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, Audrey knocks on Ed’s door. She comes in and asks Ed if she can stay, forever. Ed and Audrey kiss and hold each other. They sink to the floor together and the Doorman comes and sits next to them. Ed tells Audrey the entire story of the man and the cards. When he finishes, he realizes there’s something else he needs to know. He runs to the folder and frantically searches through it. Audrey asks what he’s looking for and he says he is looking for them getting together. Audrey says that this moment is meant for them alone.
Audrey’s words indicate that now that the man has withdrawn his control, Ed must make his own decisions and continue to live his life on his own terms. This further emphasizes the idea that circumstance dictates an individual’s life to a point, but beyond that point, one must make their own decisions. The end of the folder also represents the end of the novel and its control over the characters.
Themes
Ed, Audrey, and the Doorman sit on the front porch. Ed contemplates the man’s words about how if someone as average as Ed can commit extraordinary acts of kindness for others, then this means that any person can do the same. He realizes that he was not a messenger, delivering information and meaning to others. He is the message himself.
Ed’s revelation that he is the message shows how when one chooses to help others, their life becomes an inspiration to others to act with kindness as well. This also further emphasizes the idea that Ed’s purpose is to show to the reader the value pushing oneself to help others, even when one doesn’t feel heroic or extraordinary at all.
Themes
