There are a lot of big head-scratching nail-biting philosophical questions posed in I Am the Messenger. Ed thinks about what his life amounts to and how he compares to other people who are his age, but the real humdinger comes at the end of the novel. Finally Ed comes face-to-face with the mystery man who arranged the cards, the clues, and the people for him to help. Ed's got about a billion questions, but the biggest ones don't get answered. So we're left wondering: Does Ed have any free will? What will happen now that the cards have ended? And most importantly: What does it mean to be alive?
We told you they were head scratchers.
Questions About Life, Consciousness, and Existence
- What role does the mystery man play in Ed's existence? To what extent do you believe what he tells Ed at the end about everything being written for him in the folder?
- How does Ed view his life at the beginning of the novel? Has this perception changed by the end? How does he understand the experiences he went through in the book?
- Why does Ed look for his relationship with Audrey in the folder?
- Is there one coherent philosophy of life expressed in I Am the Messenger? If not, then is there maybe one coherent philosophy of how one goes about making a philosophy of life?
Chew on This
There is no such thing as choice in the novel, because Ed is experiencing a life that is already written for him without any agency of his own.
Ed's life can be so easily manipulated because he is not really living or doing anything other than being ordinary.