Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions

by Daniel Wallace

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What elements of symbolism or foreshadowing are present in the opening chapters of Big Fish?

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The opening chapters of Big Fish utilize symbolism and foreshadowing through Edward's connection to water, representing his mythic life and emotional complexity. Water symbolizes both Edward's creativity and his inability to connect with family. His life is marked by restlessness, akin to "a big fish in a little pond," striving for grandeur. Key scenes, such as saving a woman from a snake or fishing for a giant catfish, foreshadow his transformation and highlight his mythical storytelling nature.

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In Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Daniel Wallace, a son attempts to understand his dying father through the tall tales and myths created about his father’s life. In a collection of connected stories, the author employs magical realism, allusions to Greek mythology, and meditations on the use of storytelling to create the mythic life of Edward Bloom. The chapters you cite reveal key elements in Edward’s characterization.

The opening chapter “The Day He Was Born” begins Edward’s association with water. As Edward's mother goes into labor on a hot, dry summer day, a cloud appears in the sky that is “huge, whale-size.” When Edward is born, it rains and everything changes. The appearance of the cloud brings people outside, gathering them into a community (or an audience) and his parents shift into the roles of Father and Mom. Edward’s birth establishes his role as a...

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rainmaker in both senses of the term: as one who can bring water to a parched landscape, emotions and wonder to lives that have run dry, and money and success to a business.

In traditional symbolism, water can represent qualities of life such as emotions, regeneration, and the subconscious. In the symbolism of the Tarot, Edward is akin to the King of Cups, a court card with fish imagery that contains positive and negative aspects of water, such as creativity and compassion but also manipulation and dishonesty. In the novel, water simultaneously symbolizes Edward’s ability to connect with the mythic realm and his frequent inability to connect with his wife and son, William, in the realm of ordinary life.

In “The Girl in the River,” Edward establishes his aspirations to a heroic, extraordinary life by saving a bathing woman from a poisonous snake. In his telling, William notes that Edward “relied on instinct” to save the woman, instinct being another aspect of water symbolism. As a reward, the woman gives Edward a boon: the place will carry his name. The events of this chapter serve as a test and initiation into Edward’s role as a representative of water and foreshadow the novel’s final scene. But his behavior also indicates where reality and myth, truth and delusion blur in his mind. Because of this blurring and tendency toward delusion, William frequently expresses his exasperation at Edward using stories and jokes as means to avoid being ordinary.

The chapter “In Which He Goes Fishing” establishes Edward’s identification with the role of big fish and his ability to navigate the realm of dream and myth. After a rain and flood, Edward goes out to catch a catfish “as big as a man.” The fish transforms into something like a dolphin (representing a higher stage of awareness) and pulls Edward into a “watery graveyard,” where he is able to see the residents of Ashland who drowned in the flood. Note the neighbor named Homer and how this scene is related in one long, unbroken paragraph, indicating a mythic, inspired state of mind has taken over. Edward’s identification with the big fish and underwater journey foreshadow his eventual transformation at death.

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In Big Fish, what is the significance of water references, particularly in "The Day He Was Born," "The Girl in the River," and "In Which He Goes Fishing"?

The water is extremely important for Edward, the main character in the novel. The title of the novel references the common phrase "big fish in a little pond," which represents the idea that one is larger or more important than their surroundings. For Edward, he feels this sentiment throughout the entire novel. He is always restless and feeling like he was meant for grander things.

His life is fluid and constantly shifting. For instance, he works as a traveling salesman for a great deal of his life, selling all kinds of knick knacks and trinkets, and he is always itinerant. This traveling lifestyle is contrasted against the town that never ages and supported by the rivers that he visits and fishes in. He is always on the move and never settled.

He even relates the story of "catching" his wife to catching a fish. He connects the two and recognizes that his wife is just as restless and itinerant as he, even though he was the only one with the freedom to drift throughout the world. Edward is, as the saying goes, "a fish out of water." He is constantly reminded of how different he is from those around him and feels uncomfortable in a normal life. He is always destined for greatness in his own eyes.

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Edward, the main character in the novel Big Fish, makes constant references to water through the story. Several times, he even implies that he, himself, may be aquatic, and that he caught his wife like a fish—both of which are extreme exaggerations of the events that happened in his life.

Edward is the ultimate teller of tall tales. He likes to aggrandize the events of his life and other details to make himself feel important and to improve his reputation. One of the many things that he repeats throughout the book is that he was a "big fish in a little pond." This colloquialism refers to being more important or skilled than those around you, and needing to be freed from them in order to achieve what you were meant to accomplish.

It seems Edward's relationship with water is related to this idea. He feels like he is dissimilar to those around him—that he has greater things to achieve and is more important than the other people in his life. Much in the way someone says that an individual is "a fish out of water," Edward Bloom is not where he belongs, because he constantly feels he could be accomplishing more in a different setting or situation. This leads him to a vagrant and ironically fluid lifestyle—traveling as a salesman, finding it difficult to settle down, and pursuing many different spirited passions on a whim.

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