Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Big Fish, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Ambition, Courage, and Personal Fulfilment
Truth, Myth, and Immortality
Love, Flaws, and Acceptance
The Redemptive Power of Laughter
Summary
Analysis
William describes his father’s birth. Edward is born during a drought in Alabama. The food and the water have dried up, and the animals have died. A man goes crazy and dies from eating rocks. Edward’s mother is heavily pregnant and cooking the last egg for Edward’s father. He walks in, wringing sweat from his bandana into a tin cup, saving it to drink later. Edward’s mother’s heart stops, briefly. She has an out of body experience and sees herself and her son, who’s glowing. She comes back to life and realizes Edward is coming.
William’s describes his father Edward’s birth by infusing mythical components into the event. The lack of water represents a lack of life—things are stagnant and tough in Alabama—but that’s about to change, because “Edward is coming.” Edward’s mother’s vision of Edward as “glowing” implies that Edward will be a legendary hero figure in tales like these, which center on Edward’s life story.
Themes
Suddenly, someone spots a cloud on the horizon and the whole town goes out to watch it, just as Edward’s mother goes into labor. Edward’s father steps out to look at the cloud. She screams out “Husband!” and kicks a table over, but he’s outside, mesmerized by the cloud, and her cries sound like distant thunder. Suddenly, a massive thunder storm erupts and water starts falling to the ground, bringing an end to the drought. Edward Bloom is born on the first day that it rains in months.
The thunderstorm that breaks the drought metaphorically represents Edward’s life force entering the world. Edward is a larger-than-life man who embraces life with fierce passion, hence the mesmerizing thunderstorm. Even Edward’s birth is depicted as a heroic event of sorts, since it brings water to Alabama from the heavens and saves the town.
Themes
