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4 of Spades
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
The night after Ed leaves the lights at the front door, a van pulls up in front of his house. Lua, Marie, and their children step out of the van and reveal that they looked Ed up in the phonebook. They insist Ed come with them back to their house. Once they arrive, Marie ushers all the kids inside. Then Lua gets out, leaving Ed alone. Ed worries he has offended Lua by buying the lights. Finally, Ed gets out and stands on the edge of the lawn with Lua. Marie and the kids come out and join them.
The gathering of the family and their desire to include Ed suggest that Ed’s intent to help them was enough to make an impact on their lives, even though the specific action he took was a relatively small one.
Themes
Lua calls out to Jessie, who is still in the house. Suddenly, all the new lights hung up on the house, flash on. Everyone’s faces are lit up with red, blue, yellow, and green. The children clap and cheer for Christmas. Jessie comes outside. He seems the happiest of all the family. Lua reveals that Jessie insisted Ed come to watch them turn the new lights on for the first time. Ed feels a sense of power and glory.
Ed’s recognition of the power and beauty of this moment emphasizes the theme that helping others leads the helper to recognize the positive aspects of the world around them. It also seems that sharing these positive aspects with others increases their beauty, since Ed takes care to note how joyful each member of the family is.
Themes
