I Am the Messenger

I Am the Messenger

by

Markus Zusak

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Hope, Caring, and Beauty Theme Analysis

Themes and Colors
Circumstance vs. Choice Theme Icon
Heroism, Sainthood, and Ordinariness Theme Icon
Purpose, Success, and Meaning Theme Icon
Hope, Caring, and Beauty Theme Icon
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.
Hope, Caring, and Beauty Theme Icon

Ed believes his community to be generally hopeless, because in his opinion, everyone in his neighborhood is self-centered. However, after Ed receives his mission to help others through a series of playing cards with unknown origins, he begins to notice the beauty of how other people express caring for others. He also inspires hope himself by showing others his care for them. Ed begins to see the beauty in his community and his life through the care he shows toward others and through the love he sees others demonstrate as well.

Before completing his mission of helping others, Ed views his town as ugly because he believes his community members do not care for each other. Ed describes his neighborhood by saying there are “plenty of teenage pregnancies there, a plethora of shithead fathers who are unemployed, and mothers like mine who smoke, drink.” These details construct an image of a community where the people who are supposed to care for each other, mainly family members, often fail to due to issues like poverty. When Ed follows the instructions on the playing card to his first mission, he discovers a local man who repeatedly sexually assaults his wife. Ed wonders why the world does not hear the assault and stop the man, but then he realizes that the world can hear but “it doesn’t care.” This incident reinforces Ed’s belief that people in general do not care about the suffering of others.

However, Ed soon begins to notice the beauty in the world by witnessing the kindness and strength of others. The first card leads Ed to helping a local teenage track runner named Sophie, who is not the fastest runner at her competitions but shows a great level of determination. Ed comes to appreciate the strength of her spirit and recognize her internal beauty. This shows how the mission to help others allows Ed to see the beauty inside individuals within his community. Similarly, Ed helps another family by decorating their home with brand-new Christmas lights. Ed watches the lights illuminate the yard and feels an incredible sense of “power and glory.” The act of kindness Ed committed for the family allows him to experience a moment of beauty. While Ed looks at the lights with the family, he sees the husband lovingly kiss his wife. This moment contrasts with the brutality of the other husband whom Ed witnessed assaulting his wife. When Ed sees this example of tenderness, he realizes that some people are truly beautiful on the inside. Thus, by helping out this family and othes, Ed is able to recognize that beauty and love exist in the world despite the ugliness he has seen. The husband of the family Ed tells Ed that no one else in the neighborhood ever did anything to help them. Ed’s mission not only shows him that there are caring, beautiful people in the world, but also allows him to show others that kindness exists in the community.

Ed’s perspective at the beginning of the novel is pessimistic because he can only see the ugliness and selfishness present in his society. However, by helping others he begins to see the beauty and hope present within individuals. What’s more, Ed is able to spread this beauty by being an example of a caring individual for others. Ed’s transformation in perspective shows that if one wants to see the beauty of their community, they should begin by caring for others.

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Hope, Caring, and Beauty Quotes in I Am the Messenger

Below you will find the important quotes in I Am the Messenger related to the theme of Hope, Caring, and Beauty.
5 of Diamonds Quotes

He has sex with her and the bed cries out in pain. It creaks and wails and only I can hear it. Christ, it’s deafening. Why can’t the world hear? I ask myself. Within a few moments I ask it many times. Because it doesn’t care, I finally answer, and I know I’m right. It’s like I’ve been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask.

The answer’s quite simple:

To care.

Related Characters: Ed Kennedy (speaker), The Edgar Street Man , The Edgar Street Woman
Page Number: 41-42
Explanation and Analysis:
8 of Clubs Quotes

“You know, they say that there are countless saints who have nothing to do with church and almost no knowledge of God. But they say God walks with those people without them ever knowing it.” His eyes are inside me now, followed by the words. “You’re one of those people, Ed. It’s an honor to know you.”

Related Characters: Father Thomas O’Reilly (speaker), Ed Kennedy
Page Number: 152
Explanation and Analysis:

The father speaks with a sincerity that’s hypnotizing. Not about God, but about the people of this town getting together. Doing things together. Helping each other. And just getting together in general. He invites them to do that in his church every Sunday.

Related Characters: Ed Kennedy (speaker), Father Thomas O’Reilly
Page Number: 162
Explanation and Analysis:
Queen of Clubs Quotes

I hope for a moment that they both understand what they’re doing and what they’re proving.

I want to tell them, but I realize that all I do is deliver the message. I don’t decipher it or make sense of it for them. They need to do that themselves.

Related Characters: Ed Kennedy (speaker), Gavin Rose , Daniel Rose
Page Number: 177
Explanation and Analysis:
4 of Spades Quotes

Four globes to brighten up the Tatupu house this year. It’s not a big thing, but I guess it’s true—big things are often just small things that are noticed.

Related Characters: Ed Kennedy (speaker), Lua Tatupu , Marie Tatupu
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
6 of Spades Quotes

Lua and Marie are holding hands.

They look like they’re so happy, just inside this moment, watching the kids and the lights on their old fibro house.

Lua kisses her.

Just softly on the lips.

And she kisses back.

Sometimes people are beautiful.

Not in looks.

Not in what they say.

Just in what they are.

Related Characters: Ed Kennedy (speaker), Lua Tatupu , Marie Tatupu
Page Number: 224
Explanation and Analysis:
7 of Spades Quotes

“You know, Ed, we’ve been living here close to a year now, and nobody—absolutely nobody—has ever lifted a finger to help or make us feel welcome.” He drinks. “We expect no more these days. People have enough trouble getting by on their own…But then you come along, out of nowhere.”

Related Characters: Lua Tatupu (speaker), Ed Kennedy
Page Number: 225
Explanation and Analysis:
Joker: The Message Quotes

And that’s when I realize.

In a sweet, cruel, beautiful moment of clarity, I smile, watch a crack in the cement, and speak to Audrey and the sleeping Doorman. I tell them what I’m telling you:

I’m not the messenger at all.

I’m the message.

Related Characters: Ed Kennedy (speaker), Audrey, The Doorman
Page Number: 357
Explanation and Analysis: