Down-to-Earth
Ed's our narrator, and luckily for us, he brings pretty much zero ego to the equation. Ed's not one to get on a high horse and go all pretentious on us—in fact, this guy doesn't have a pretentious bone in his body. And this means that even though he likes to read, we never need an English teacher to interpret what he's saying because he's always straight with us. Take when he goes to the party after the big Sledge Game. He flatly proclaims:
No one recognizes me. No one speaks to me. (3.3.5)
Ouch, right? But while someone less down to earth might have tried to present themselves in a more favorable light, Ed doesn't hold anything back. This makes us feel like we can relate to him as we read, because he makes it clear that he's just like us over and over again. And while we might not all be card-loving, lazy taxi-drivers, we can all relate to the open and down-to-earth way Ed speaks.