Dear Edward

When Edward first arrives at Lacey and John’s home, they tell him that he will be sleeping in the nursery. Lacey and John don’t have any children of their own, but they prepared a nursery for a baby lost to a miscarriage. Nurseries are typically representative of new life and opportunity. In Dear Edward, however, the nursery acts more as a crypt for the characters’ trauma.

To Edward, the nursery represents a loss of identity. Edward is struggling to accept his new life—he already had a childhood in a different home and with a different family. The nursery would provide him with a sense of rebirth, but it would not be on his terms. Even the decorations in the room subvert his sense of self: “The bookshelf, filled with cardboard books that babies can safely chew on, remains. The walls and curtains are light pink […] A rocking chair sits beside the window” (49).

The nursery also illustrates the frustration in Lacey and John’s relationship. Several times, including at Edward’s arrival, they have been unable to fill the room with life. The trauma of this causes the couple to drift apart, and they start sleeping in different rooms. John starts to sleep in the nursery at that point, which points to his underlying urge to make Lacey happier. It is a tragic space, one that represents losses to Edward, Lacey, and John in different ways. Importantly, the characters are not able to fully heal until they redecorate and repurpose the room.

Edward is, at first, overwhelmed when his family’s belongings arrive at his new home. However, he quickly sees them as a way to cope with the loss of his family and his identity. He asks to wear his old clothes “and the ones that are Jordan’s” (114). By taking this step, Edward is attempting to keep Jordan’s identity alive. When he falls asleep the same night in one of Jordan’s shirts, Edward “can pretend he’s the same boy who used to sleep in a bunk bed beneath his brother” (115).

All of Jordan’s clothes represent Edward’s memories of his brother, but Napolitano focuses on one piece more than the others. In his first winter with Lacey and John, Edward wears one of Jordan’s parkas. The parka specifically shows Edward’s growth in contrast to his brother’s. When he first wears it, the parka is “far too big for him, but the long sleeves double as mittens, and the hood covers most of his face” (115). Jordan was older than Edward and more mature both physically and emotionally. By the time Edward visits Mahira in New York, the parka “fits him perfectly now but is worn on the elbows and seams” (275). Edward has reached Jordan’s maturity level, so the parka fits; the wear and tear is obvious, though, and Edward understands that Jordan is impermanent.

Edward is not the only character who wears the family’s clothes. Lacey wears one of Jane’s shirts to a job interview. Edward is upset at first, but recognizes his hypocrisy. Her choice still confuses Edward’s sense of identity, but it also creates a better understanding of his aunt and her coping process. 

Principal Arundhi’s ferns represent Edward directly. When he first starts to water them for Arundhi, they are vibrant and healthy. Over his years in school, Edward learns the depth of care and patience the plants require to maintain their health. This is no different than the lesson he learns about himself: becoming mentally and emotionally healthy will require deliberate, regular actions.

When a virus kills several of Arundhi’s plants, he tells Edward, “All I can do is take care of the ones that remain” (259). Again, this statement refers to Edward as the lone survivor of the flight. He and the people around him can do nothing but take care of one another; the others are gone. Arundhi asks Edward to take special care of his kangaroo paw fern, the oldest in his collection. The fern survives under Edward’s care, just as Edward can survive if he chooses to focus on his own healing.