Edward Tulane

I remember how Edward expressed a kind shock when he finds himself listening to Nellie's stories "as if his life depended on what she said." He is surprised and wonders if his time in the sea affected him. It immediately struck me what the image of him sinking into the depths of the sea could mean. I thought of how little he looked in this gigantic blue of complete nothingness and felt that the sea represented a kind of complete vulnerabilty for Edward where he is forced to wait. And in waiting he is forced to listen, he listens to everything around him whether it mattered or not. It took me back to Lyra and the aliethemometer in TGC and how she has to face complete vulnerabity before she shifts to another state of consciousness.