I Am the Messenger Questions

Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.

  1. Who benefits more from the messages: Ed, or the people he helps? How does delivering the messages help him?
  2. What is the most challenging aspect of Ed's journey? Why are his friends' names last in the group of people he helps?
  3. Why does Ed go along with delivering the messages in the first place? What is attractive about it to him?
  4. What's the deal with the playing cards? How does Ed understand each of the suits of aces? Why does he have a different reaction to each?
  5. Ed ends the novel by saying he's not the messenger, he is the message. What is the difference? Why is that important to him?
  6. How do the titles of the chapters help us understand what is going on? In what ways do they foreshadow the action to come?
  7. Why does Ed talk to us, the audience, as if we are a part of it? How does he include us in what's happening?
  8. Who controls the messages? What is the point of the messages?