I'm almost done reading I am The Messenger by Marcus Zusak. The protagonist, Ed Kennedy, is a 19 year old cabdriver, who gets playing cards (specifically aces) in the mail giving him missions, through riddles. It becomes very clear that all of these missions are to make people happy, or make their lives better.
I think that Ed is the symbol of hope, because everything he does makes families and people so happy, and give them hope and faith in other people and humanity. Ed starts off by not caring about anyone or anything, being perfectly happy with his life as terrible as it was. After the first ace Ed doesn't care at all, I think that was because he just didn't want to do anything or have to care about someone else. The first ace forced him to see the social injustices in his world, and made him aware of what other people have to deal with on a daily basis. He sees a woman repeatedly raped, a lonely old woman, and a girl named Sophie trying to achieve her dreams facing poverty. I think he helped the old woman because he felt bad from his own family issues with his mother that he just wanted to help, and after feeling like he had a really caring mother, found he had actually made a difference to the woman, Milla. I think after this Ed felt like he might be worth something. Sophie wanted to be an athlete, specifically in track and field, and Ed saw that she thought she wasn't good enough because of her junky running shoes, so he gave her an empty box, after seeing her run barefoot in the morning. I thought this was such a great gift, because he knew that she really didn't need fancy expensive shoes to make her a great athlete, and this made me really happy seeing Ed make an actual difference in Sophie's life, even after she doesn't win the race while barefoot. When Ed finally returns to the abusive husband and almost kills him, he realizes that he isn't some prophet, or some great man going out to save humanity and bring hope. He think he's just as worthless again, and I really disagreed with him. I thought that Ed was really noble, after letting the man live, but scaring him out of the town. After the first ace I really saw Ed grow as a character, into what I saw as a symbol of hope. He was finally seeing his purpose, though he kept on driving his cab, and took this as a great opportunity to go ahead and take action against the social injustices he was seeing in the world around him.
In my life, to make a positive change, I've done charity work. My friend Akash started a charity called Kids For a Better Future several years ago, and I've repeatedly volunteered for that over and over. Last year we sponsored Seeds of Peace, which helps children living in the Middle East. Through fundraising I was not given an actual mission or an actual problem, but I was given the problems in the Middle East, and by fundraising, raised several thousand dollars for Seeds of Peace, and gave a little push towards helping resolve those conflicts, without having a specific direct conflict to resolve, but just to spread hope and make little things better like Ed did.
http://www.seedsofpeace.org
I really agree with your post.
ReplyDeleteThe character Ed does seem like a symbol of hope, even in the worst of times. There's always times in people's lives when it feels as if there is no hope. The world needs more people like Ed who helps the people that really need it.
When you talked about the girl, Sophie, it stuck out to me that she didn't win the race. I like how the author didn't make it too much of a happy ending, because I think that would take away from the point. Ed helped her in a little way and in the end she was happier. She didn't have to win the race for it to be all worth it.
I've also done a lot of charity work, and the feeling you get after helping people in need is unforgettable. Just making a few more people in the world happy spreads hope for bigger things.
I think I might check out this book when you return it, it sounds interesting. I liked your post 'cause I really thought that it would be another cliche post about hope and symbolism and bleh. But you were able to connect it to what we're doing in ELA right now which was a great idea. Nice post as always Jack.
ReplyDeleteOh and I forgot to say. Your transitioning through this post was great. You wrote it quite well.
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