Big Fish - Analysis

My analysis obviously isn't very accurate so can you guys help me out too by commenting! XD

Big Fish

1. What does the phrase “a big fish in a small pond” mean to you?
- Person with big ‘ambition’ or ‘potential’ but lives in a restrictive society, somewhere he cannot develop as well or perhaps act as he wants to in his ‘ambitions’.
- Someone who’s very important in a very small place.

2. What is the purpose of Edward Bloom’s tall tale about the big fish and the wedding ring?
- He probably wanted to talk about the story for his wife.

- With 100 Dollar notes fish didn’t take the bait, but with a wedding ring the fish took the bait.

3. How does William Bloom as a boy feel about his father’s telling of the tale? How does this feeling change as he gets older?
- When he was young he enjoyed the story.
- As he grew up, he didn’t like them, thinks they’re boring and annoying and he knew that it was never true, just to tell an entertaining ‘tall tale’ story.

4. Why does Edward Bloom feel the need to keep repeating the tale throughout his life?
- He lived a boring life and he wants to spice up his life with something entertaining.

5. What does the tale reveal about the relationship between Edward and William Bloom?
- It became increasingly strained...
- William believes his father has never been honest with him because Edward creates extravagant myths about his past to hide himself, possibly using storytelling as a avoidance mechanism.

6. Consider the following quote: “In telling the story of my father’s life, it’s impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me. It doesn’t always make sense, and most of it never happened, but that’s what kind of story this is,” What stories have you been told that match this description? What is the effect of telling a story in this way?
- Maybe the experience was to understand that our stories and the deeper reality of our lives may not be our truest self. These stories might give us a new reality or dimension that we all seek.

7. Does bending or exaggerating the truth for the purpose of conveying an entertaining story undercut the believability of such a story? Is a tall tale less valid than a straight reportage of the facts? Why and why not?

- An entertaining story should usually have a certain degree of exaggeration for the readers to share a similar experience, and more. A ‘tall tale’ won’t hurt for an entertaining story, but if one is giving a straight reportage of the facts then it wouldn’t really be a ‘story’ anymore, but rather telling the listener what happened to yourself.
Why do we tell story? To spice up our life and make our life more interesting.


 The theme: Reconciliation between a dying father and his son

 The plot: Edward Bloom, a former travelling salesman from the Southern United States with a gift for storytelling, now confined to his deathbed. Bloom’s estranged son, a journalist, attempts to mend their relationship as his dying father relates tall tales of his eventful life as a young adult.