The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The chapter opens with an old man running a cloth over Edward’s face and acknowledging the rabbit’s construction: “Exceedingly well made […] a work of art, I would say—a surpassingly, unbelievably dirty work of art, but art nonetheless. And dirt can be dealt with. Just as your broken head has been dealt with” (177). The man, Lucius Clarke, is an expert doll mender, and now that Edward’s head has been put back together, he can see again: “I can see that you are listening now. Your head was broken. I fixed it. I brought you back from the world of the dead” (177). Edward thinks it’s his heart that needed to be fixed, not just his head.

Lucius tells Edward that Bryce brought him in to the shop and begged him to fix him. Bryce didn’t have money to pay for the repair, so Lucius said that he would fix him, but then Edward would belong to him: “He gave you up so that you could be healed. Extraordinary, really” (180). Lucius says that he will keep his end of the deal: “I will restore you to what I perceive to be your former glory.