The Redemptive Power of Laughter Theme Analysis

Big Fish’s narrator, William Bloom, tells the story of his father Edward Bloom’s life while coming to terms with Edward’s death from cancer. Edward is a lighthearted man who hates serious conversation and prefers to crack jokes. This tendency frustrates William immensely, because he thinks Edward uses jokes to avoid having meaningful conversation. Edward won’t even take his own death seriously, and he cracks jokes until his dying moment. As the story progresses, however, William starts to realize that Edward privileges humor so highly because Edward believes that making people laugh is one of the most powerful things a person can do for others, especially in times of pain and darkness. In fact, Edward makes so many jokes on his deathbed because he wants to help William cope with this painful event and remind William that laughter can be a powerful palliative for his grief. Despite William’s resistance to Edward’s humor, William finds that laughter does, in fact, help him to accept his father’s encroaching death and remember Edward as a happy—rather than suffering—man. Author Daniel Wallace thus argues that although laughter might be undervalued for seeming trivial, it’s actually a powerful redemptive tool that bolsters personal resilience and brings brightness to people’s lives, especially during times of loss.

William expresses his belief that jokes are shallow through his frustration with Edward for perpetually deflecting serious conversations with jokes. Jokes, to William, are “funny for a minute or two and that’s it”—from his perspective, they leave “nothing” behind, meaning they lack substantive value. William also chastises Edward because “every time we get close to something serious, meaningful, or delicate, he tells a joke,” indicating that William finds Edward’s humor deflective rather than meaningful. Later, William complains that Edward’s “stupid jokes” are a counterproductive distancing mechanism because they keep Williams “at arm’s length.”

Edward, in contrast, thinks that jokes are intrinsically valuable because they make people laugh, bring joy into people’s lives, and make it easier to cope with pain. When Edward is dying, William keeps pushing Edward to explain whether or not he believes in God, but Edward resists because he only has “a bunch of doubts” about the topic and doesn’t think expressing doubts will have much value. Edward would rather tell a joke about God and make William laugh, because “at least you can laugh” at a joke, meaning if nothing else, joking makes people feel good when they are hurting. Moreover, Edward has a dream about dying in which an old man expresses profound gratitude because Edward “made me laugh.” The old man places Edward’s humor on par with Edward’s other “good deeds” (including finding people jobs, and lending them money), showing that he values laughter highly. In fact, Edward’s dream suggests that making people laugh is as altruistic as supporting them financially, and that laughter is a kind of nourishment or currency. Edward also finds humor valuable because although his joking seems inappropriate to William, it actually helps Edward cope as he faces his own fast-approaching death. Edward’s frequent jokes that he’ll be “getting out of this guest room just in time for guests” (meaning funeral guests) make him “laugh”—or rather, “wheeze” as he’s so sick—and remain upbeat despite suffering through his illness. Edward is similarly bolstered by his bad jokes about doctors, which he utters “proudly,” showing that he is enlivened by his humor in his final moments, despite his fragile state.

While Edward’s humor frustrates William, it has undeniably positive effects on William’s ability to handle Edward’s death. William—who is already grieving Edward’s impending death—“can’t help but smile” when Edward jokes about vacating the guest room in time for his funeral, showing that his sadness is tempered by the “idiot smiles” he shares with his father in Edward’s final moments. Similarly, in Edward’s dream about dying, William is able to face the grief of his father’s impending death with feeling of “warmth,” because he is enlivened by a joke about elephants that triggers “a great burst of laughter.” In the end, William finds bittersweet joy in saying goodbye to Edward with a smile, as he tells one of Edward’s favorite jokes—about a man with a suit that’s too large—in Edward’s dying moments. After Edward’s death, William remembers Edward as a man who “smiles and winks” in the face of death, rather than a man who was suffering in great pain. William thus is able to reflect on his father with warmth—rather than sorrow—when he recalls that Edward “liked to leave me laughing. This is how he wanted to remember me, and how he wanted to be remembered. Of all his great powers, this was perhaps his most extraordinary: he could really break me up.” These passages reinforce the idea that although laughter in dark times seems flippant, it actually alleviates sadness and makes difficult times more bearable. 

Wallace thus concludes that humor isn’t trivial because laughter brings joy to people’s lives and helps them cope with difficult times. In this sense, humor doesn’t merely deflect, avoid, or undermine painful experiences but rather gives people the resilience to endure them.