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 feels uplifted by helping Milla and Sophie, but downtrodden by the thought of the first address. He stays up late every night watching reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard and drives his cab the next day with a headache. Ed is playing cards with his friends when an impulse suddenly comes over him, compelling him to return to the first mission.
Ed’s hesitation over the first mission followed by his eventual resolution that he has to complete it shows that even if helping someone may require sacrifice, one has a moral obligation to do so.
Themes
Though nearly paralyzed with fear and hating himself for his own inaction, Ed approaches the front door of the house. He can hear the Edgar Street man assaulting his wife inside. The front door to the house opens and the daughter steps out. She introduces herself as Angelina and asks Ed if he is there to save the family. Ed says he is. Suddenly hopeful, the girl embraces him and points him to her parents’ bedroom. However, Ed is frozen, knowing there is nothing he can do to stop what is going on inside. He expects the girl to scream at him for failing to help, but she just says goodbye and goes back inside the house.
Ed’s hatred of himself for his inaction suggests that if one witnesses someone in need of help and does not help, one becomes complicit in the injustice. Angelina sees Ed as a hero come to save her. This suggests that because she is a child, she holds the view that help comes from strangers who solve problems with one bold act of bravery. However, Ed proves this view incorrect with his own recognition of the severity of the situation, and Angelina resigns herself to her reality.
Themes
Ed lies awake at night, feeling like he is going to go insane after having had to face Angelina directly. Still, he senses that fate wanted him to meet her in order to give him courage. However, he failed. Suddenly, the phone rings. Ed runs to pick it up and the voice on the other end tells him to check his mailbox, before hanging up. Ed immediately reaches into his mailbox and touches something inside that is cold, heavy, and has a trigger.
Though Ed sees it as fate that he met Angelina, he’s the one who chose to be on the front porch where he sees Angelina every night. This shows how one can use fate as a justification for their own choices, especially when one must choose to do something difficult, as Ed must do here.
Themes
