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Part 3: In Which He Buys a Town, and More
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 says even he is surprised by the ending. He’s making a sandwich in the kitchen while Sandra dusts the window frames and Edward walks in. He looks terrible. Sandra looks desperately at Edward, though she knows what he’s going to say, on account of all the tests and biopsies. Edward says “it’s everywhere,” and he turns to leave as Sandra follows him, leaving William to wonder what’s going on. But he figures it out.
In abruptly transitioning from Edward’s relationship with Jenny to Edward’s relationship with Sandra, the contrast between the two relationships becomes clear: there is obvious mutual love and acceptance between Edward and Sandra. Although Sandra could become bitter at Edward’s absences, she accepts him despite his flaws.
Themes
Edward doesn’t die yet. He starts swimming instead. He swims every day and takes to the water like a natural. His swimming is beautiful to watch, even with the lesions, scars, and bruises on his body. Edward swims for hours, his skin molting, and then he sleeps. His body shrinks and wilts as days pass. William takes solace in the fact that some “happy ending” will occur. He even thinks the illness is “a metaphor” for Edward growing weary of the world. Instead of giants and glass eyes, there’s “simply Edward Bloom: Man,” in a world bereft of “magic.” Looking back to that time, William now realizes that Edward’s illness was a ticket to a better place.
Edward’s desire to swim represents his desire to keep attacking life with some kind of gusto, even though he is confined to home. The imagery that William conjures in his description is also highly evocative—it alludes to the book’s conclusion, in which William will transform his father’s illness and death into a myth where Edward doesn’t die, but instead turns into a fish so that he can keep on swimming. The myth enables Edward to live on in a more magical sense in William’s mind, just as Edward would want it.
Themes
William admits that Edward’s final journey is a good thing. He sees Edward more than when Edward was well, and he’s the same man, “sense of humor: intact.” William doesn’t know why this matters, but it seems important. Perhaps it indicates “a certain resiliency, a strength of purpose, the spirit of an indomitable will.”
William finally accepts Edward’s storytelling and humor, and is therefore, able to make peace with Edward’s death. William realizes that Edward’s humor isn’t deflective, but a show of strength and will in facing tough and difficult challenges.
Themes
William recites some bad jokes, explaining that they’re not even funny anymore. Edward, Sandra, and William are biding their time until the end. Sometimes, Edward is so tired that he can’t finish a joke, or forgets the punchline. Sandra and Edward are too busy looking after Edward to take care of the pool. It grows murky with algae, like a swamp. William even swears he sees a fish in there. He asks Edward if he saw that and Edward pauses mid-stroke. William laughs, because Edward looks funny—until he realizes Edward’s passed out and his lungs are full of water. William waits—for Edward to open his eye and wink, to say something “truly awful and funny”—for a really long time.
As Edward’s deterioration grows, the pool grows murky and swamp-like. This symbolizes Edward’s life beginning to end: like the water, which is stagnant and not flowing anymore, Edward is becoming more passive with each passing day. When Edward’s lungs fill with water, William desperately longs for Edward to make a joke, the very thing he has been resisting all this time, showing once again that William finally understands that Edward’s quirks are what make Edward who he is, and they are a very big part of why William loves him.
Themes
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