Markus Zusak’s novel I am the Messenger follows the story of Ed Kennedy, a 19 year old cab-driver and the ‘“epitome of ordinariness” (253). When the novel begins, Ed doesn’t have much besides a mother who hates him, a handful of friends he plays cards with, and an old smelly dog. He’s a dead man walking, with no purpose and no goals. Ed compares himself to Bob Dylan, Salvador Dali, and Joan of Arc, pointing out that by the time they were his age, they all had made something of themselves, while his greatest achievement was getting a series of mysterious playing cards in the mail. Written on each playing card was a clue to direct him to his next task. While helping the people the cards lead him to, ordinary Ed gains compassion and finally …show more content…
He observes an old woman through her window. “I think she ate a salad and some soup. And loneliness. She ate that, too.” (47) Ed introduces himself to the window named Mila without hesitation. Upon meeting him, Mila thinks Ed is her husband, Jimmy, finally come back to her. Ed goes along with it and begins to read to her, eat with her, and keep her company. Even after receiving his next task, Ed doesn’t want to stop visiting her. Mila has weaved herself into his heart and Ed realizes he needs her more than she needs him.
The third address leads him to help a teenage girl named Sophie, giving her a new pair of shoes. She is the first character who acknowledges what Ed is doing and approaches him.
“‘Are you some kind of a saint or something?’ Inside, I laugh. Me? A saint? I list what I am. Taxi driver. Local deadbeat. Cornerstone of mediocrity. Sexual midget. Pathetic cardplayer. I say my final words to her. ‘No, I’m not a saint, Sophie. I’m just another stupid human.’” (74)
Ed’s inner monologue is most often comprised of him belittling himself. Sophie’s kind words catch him off guard and he can’t bring himself to believe them, seeing as there isn’t a way they could possibly be true. There’s nothing saint-like about a 19 year old
He demonstrates his aunt’s willingness to help writing: “‘I know that things are bad between you and your mom right now, and I just want you to know that I am on your side.’” Her generosity made a great impression on Andrews. He extends this thought further when he writes “‘And in the meantime, if you ever need to get away, my house is always open to you. And to Darian, too.’” The trust his aunt placed in him influenced him hugely in his life. He continues to impress this point recording: “I was grateful but shocked. She and Mom were really close, and for Susan to go behind Mom’s back like that was huge.” He used emotional change in order to exhibit how moved he was by the support he received from his family members even if it was only one ally who was on his side from the start. This abundant amount of assistance from his aunt causes the audience to empathize by relating personal experiences from their own families to the
Ed learns to face all of his fears, and he was able to rise above his feelings of incompetence as he helps others in areas where they need the most help in. Some of the messages that Ed receive are as simple, for example, buying an ice cream cone for a single mother, a church that needs congregation, but others put Ed in real danger. Ed’s last message, delivered on the joker card, it's for Ed himself. During the delivery of this message, Ed realized that “he was not the messenger, but rather he was the message itself.”( Zusak, p. 357). This quote shows that even ordinary ones, can rise about their perceived ability to make a difference in the world. Through his journey, Ed discovers that he has now become “full of purpose rather than incompetence, he also becomes more confident, and also improved him as a human
To begin with, Eric shows courage by staying fat for Sarah Byrnes. Eric joined the swim team and began to slim, but he was afraid him not being an outcast might interfere with his friendship with Sarah. He decided to try and stay fat so he and Sarah could be friends. “When I found out you were staying fat for me, I went home and cried and cried.
Several Years after their marriage, cousin Mattie Silver is asked to relieve Zeena, who is constantly ill, of her house hold duties. Ethan finds himself falling in love with Mattie, drawn to her youthful energy, as, “ The pure air, and the long summer hours in the open, gave life and elasticity to Mattie.” Ethan is attracted to Mattie because she is the opposite of Zeena, while Mattie is young, happy, healthy, and beautiful like the summer, Zeena is seven years older than Ethan, bitter, ugly and sickly cold like the winter. Zeena’s strong dominating personality undermines Ethan, while Mattie’s feminine, lively youth makes Ethan fell like a “real man.” Ethan and Mattie finally express their feeling for each other while Zeena is visiting the doctor, and are forced to face the painful reality that their dreams of being together can not come true.
Being essential to the characteristics of a few of the main characters, Evelyn Couch, Ruth Jamison, and Idgie Threadgoode. While during one of Evelyn’s usual nursing home visits, she happens to strike a conversation with an old kind card of a woman (Ninny Threadgoode) who happens to brighten her day with the telling of stories from the past. As she begins Ninny recounts tales of her sister-in-law Idgie a young free spirited girl who always seemed a cut above the rest, but however, differed from others in the sense that after her older brother Buddy’s untimely death she began to close herself off to others around her. While before then was always different as she was a girl who enjoyed rough, noisy activities traditionally associated with
At the begging of the story Guy begins to talk to his neighbor Clarisse McClellan, a seventeen year old girl who has a completely opposite outlook on life than that of Montag’s wife, Mildred. Being around Clarisse makes Guy re-examine his life, leading him to believe that he is no longer happy with his life and that he no longer loves his wife Mildred. As all of this is happening, Mildred has no idea because she is so submersed into interactive televisions, an unhealthy tranquilizer addiction, and her seashell radio.
Oral’s family owns a farm and needs a new cover of paint. Emmett agrees to paint the barn and heads over to Oral’s house. There Emmett meets Ivy, Oral’s sister. Emmett fell in love with Ivy at the moment he laid his eyes upon her. Day and night at the Lish’s house, Emmett dreamt and thought of Ivy. He was always unlucky with women, but this time he thinks that he is lucky, thinking, “I could paint her...”. With new found love there was nothing Emmett could not do well. He was filled with “power and sureness”. Emmett put all his effort into painting the barn. He later told Mr. Lish that he would paint the barn for free if he could take Ivy out. During the trip Emmett tells Ivy that he wants to “paint” her, even saying “I’m an artist.” Emmett later finds out that Ivy is two-timing him with Arod Johnson, whom he had met during his trip with Ivy. With grief and anger, Emmett takes up his brush and paints a picture of Ivy on the barn, leaving a permanent picture of Ivy. At this point Emmett now realizes and admits that he is an artist. Through his love of Ivy he wants to paint her. When Ivy doubts a sign and house painter, Emmett reassures her with “I’m and artist.” Emmett finally admits what he did not want to admit in the beginning and breaks out of his
She tried to do many things to be “better” than she had been. Showering everyday to be the cleanest version herself made her feel that it enhanced her quality of life. She was doing this day in day out and even sometimes twice a day as part of her “cleanliness”. While she did not have much money, she spent her extra cash on what she felt was its place to be spent in. Herself. Her appearance. Edith had bought the nicest and most soothing scent of perfume along with a flashy wristwatch and admirable dresses in an attempt to boost her self-esteem and self-image. Amidst the scent of roses and nice clothes Edith tried to change her attitude. She refused to gossip anytime Mrs.Henderson would endeavour at gossip. Edith read beauty magazines and books about proper etiquette one of many customs she had adopted. She did this daily and accustomed to it believing that she needed to it to be the more proper version of herself as the way she wanted to execute her plan of a changed woman. Edith altered herself and the way she did many things. Although she still knew who she really was and where she came from, she refused to accept it. Along with many things were done Edith’s decisions were overthrown by her self-image on her role of a daughter
For years Miss Emily was rarely seen out of her house. She did not linger around town or participate in any communal activities. She was the definition of a home-body. Her father was a huge part of her life. She had never...
All of humanity, even the one reading this paper, has had thoughts of doing things that are far from that of a saint, and although most do not act upon these thoughts there are those who have; those who kill out of spite, those who commit unspeakable acts against men, women and children, those who to everyone else are frightening and fearful and thus locked away from
Esther Greenwood was a scholarship student attending an all-women’s college in New York. While in school, she wrote for a women’s magazine under the supervision of her editor Jay Cee. Writing was her passion and she especially loved poetry. Unfortunately, the college life and New York City were not exactly what Esther had thought they would be. She always found herself being a third wheel or the outsider of the group. This may have been the spark that began her battle with depression. Either that, or the realization that her childhood crush Buddy Willard, a medical student at Yale, was a hypocrite. He and Esther had known each other since a very young age through the church and their parents had intended for them to eventually be married. After Buddy invited Esther to attend Yale’s prom, they began spending a lot of time together until she found out that he had lost his virginity to a sleazy waitress. This contradicted everything Buddy was and had claimed to be. His whole good and pure act was flawed whenever Esther discovered these facts. She was especially hurt, because they were very competitive with each other and she now wanted to lose her virginity so as to no...
The narrator has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee was this cute girl who was super intelligent and sophisticated. She often saw herself as being above her mother and sister and would often make them feel stupid and bad about themselves. "She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice". She shows that Dee enjoyed making her mother and younger sister feel dumb about themselves because it made her feel superior. Her whole life Dee detested her family and where she came from and couldn’t wait to get away. But, still her mother worked her booty off to provide her with high education and a good life. Dee goes away to college and when she returns she is a completely different person, suddenly interested in her family; photographing them upon arrival. With her guest, new "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", invades her mothers house taking everything in like it’s a cute display for her. Finally, when Wangero (Dee) demands that her mother give her some quilts, her mum can not take anymore. She tells Dee that Maggie, not her, will be receiving the quilts and she snaps. "I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands, and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat
Using the murder of Dee Ann’s mother as a means to intertwine the lives of the characters together, Steve Yarbrough examines the nature of relationships in “The Rest of Her Life.” The relationships in the story take a turn after Dee Ann’s mother is killed, with characters seeking to act more on their own, creating distance between many relationships throughout the story. Independent lifestyles prevent emotional bonds that hold relationships together from forming, thus preventing the characters from maintaining healthy relationships. The dysfunctional relationship present between Dee Ann and Chuckie in “The Rest of Her Life” is the result of the characters ' desire for self-gratification.
In I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, the main character Ed is a nineteen-year-old cab driver in Australia who has never amounted to anything. One day, while with his three best friends, an event occurs that forever changes his life. While in a bank, they are held up at gunpoint. Ed ends up stopping the criminal and saving the day. Days later, as the bank robber’s trial is ending, he tells Ed that he is “a dead man… [And to] [r]emember it every day when [he] look[s] in the mirror” (Zusak 38). This overlooked statement by the reader comes back in the end of the novel to reveal an important message that “everyone can live beyond what they’re capable of” (535). Before attending the trial though, Ed begins to receive playing cards with addresses, names, times, and movie titles on them that require him to complete tasks, which challenge him in more ways than he could ever imagine. In the short story “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, the two characters, Lane and Sheri, are faced with a situation that changes their lives as well; Sheri is pregnant with Lane’s baby. Even though Lane’s and Sheri’s situation is a little different than that of Ed’s, they relate greatly as all the characters are forced to make decisions that can alter the rest of their lives. In the novel, morality is used to accomplish self-discovery and growth of Ed’s personality by pushing his boundaries, and in the short story “Good People” by David Foster Wallace, morality is used to accomplish growth and the realization of consequences of one’s actions by placing the young couple in a faith questioning situation no adolescent wants to face.
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...