Ed Lim Character Analysis in Little Fires Everywhere

A local lawyer who offers to represent Bebe Chow pro bono in her custody case against the state. Ed helps Bebe to file paperwork that grants her visitation rights with May Ling, and attempts to clinch the case in Bebe’s favor by revealing, through his line of questioning, the McCulloughs’ insensitivity to racist tropes about Chinese culture and their resulting inability to raise her in a way that connects her to her “birth culture” in any meaningful way.

Ed Lim Quotes in Little Fires Everywhere

The Little Fires Everywhere quotes below are all either spoken by Ed Lim or refer to Ed Lim. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

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It came, over and over, down to this: What made someone a mother? Was it biology alone, or was it love?

Related Characters: Mr. Richardson / Bill, Bebe Chow, Mirabelle McCullough / May Ling Chow, Linda and Mark McCullough, Ed Lim

Page Number and Citation: 258

Explanation and Analysis:

Ed Lim Character Timeline in Little Fires Everywhere

The timeline below shows where the character Ed Lim appears in Little Fires Everywhere. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...to hound the McCulloughs, and the story is featured each night. A local lawyer named Ed Lim offers to represent Bebe Chow pro bono. (full context)

The hearing begins, and Mr. Richardson and Ed Lim , in telling the “slow, painfully intimate story” of Bebe’s abandonment of May Ling, turn... (full context)

Ed Lim describes Bebe’s leaving May Ling as “tucking her daughter onto a safe ledge while she... (full context)

On the last day of the hearing, Mrs. McCullough is questioned, and Ed Lim establishes her insular upbringing in the largely white world of Shaker Heights, her insensitivity to... (full context)