Previous
Part 2: My Father’s Death: Take 2
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
Edward falls in love with Sandra, “the most beautiful woman” in Alabama, which is a “misfortune” because everybody in town is also in love with her. People write songs about her, and they have duels, races, and fights over her. Despite doing nothing to courage other’s advances, Sandra has an endless list of suitors, so Edward has to wait in line. At first, Edward admires her from afar, enjoying how excited her “glow” makes him feel.
Wallace describes Sandra as a beauty of almost mythic proportions—similar, perhaps, to Helen of Troy in Ancient Greek myth, who’s beauty moved men to engage in wars over her. This description transforms Edward’s pursuit of Sandra, like his pursuit of everything else in life, into a legendary event.
Themes
