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Joker: The End is Not the End
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
Ed enters his house and finds another man sitting on his couch with the Doorman. Ed cannot manage to ask the man if he is who he thinks he is, but the man simply nods. The man explains that 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 cards. He reveals that he killed Ed’s father, as well as organized the failed bank robbery and sent Daryl and Keith to beat Ed up. He says he did all this because Ed was completely ordinary, and he wanted to prove that if someone so average can commit extraordinary acts in order to help people, then truly anyone can.
One could interpret this man as God, given his divinely omniscient knowledge of Ed’s life. This interpretation suggests that one’s life is completely controlled by a higher power. One could also interpret the man to be the author himself. This man claims that he has dictated Ed’s life in order to show that anyone can go above and beyond themselves to help others, just as the author has written out the details of Ed’s life in order to convey the same point.
Themes
Ed stands still, questioning his reality. Eventually, the man stands up, leaving a folder on the couch behind him. He reveals that everything he planned for Ed, and everything Ed did, is written in the folder, including the conversation they are having right now. Ed asks if he himself is real. The man tells him to look in the folder. Ed does, and written inside are the words, “Of course you’re real.” The man begins to leave, and Ed begs him to tell him what he is supposed to do now. The man says Ed must now live his own life.
The folder represents the novel itself because it dictates Ed’s every action, just like an author describes a character’s life. This suggests the message of Ed’s life—that one should commit extraordinary acts of caring for others—is the moral the reader should take away from the novel. The man’s instruction that Ed now has to live his life emphasizes again that while one cannot control their circumstances, they do choose how the proceed from these circumstances.
Themes
The man remains for a few more minutes while Ed grapples with the weight of what he has just learned. Finally, the man leaves, without ever telling Ed his name. Ed watches the man walk up the street and take out a notebook to write in. Ed thinks that maybe he should be the one to write about it, because he was the one who did all the work. He stops himself from thinking too much about this. Ed goes through the folder and verifies that everything inside is true. He waits around as days pass, before realizing he is waiting for life after the events in the folder.
The namelessness of the man leaves the reader to interpret whether he is God, the author, or simply another character within the context of the story. This shows how one has a choice of how to perceive the forces that guide people’s lives. This idea is further emphasized by Ed’s thought that he should write down his story, because while he cannot change the events themselves, he can change the lens through which they are viewed.
Themes
