I Am The Messenger Essay

In the book “I am the messenger” by Markus Zusak, we see Ed being lead through somewhat dangerous scenarios or uncomfortable situations by an unknown person. Ed helps out catching the bank robber which leads him into receiving the cards with instructions. He helps out an old woman who was lonely, a girl who didn’t believe in herself, save a women from being rape, a priest getting his church running etc... In each address he was able to save someone’s life or make it better, all of this to try to demonstrate he was something more than just a taxi driver. The justification of Ed’s actions came from his deep desires of being a good son to his mother just like his siblings, doing something more in his life to gain the respect of others and wanted

Humans actions often have a morality justification, Michael B. Gill wrote an essay on “Reflexivity and Justification in Hume's Moral Theory” in which he talks about how he believes people tend to act on their self-interest rather than what would be the right thing to do. Ed had his self-interest reasons to act the way he did. He saw the chance to become something more than what he was and he wasn't going to let that chance pass. Gill also see the point on where some actions have a right moral justification he says “In certain contexts the most relevant reason for acting in a certain way may be that I will not be able to stand the sight of myself if I do otherwise. But in other contexts the most relevant reason may be that if I don't perform certain actions innocent people will suffer.”(Gill, 2018) Eds actions were justified by the same reason Michael B. Gill is talking about in his essay. If Ed wouldn't intervened in the life of the people he “help” they would have suffer. The women would have been getting rape everyday, the brothers would have continuously beat up themself and bully others, etc. In other words Ed was able to act on his self-interest and also do the right