Messenger (novel)
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| Messenger | |
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| Author | Lois Lowry |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's, Dystopian novel |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-618-40441-4 |
| Preceded by | Gathering Blue (2000) |
Messenger is a 2004 novel by Children's author Lois Lowry. It forms the third installment of the loose trilogy begun by her 1993 novel The Giver, which won the 1994 Newbery Medal. This novel possibly takes place in the year 2071, about six years after the events of "The Giver", and about four years after the events of "Gathering Blue". Characters from the two earlier books reappear in Messenger, linking the novels more strongly. Set in an isolated community known simply as Village, this novel focuses upon a boy named Matty, who serves as message-bearer through the ominous Forest that surrounds the community.
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[edit] Plot summary
The book brings back Jonas, the central character from The Giver. He and Gabriel, the infant he rescued from his old Community, now live in Village, the place described in the first book's final scene, where Gabriel is now an 8 year old student. Jonas, using the wisdom he gained from his vast memories, has become the Leader. His task is that of an "advisor" and part-time administrator, who at each citizen's coming of age bestows a name on the citizen that signifies their role in society. Matty, a character Lowry introduced in Gathering Blue, is an energetic and impatient individual who begins the story at the awkward transition between boy and man. Matty lives with Christopher (now called Seer), a blind man whom the citizens of Village rescued years before. Struggling to overcome his habits of stealing and lying, Matty is desperate for his new name to be "Messenger", which he feels is what he is best at being.
Many of the people in Village are like Christopher: cast out from their old communities and sometimes seriously injured, they have made themselves new homes in Village. Most of the Villagers are reasonably altruistic, and there are never lacking those to help a Villager overcome some disability. Matty is from a community where in people only know what the community tells them, and where those who do not fit the norm are usually put to death.
Outside the safe boundaries of Village is a Forest, a foreboding realm which most of the Villagers fear. In spite of the lack of dangerous beasts, the Forest itself is animated. It is capable of delivering "Warnings" in the form of injuries caused by such things as sharp twigs, stinging insects, or poisonous plants, all of whom attack with deliberate intent. If the person warned enters the forest again, it will kill them. Matty, whom the Forest seems to favor, has gone through Forest many times without incident. Consequently, he has become Village's messenger, carrying word to the other communities scattered throughout the region. At one point, Jonas says that he received a barge full of books from the community, and that the community has changed.
Very early in the book, discord appears in Village. People who trade at a gathering called Trade Mart change from compassionate and generous to angry and impatient. The temperament of the Villagers changes, and they decide to close their borders, no longer permitting the displaced and unwanted of other communities to enter. Matty, in the wake of this sudden change, decides to travel through the Forest to retrieve Christopher's daughter, Kira, who lives in a town several days away. The journey soon becomes gravely perilous, as the Forest begins to attempt to entangle Kira and Matty. Leader's ability of remote viewing, which the book often refers to as "seeing beyond", allows him to sense the danger. He enters the forest to save them, only to be captured himself. Kira, who has the ability to weave prophecy-like patterns in thread and cloth, uses her gift to contact Leader, who tells her to have Matty use his [Matty's] gift to save them.
This gift is a special ability which Matty possesses but hardly understands; a power of healing, which causes wholeness from the inside out. Matty puts his hands to the ground and manages to restore the integrity of Forest and people alike, at the expense of his own life. It is speculated that he had healed the entire world, including the communities of the previous books. Leader names Matty the Healer.
Near the end is a quotation of poetry, derived from To An Athlete Dying Young: "Today, the road all runners come,/Shoulder-high we bring you home/And set you at your threshold down/Townsman of a stiller town." This is spoken by the Village's schoolteacher, known as Mentor.
On a side note, in the previous book Gathering Blue, when Matty was a tyke known as Matt, his nursing his dog Branch back to health could be a possible foreshadowing of Matty's healing powers.
[edit] Symbolism
"Messenger" uses the ominous forest as a symbol for the discord and animosity that spreads throughout the normally peaceful village. Several times throughout the book, Matty is told that the Forest "is just an illusion". When the frustration and anger builds up in the village, the Forest becomes more and more aggressive, "entangling" those who travel through it with vines until they are dead. Reflecting the villagers' anger towards new arrivals, the Forest also attacks Matty when he attempts to bring Kira back to the village with him. Jonas is also attacked, which seems to show the anger that the villagers feel for him, as he believes that the village should stay open and tries to stop it from being closed. As the forest becomes completely filled with murky swamps, poisonous plants, and malicious vines, Matty feels as if everything were too mixed up to be fixed, which is almost identical to the feelings of helplessness he felt as he watched his old friends from Village become sick and hostile. When Matty puts his hands to the ground uses his power to "heal" the Forest, the village recovers as well, with the divisive wall remaining unbuilt and the citizens returning to their peaceful personalities.
Another major symbol of "Messenger" is the concept of the Market and trading. While Trade Mart provided the villagers with goods and luxury items superior to what was normally available, the items came at high costs. Some trades made were:
- Mentor traded his "deepest self" for the physical beauty that he believed would earn him the love of the Stocktender's widow.
- The character Ramon's mother bought a Gaming Machine. It was never stated precisely what she traded; however since both Ramon and his sister became dangerously ill around that time, it could be assumed that she traded her children's health for it. She also tried to trade for a fur coat, but her offer was refused.
- The lady who sewed Matty's clothes got a fancy sewing machine and cloth. It was never stated precisely what she traded, although it is implied to be her generosity.
All the people who traded thus became hostile towards the newcomers, even though they all were remembered by Matty to be kind people. They also became more ill-tempered in general, as proven by Mentor's act of kicking his daughter's puppy and Ramon's mother's lack of concern over her children's illnesses. During Trade Mart, the people were all unnaturally silent and were extremely rude and greedy to be chosen to participate in the trading.
[edit] See also
[edit] Readings and references
- Lowry, Lois. Messenger (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). Hardcover edition, ISBN 0-618-40441-4.
- Lois Lowry's web site has an informative speeches section as well as a summary of Messenger itself.
