Dear Edward

Edward and the people around him, both on the plane and at home, struggle with feelings of isolation despite being with others. The passengers on the flight most clearly illustrate this theme. Napolitano presents their stories individually, each section of the flight chapters focusing on the point-of-view of a different character. Even as the passengers interact with one another, flashbacks of moments that define their isolation distract them.

When Linda first meets Florida, she “pulls her elbows in close to her sides, to avoid contact” (13). She even considers sleeping through the flight, so she won’t have to talk to the social woman next to her. Similarly, Benjamin wishes to be in the cockpit with the pilots, because “There’s a messiness to how civilians behave that bothers him” (20). However, the pilots are literally “behind the sealed door” (20). Jane is isolated from her family in first class while Bruce deals with the growing wedge between him and Jordan.

As the flight nears the site of the crash, the isolation starts to shift. Linda and Florida develop a quick friendship, Benjamin and Edward share a brief greeting, and Mark and Veronica have sex in the plane bathroom. Much of this comes too late, though, and their connections to one another never deepen. A quick interaction between Florida and Jane, who push past one another in the aisle, demonstrates how many of the characters struggle to connect:

The conversation is clearly over, but Jane hesitates before walking away […] she is about to say something more, but she can’t think of a suitable line. Even when she’s buckled back into her seat, she feels like she’s still standing on that strip of orange rug, searching for words (95).

Edward’s trauma causes him to self-isolate after the crash. Even when he is strong enough to join a summer camp, “He sits on the bleachers, in the shade, and keeps track of runs” (163). While talking to Shay later in the novel, Edward “has a sudden wish for it to be the middle of the night, when he walks with his eyes shut under stars” (193). He longs for isolation, especially after Besa forbids him from sleeping in Shay’s bedroom. When Edward asks Shay why their peers don’t like him, it’s occurring to him for the first time that he is choosing to isolate himself, and others are not causing his loneliness. Principal Arundhi later elaborates: “Humans need community, for our emotional health […] We are not built to thrive in isolation” (220).

Lacey and John show the same tendency to isolate. The stress on their marriage causes them to sleep in separate bedrooms, and John keeps many of his personal belongings in his own space, the garage. Despite there being three people in the house, each one feels distant from the others. It is not until they come together—by helping people affected by the crash and by redecorating their nursery—that the characters can move past their respective trauma. 

In many regards, Dear Edward is a coming-of-age story. After the crash, Edward deals with the physical and emotional pains of puberty. Some of these are typical changes in body and mood: after reflecting that “He’s growing so fast that his arms and legs ache all the time,” Edward understands that he and Shay are “growing up. Edward—in his stretching body—is a disappointment to her, and to himself. He braces himself for a wave of sadness and is surprised by anger” (165). However, his journey through adolescence is also complicated by his trauma. It further symbolizes a lack of control over himself.

Napolitano uses flashbacks to compare Jordan’s adolescent changes with the ones Edward experiences after the crash. This directly ties Edward’s difficult adolescence to the loss of his brother. Jordan demonstrates that he is developing faster than Edward throughout the flight. He is increasingly concerned with his independence, as illustrated by his refusal to go through the airport body scanner; Jordan, “for a few minutes, felt like a fully realized adult” (12). Edward, who is 12 at the time, shows only the early stages of this independence. When Edward first holds Jane’s hand and then lets go, “The hand dropped by her younger son tingles at her side” (7). He is stepping away from childhood, something Dr. Mike will comment on in a therapy session when Edward is older: “You don’t feel like a kid anymore […] But you won’t be an adult for years. You’re something else” (76). Jordan begins the novel at this same developmental point, but it takes time for Edward to reach it.

Jordan is also more mature sexually. His relationship with Mahira reflects not only his sexual desire but also steps toward adulthood. After telling Mahira that he’s moving, she and Jordan “shared a new kiss, one that said […] I wish this could continue forever, but I know that even if you weren’t leaving, it could not” (65). He is more aware of the realities of growing up than Edward is. More literally, he is also the only person who spots Mark and Veronica going into the plane bathroom to have sex. When he talks about it with Eddie, he notices his younger brother’s budding adolescence: “Jordan nods and feels […] grateful that his brother is beginning to join him in the land of erotic dreams” (186).

Jordan’s adolescence is important to understand in the context of Edward’s arrested development after the crash. While Edward assumes many aspects of Jordan’s identity, his inaction lacks the social rebellion and sexual desire demonstrated by his older brother. This works as a commentary on trauma and the ways it can affect development. In many ways, Edward remains childlike until an older age than his brother did. For example, he is shocked and heartbroken when Shay gets her period, and he is no longer able to sleep in her room. Besa’s question about whether he and Shay are having sex also appalls him.

While Jordan’s death at 15 halted his journey to adulthood, Shay grows alongside Edward. After he stops sleeping in her bedroom, Edward sees Shay in a more age-appropriate way. As they ride to New York, Edward “can see half of her face and her reflection, which looks like it belongs to a young woman, not a girl” (271). Tellingly, this happens just before Edward meets Mahira, Jordan’s secret girlfriend. Seeing Shay in a new light in this moment changes their relationship. That night, there’s electricity between the pair: “The air between him and Shay is charged, the atoms swollen with new possibilities. He knows—somehow—that they both imagined kissing each other” (280). Their friendship becomes a romantic attraction, and they share not only their first kiss but their first mature relationships.