Questions on Daniel Foster Wallace's _Big Fish_

Questions on Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish (1998) 1. The novel’s subtitle is “A Novel of Mythic Proportions.” What is usually meant by this expression? That is, what are “mythic proportions”? Does the present tome seems aptly described by the phrase? What is a fish story? Why begin a novel with these suggestions of exaggeration, of tall tales? 2. What expectations are created by the italicized preface (pp. 1-2)? Why does the father “stop” after saying “this reminds me” the first time? What is the narrator’s reaction to this omission? What is his reaction when the father says it reminds him of when he was a boy? In what sense does the father “become a myth”? Whose myth is it, though, the father’s or the son’s? 3. What happened on the day of the father’s (i.e., Edward’s) birth? What were the conditions then, and how did they change? 4. What extraordinary things occurred during Edward’s childhood? Did he have any special gifts? Did he perform heroic deeds? 5. What does Edward learn on the day he leaves Ashland? What is Willie the guide’s attitude toward Edward? How does he explain the “dampness”? What does the black Dog represent? What is implied by the fact that it doesn’t harm Edward? What sort of vision does Edward have when he emerges from this underworld? 6. What, if anything, is added to Edward’s initiation by the story concluding Part I, “Entering a New World”? Who tells this tale? What does “Buddy” Barron mean when he says that Edward was “already dreaming empire” (p. 51)? Consider the possibility that his entrepreneurial tendencies—as when he dispenses advertising, “buy one get one free”—might suggest that Edward is a specifically American kind of hero, a version of the Horatio Alger story of rags-to-riches. 7. What does the first description of William’s father’s dying contribute to the notion of Edward as a hero? How does William define greatness in a man? What heroic deeds does Edward perform in Part II? How do they compare with the deeds of mythic heroes (who are alluded to in this novel, sometimes ironically) such as Hercules, Prometheus, or Moses on Mt. Sinai? 8. As we observe Edward’s career, is there a progression of some kind in their scope and magnitude? As he grows older and his career and family life unfold, do the stories about him alter in significant ways? Are there shifts in the tone of the narration? Does the nature of heroism seem to undergo some sort of change, especially in Part III? 9. What do you make of Edward’s double life, his home in Specter and his second “wife” there, Jenny Hill? Is this interlude a measure of his personal fulfillment, or is it a sign rather of his human ordinariness, a sort of typical mid-life crisis? 10. This change becomes more pronounced once Edward becomes terminally ill, and his body undergoes a series of strange changes as he spends more and more time in the water, swimming. 11. We have four different “takes” on Edward’s death as seen by his son William (see pp. 13-23, 65-75, 106-116, and 169-174). How would you compare them? Is there a progression of some kind? Which “take” do you like best? What significant issues arise in these scenes, and how are they dealt with? 12. Does William gain any satisfaction from these last moments together? Does Edward? What do both men want? Why is William increasingly frustrated? Are Edward’s stories and jokes a means of coping or a means of dodging the truth? Does each man know, essentially, that the other loves him? 13. Why do William and Edward leave the hospital at the end? Where exactly do they go? 14. What loving act does William perform in the final scene? What transformation comes about subsequently? Does William understand its true significance? Does Edward, like a mythic hero, achieve a form of immortality? If so, in what sense?