Throughout the novel, playing cards symbolize the tension between external circumstance on the one hand and individual choice on the other hand. The main character, Ed Kennedy, mysteriously receives playing cards in the mail that send him to a series of locations where people need his help. Ed’s main hobby is also playing card games with his friends. The prevalence of cards contributes to the novel’s theme of circumstance, because one cannot control what cards they are dealt in a game, just like Ed cannot control the mission he is given. However, once one is dealt cards, they have a choice of how to play the cards, just as Ed has a choice to let his mission change him as a person. Notably, the first four cards Ed receives are all aces, and in many different card games, such as Blackjack, aces can either be high or low depending on the circumstance of the game. In a similar way, Ed finds that his missions can also widely vary: some are easy and positive like reading to a lonely old woman, while some are dangerous and hard such as stopping a large alcoholic man from abusing his family. Overall, the playing cards show that one cannot choose their circumstances, but one can choose what they do within those circumstances.
Playing Cards Quotes in I Am the Messenger
The I Am the Messenger quotes below all refer to the symbol of Playing Cards. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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3 of Diamonds
Quotes
“Something is going to happen at each of the addresses on that card, Ed, and you’ll have to react to it.”
I think about it and decide.
I speak.
“Well, that’s not real good, is it?”
“Why not?”
“Why not? What if there are people kicking the crap out of each other and I have to go in and stop it? It’s not exactly uncommon here, is it?”
“That’s just luck of the draw, I guess.”
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Playing Cards Symbol Timeline in I Am the Messenger
The timeline below shows where the symbol Playing Cards appears in I Am the Messenger. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
2 of Diamonds: Sex Should Be Like Math: An Introduction to My Life
Ed wants to tell the reader about his life. He plays cards with his friends a few times a week. His friends are Marv, who never shuts...
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...him. Unlike Dylan or Dalí, he has accomplished nothing and enjoys spending his time playing cards and driving his taxi from the city to the town.
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3 of Diamonds: The Ace of Diamonds
...feels a strange power surrounding it. Shivering, Ed opens the envelope and discovers a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds, inside.
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Three addresses and times are written on the card. Ed looks out the window but sees no one outside. He stands holding the card...
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...his Ma tomorrow. Before she hangs up, he asks her if she sent him the card. His mom responds by yelling at him further for forgetting about the coffee table. Ed...
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...for forgetting about the coffee table. Then he forces himself instead to focus on the card. He knows the sender must know him, because they clearly know he plays cards. However,...
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Ed can’t sleep and, in the morning, he looks up the addresses on the card. One is a rundown house, the other is old but well-kept, and the other address...
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Audrey claims she did not send the card, but she has a theory about why the card was sent to Ed in the...
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Marv gloats over winning the card game. Ed details how Marv lives at home and works for his dad, though Marv...
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...other. But Ed still does not make a move on Audrey. Instead, he holds the card in his hand and contemplates how this could be the time where, like Dylan or...
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5 of Diamonds: Watching, Waiting, Raping
...to ignore the robber’s death threat and focus on the first address listed on the card. He attempts to go to the house on Monday, and then Tuesday, but doesn’t work...
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...on the other side of the street. It is nearly the time listed on the card. A large, clearly drunk drunk man approaches the house. He enters and starts shouting for...
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...going to comfort her, but a voice inside his head stops him. Ed realizes the card wants him to stop the Edgar Street man from abusing his wife. Ed watches the...
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6 of Diamonds: Pieces
...a gigantic rapist from brutalizing his wife. Audrey asks Ed about the address on the card, but he says he can’t tell her what happened.
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7 of Diamonds: Harrison Avenue
...feels ashamed of this, but he wants to succeed at the other addresses on the card before he undertakes such a difficult mission. Ed decides to go to the second address...
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Ed and his friends play an overly complicated card game of their own invention at Audrey’s house. As they bicker among themselves, Ed observes...
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Marv asks Ed what happened after he received the playing card in the mail. Ed says he threw the card away, but he thinks back to...
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...whether or not she is okay that he forgets to play his turn in the card game. He makes a deal with himself: if he draws the Ace of Diamonds, he...
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...again. Ed answers yes, absolutely. On his walk home after seeing Milla, Ed realizes the card’s message is that he should heal Milla’s loneliness.
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8 of Diamonds: Being Jimmy
A few days later, Ed is playing cards with his friends at his house when the phone rings. The caller asks Ed, “How’s...
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9 of Diamonds: The Barefoot Girl
Ed decides to move on to the third address on the card at the designated time of 5:30 am. He waits outside a nice house until a...
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10 of Diamonds: The Shoe Box
...the Ace of Diamonds. Ed says he is still working on the mission of the card. Ed’s not sure if he can handle more missions. In the meantime, he continues to...
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Queen of Diamonds: Edgar Street Revisited
...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...
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King of Diamonds: Murder at the Cathedral
...drives his taxi completely exhausted. He thinks about the gun under his mattress and the card in his dresser drawer. As Ed returns his taxi to the company lot, he sees...
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Ace of Clubs: Aftermath
...but it turns out the caller is Marv. Marv berates Ed again for missing the card game. Ed tells him to stop because he had to attempt murder last night. Once...
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...Doorman for a walk. He feels paranoid, eventually realizing he is waiting for the next card to arrive. He walks to Marv’s place and sees Marv hanging out with other friends....
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...does, however, she asks Ed if he’s okay. Ed says he’s waiting for the next card and he’s not ready for it, but he’ll receive the card anyway. Sophie leaves and...
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2 of Clubs: The Visit
A few days pass without a card arriving. Ed visits the abusive man’s house, but he’s nowhere to be found. Ed feels...
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3 of Clubs: The Envelope
...mission could be uplifting or horrifying, he slowly opens the envelope. Inside, he finds the Ace of Clubs and a letter. The letter tells Ed that he did well with the last assignment,...
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The letter writer asks Ed if he is ready for the next card, but then says it doesn’t matter. Ed completed the last card even though he wasn’t...
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4 of Clubs: Just Ed
Audrey asks Ed if he has received a new card and wonders why he looks so beat-up. He has come over to her house for...
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Ed places the Ace of Clubs next to the Ace of Diamonds in his drawer. He imagines...
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...Audrey reminds him that he was chosen, and that some of the missions on the card, like Sophie and Milla, were uplifting. And even if the mission with the abusive man...
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...He knows he has to rise above his own feelings, because the mission of the cards has just begun.
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5 of Clubs: Cabs, the Hooker, and Alice
...red light, but he enjoys the welcome distraction from his worries about Audrey and the cards.
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6 of Clubs: The Stones
...and they go for a walk to find the “stones of home” listed on the Ace of Clubs . Unfortunately, Ed still has no idea where to look.
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The week goes by and Ed lives his normal routine of playing cards, driving his cab, and practicing for the soccer game with Marv. Marv still lives with...
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...where he needs to go. He goes back to the first house from the first card and sees that the wife and daughter are now happy without their abusive father. He...
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...his brother and himself climbing over the stones. He realizes this is the “home” the card was referring too. At the rocks, he finds three names written. Lacking pen and paper,...
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7 of Clubs: The Priest
...Tommy, on the phone. He is asking Tommy if he is the one sending the cards, because Tommy is the only one who would have known about them fishing off the...
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Before attending a card game, Ed goes to the neighborhood where Thomas O’Reilly lives. The street is full of...
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Later, while playing cards at Ritchie’s place, Ed asks Ritchie where his parents are, since he still lives with...
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After the card game, Audrey comes over to Ed’s house. Ed realizes how dirty his house is and...
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...Doorman. Marv hates the Doorman and the Doorman always barks at Marv. The friends play cards, and Ed draws the Ace of Clubs in their third game. Ed thinks about Father...
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King of Clubs: The Face of Clubs
Ed eventually stands up and limps home. He knows he has finally completed the Ace of Clubs and his task with Gavin. He looks at himself in his bathroom mirror and sees...
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Ace of Spades: The Game
...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...
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2 of Spades: Twenty Dollars for the Dog and the Card
Ed realizes Jay is holding a playing card. He runs after the young woman, but she is gone. Ed wants to keep searching...
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3 of Spades: Dig
...but Ed still feels pity for the other player. Ed chooses to think about the card in his pocket and the future it promises. Marv asks Ed what he’s smiling about....
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Ed walks home and takes out the card to examine it. He had expected the card’s suit to be hearts, because spades are...
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...the soccer game, chasing after the mysterious young woman and arguing with Jay for the card. In the next dream, Ed is in a classroom. There are books in front of...
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...liked. He remembers the poem was written by Sylvia Plath, the third name on the card. He deduces that the names on the card are famous authors and resolves to go...
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...to the library, Audrey stops by to hang out. Ed tells her about the new card. All the while, he watches her lips and wishes he could kiss her and touch...
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...home, he reads through the books, but cannot detect any clues as to where the card wants him to go next.
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...This causes Ed to shiver, because he remembers this means that the person sending the cards is following him at all times. The note tells Ed he is on the right...
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...doesn’t know which house numbers he is supposed to go to. Since this is the Ace of Spades , Ed reasons, he must dig for the answer. Ed picks up the books whose...
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4 of Spades: The Benefits of Lying
One evening, Ed is playing cards with his friends over at his house. He is thinking about how, earlier that day,...
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Marv smugly wins the card game. He starts talking about the upcoming Christmas game and wonders whose turn it is...
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8 of Spades: Clown Street. Chips. The Doorman. And Me.
...waiting for her and leaves. He walks the Doorman to the next address on the card and thinks about how Audrey’s boyfriend probably doesn’t appreciate her beauty like he does.
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...for. The young man tells Ed that he “might not be the only one getting aces in the mail.” Then the man disappears.
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Queen of Spades: The Bell Street Theater
Ed goes to the third address on the card, an old movie theater. The theater appears completely empty, until he finds an old man...
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King of Spades: The Last Reel
...theater. On his seat now is the Ace of Hearts. Ed sits down, holding the card but not looking at it. A heartbeat seems to radiate from the card in his...
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Ace of Hearts: The Music of Hearts
...head. He knows the young man he just saw was the one who left the card in the theater.
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Ed wakes up the next morning and looks at the card on the floor. He assures himself that this is the last card, before falling back...
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Ed decides to give out Christmas cards, so he takes the aces from old decks of playing cards and writes notes to...
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Ed delivers his last Christmas card to Father O’Reilly. He tells the Father he has been busy with his mission. He...
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2 of Hearts: The Kiss, the Grave, the Fire
The friends play cards and enjoy each other’s company. Audrey’s boyfriend comes over and hangs out with them for...
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Ed settles Ritchie on the couch and Marv in Ed’s own bed. He collects his cards from his nightstand. He sits at his kitchen table and remembers fondly the cards he...
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4 of Hearts: To Feel the Fear
...directed by Pablo Sanchez, who has the same last name as Ritchie. Ed fears this card will be the most challenging mission, because he sees now that it involves his friends.
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...as possible, but he decides to go by the order of the names on the card, which would be Ritchie, Marv, and then Audrey. He has no idea what Ritchie could...
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...Ed apart inside. He envisions his three friends, Ritchie, Marv, and Audrey, and knows the Ace of Hearts will cut into all of them like a knife.
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5 of Hearts: Ritchie’s Sin
The next two nights, Ed and his friends play cards. Ed studies Ritchie, knowing Ritchie’s entire life consists of going to the pub, going to...
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...about stalking him. Ritchie tells Ed to stop, but Ed refuses. Ed shows Ritchie his cards and explains that each gives him a mission to complete. He tells Ritchie that his...
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6 of Hearts: God Bless the Man with the Beard, the Missing Teeth, and the Poverty
...over $40,000 in the bank, and then realizes this question is the key to the card.
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7 of Hearts: The Secret Marv
At the next card game, Ed asks Ritchie how the job search is going. Ritchie says he hasn’t found...
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Jack of Hearts: Marv’s Afterthought
...doesn’t need any money. He explains to Marv the missions he has received through the cards and how Marv belonged to the Ace of Hearts. Ed says he has to go,...
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King of Hearts: The End
...things and begins to leave Audrey. He says he will see her at the next card game, but she promises him he will see her sooner than that. Ed walks home,...
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...envelope with his name on it. He can see that the envelope contains one more card with one more address on it. He collapses on the lawn. Thoughts elude him as...
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Joker: The Laughter
Ed’s street is quiet, but he hears the Joker in his hand laughing at him. He is scared to go back inside his house...
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Joker: The Weeks
...distant from their friends lately. Ed says he has been waiting. He shows Audrey the cards and explains that each card is complete, except for the Joker. He begs Audrey to...
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Joker: The End is Not the End
...mention of the cemetery, Ed wonders if his father planned the whole scheme of the cards before he died. He knows his father used to walk the streets of the town...
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Joker: The Folder
...he came to town a year ago and saw Ed with his dead father, his card games, and his dog. He watched Ed like Ed watched all the addresses on the...
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Joker: The Message
...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...
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