Ramon's family's Gaming Machine—a slot machine that dispenses candy—serves several purposes throughout the novel. Matty's desire to have one for himself, as well as his jealousy of Ramon, casts the Gaming Machine as an object that illustrates how appealing new, better, more exciting items are for everyone, whether they're morally corrupt like Mentor becomes, or are the good-hearted hero of the novel, like Matty. In other words, the Gaming Machine becomes representative of the dangerous consumer culture enabled by the Trade Mart, in which these exciting new items are purchased in exchange for positive qualities like kindness and compassion. Once Matty becomes fully aware of this, he begins to see the Gaming Machine as representative of a greater evil in Village, one that prioritizes objects over people. At this point, Matty's jealousy disappears, suggesting that for someone who still possesses their full quota of kindness, compassion, and belief in the common good, the Trade Mart, the Gaming Machine, and the consumer culture that they represent are abhorrent and in direct opposition to the utopian vision of Village.
The Gaming Machine Quotes in Messenger
"And so we would give up—or maybe even trade away—reading, and music, in exchange for the extreme excitement of pulling a handle and watching sourballs spit forth from a mechanical device?" he asked.
Put that way, Matty thought, the Gaming Machine didn't actually seem such a good trade. "Well," he said, "it's fun."
"Well," said Matty slowly, "when she was leaving, walking and talking with the other women, and her husband behind trying to keep up, she whirled around suddenly and scolded him for being slow."
"Slow? But he's all twisted. He can't walk any other way," the blind man said in surprise.
"I know. But she made a sneering face at him and she imitated his way of walking. She made fun of him. It was only for a second, though."
The Gaming Machine Symbol Timeline in Messenger
