The novel begins with introducing the central character:

Once, in a house on Egypt street, there lived a rabbit who was made almost entirely of china. He had china arms and china legs, china paws and a china head, a china torso and a china nose. His arms and legs were jointed and joined by wire so that his china elbows and china knees could be bent, giving him much freedom of movement(3).

The china rabbit’s name is Edward Tulane, and he has real rabbit-fur ears and a tail. Edward thinks of himself as an “exceptional specimen,” and his “mistress was a ten-year-old, dark-haired girl named Abilene Tulane, who thought almost as highly of Edward as Edward thought of himself” (4). Edward has an exquisite handmade wardrobe, and Abilene dresses him in a new outfit every day before she goes to school. She winds his pocket watch every day, places him in a chair that looks out the window and tells him that she’ll be home soon. Since Edward can’t move, he looks ahead and loves to stare at his reflection in the window.

While Abilene’s parents treat him like a toy, Abilene and her grandmother,

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