The novel is a coming-of-age story. The child Edgar Sawtelle begins the book with one set of assumptions about the world, his family, and himself. Naivete and innocence sustain these assumptions. The murder of his father changes all that. By the time he dies in the barn fire heroically attempting to retrieve the records that defined his family, Edgar learns important lessons about the dark dynamics of a family, the reality of betrayal, and the hunger for spiritual and emotional redemption. Although still a child in years at the end of the novel (he is 14), Edgar has transitioned into adulthood.

As a child with mutism, Edgar learns early on his power to communicate without speech. He learns basic sign language before he is eight, and with the help of his loving parents he creates his own shorthand sign language. Edgar also reveals an uncanny ability to communicate with the kennel dogs. Through his sensitivity to the dogs’ perception, Edgar reveals his emotional depth and his ability to experience genuine empathy, a rare gift in a novel so full of betrayals and violence.

When he finds his father dying, Edgar has an overwhelming feeling of helplessness.