv’s pep talk to the team portrays a view of success and heroism which depends upon dominating and hurting others. One can assume that this attitude is common in Ed’s society, showing how his mission to help others goes against the dominant values of his community.
Themes
The game’s referee, Reggie, is already drunk before the game begins. Ed shakes hands with his opponent, the massive man he has nicknamed Mimi, and the opponent threatens to tear him apart. The game begins and Ed keeps making runs for the goal, only to be pummeled to the ground by Mimi. The crowd cheers every time Ed is beaten down. Merv, the team captain, congratulates Ed on being the only player to go for the ball, despite the physical cost to himself.
Ed’s nicknaming of his opponent with a female name suggests a misogynistic attitude, which shows how being in a hypermasculine, violent environment can cause even a caring person like Ed to become less kind. Merv further emphasizes an idea of heroism which involves physical sacrifice through aggressive acts.
Themes
At halftime, Ed sits with the Doorman and Jay. As the second half begins, Ed’s team manages to get the upper hand. Marv goads Ed to attack Mimi. In response, Ed encourages Mimi to run at him. On the next play, Mimi collides with Ed. Against all odds, Mimi falls to the ground injured but Ed is still standing. Everyone cheers for Ed, but Ed feels sorry for hurting the other player. The players debate how to move the injured Mimi off the field and relentlessly mock his weight. Ed leaves the field and realizes the Doorman has disappeared.
Mimi’s injury represents the consequences of valuing the violent, masculine expectations of society over the wellbeing of others. Ed shows opposition to this destructive societal norm by being concerned for Mimi and walking away from the game. This moment shows that while Ed is to some extent still stuck in the norms of his community (he did encourage Mimi to hit him, after all), he’s also becoming a more compassionate person.
Themes
