Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Messenger, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Selfishness vs. the Collective Good
Youth, Memory, and the Future
Humans and Nature
Identity and Difference
Summary
Analysis
Matty is impatient to finish preparing and eating supper, as there's something scary he needs to do. He's no longer a boy, but he's not quite a man either. Matty lives with a blind man named Seer, and they go through their familiar, friendly argument as they prepare supper: Matty wants to throw ingredients together quickly, while Seer wants to teach Matty how to cook properly. Seer teases Matty about a girl who suggested she'd kiss him if he had sweet breath. He jokes that Matty could trade his fishing pole for a kiss, but Matty and Seer then decide that trading is no longer a thing to laugh about.
Matty, who was Matt in Gathering Blue, will be the protagonist of this book. It's important to note here how loyal Matty is to Seer (Christopher in Gathering Blue). He's willing to do things he doesn't much care about, like go along with properly preparing food in the way that Seer likes, so that his relationship with Seer remains good. This shows that Matty already has a firm understanding of the importance of looking out for others, even when doing so isn't something that benefits Matty personally. Trading is also introduced as something vaguely sinister.
Themes
Seer coaches Matty through sautéing onion and then adding rabbit, even though Matty complains about wanting to get outside before dark. Matty refuses to answer what he's going out to check; he's afraid of it and doesn't know what it means. Finally, after supper, Seer picks up his stringed instrument and Matty creeps to the door. Seer tells Matty to light a lamp and tells Matty that he remembers what Forest was like at night, back when he could see. Matty asks if Seer was afraid of Forest like everyone else is, but Seer says cryptically that, "it's all an illusion."
Seer's cryptic assessment that Forest is an illusion is something to keep in mind going forward. Notably, because Seer can't see in the conventional sense, he understands that Forest isn't actually something separate from humanity. Instead, it's a reflection of humanity and of the bad things that are beginning to brew in Village—including this secret thing that Matty is afraid of.
Themes
Matty takes a meandering route to Forest so he can pass by the schoolteacher's house. The schoolteacher's name is Mentor, though some children call him "Rosy" because he has a bright red birthmark that covers half of his face. In Matty's old settlement, Mentor would've been killed for the flaw, but in Village, such things are valued. Matty admires Mentor because he's a patient and kind teacher, but he really wants to see Mentor's daughter, Jean. Jean is the girl who promised Matty a kiss, and she often spends time in her garden in the evenings. Unfortunately, nobody is home, but Matty draws a heart with their names in it in the dirt by her garden.
Matty's crush on Jean reminds the reader that he's currently in the throes of puberty and is in the process of coming of age. At this point, however, he's still one of the kids in Village and therefore, doesn't have all the rights and responsibilities that come with adulthood. The fact that Village's goals are to celebrate everyone, no matter what, shows that Village seeks to create a safe space for people and to elevate the good of humanity over competition and individualism.
Themes
Matty's friend Ramon comes around the corner and surprises him. Ramon invites Matty for supper, and Matty thinks that Ramon's homeplace is fun—his parents recently traded for a Gaming Machine, which has a handle that makes three wheels spin. If the wheels all stop and show the same picture, the machine spits out candy. Matty never asks what they "sacrificed" for the Gaming Machine. He tells Ramon that he has an errand to run and insists he has to go alone to deliver a message. It's a lie, which feels strange to Matty—as a child lying was a habit, but in Village, lying is wrong.
The way that Matty describes the Gaming Machine indicates that it's a tabletop slot machine, or something that's purely in Ramon's home for entertainment. Note that the narrator chooses to describe the trade for the Gaming Machine as a "sacrifice." This continues to indicate that there's something sinister going on with trade in Village, no matter what people are trading for.
Themes
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Matty follows Forest's paths. He's comfortable in Forest and knows where to go. Others, however, don't enter Forest because it's dangerous for them. Forest sometimes violently murders people who try to leave Village, but it lets Matty pass untouched. He once told Seer that Forest likes him, and Seer suggested that Forest needed Matty. The people need Matty to ferry messages for them, and he hopes to one day get the "true name" Messenger. Matty heads to a clearing, squats, and listens. He makes a sound and moments later, a small frog appears and croaks at him. The frog sits quietly in Matty's hand as Matty inspects its body. Trembling, Matty finds what he's looking for and puts the frog back down. As Matty returns to Village, he hears keening—people singing in lamentation about a death.
The idea of "true names" suggests that what Village focuses on more than anything is what people can do for Village and for the common good, not what they look like. Matty's desire to be called Messenger shows that at this point, he believes that the most meaningful thing he can do for Village is to help it communicate with other settlements by moving through Forest. Because Matty is still a child and hasn't yet come of age, this signals to the reader that Matty's desired true name might not fully encapsulate who he is in the eyes of his peers and neighbors—only his hopes for himself.
Themes
