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 knows his next task is helping Gavin and his brother. He doesn’t believe that Gavin and Daniel have ever truly had to deal with an outside force attacking their family. So, Ed waits until Gavin and Daniel have another fight and Gavin runs out of the house. He stops at the same place down the street as last time.
Ed expresses the view that in order for an individual to mature, one needs to confront the outside forces that dictate one’s life and learn to cope with and grow from these circumstances.
Themes
Ed grabs Gavin by the shirt collar and pulls him into the bushes. Ed punches him over and over again. He can tell Gavin is scared but he continues. Ed does not like hitting Gavin, but he cannot seem to stop himself. Finally, Ed pulls himself away and walks away from Gavin’s crumpled, injured body.
Ed beating Gavin suggests that sometimes, violence is justified in the pursuit of helping others. However, when one does use violence, one must also use self-control, as shown by Ed’s decision to walk away from Gavin.
Themes
Ed walks to the nearest phonebooth. Unfortunately, a teenage girl is already using the phone. Ed begins knocking on the door of the booth, until the girl asks him angrily what he wants. He pesters her until she gets off the phone, then he calls Gavin’s house. When Daniel answers, Ed tells him that his brother is lying hurt down the street and Daniel should go get him. Then he hangs up and goes to watch Daniel rescue his brother. Ed thinks that for the first time, they are actually acting like family. He realizes his job is not to fix them, but just to set them on the path to fix themselves.
Ed’s knowledge that he has not fixed the boys, but rather just set them on the path toward fixing themselves shows that an individual can only help another person so much. As is the case with Ed himself, the majority of the work of improving one’s life must be undertaken by the individual in question.
Themes
