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The Place That Had No Name
The swamp that pools around Jenny Hill’s house as she waits unhappily for her lover, Edward, to visit her, symbolizes the deep unhappiness and stagnation that awaits all those who spend their life pining over or waiting for something rather than actually living. Jenny is deeply in love with Edward, but she eventually becomes empty and bitter because Edward only visits sporadically, in between working and spending time at home with his family. Jenny thus spends most of her time at the window, waiting for Edward to return, and her life grows stagnant. Author Daniel Wallace symbolizes Jenny’s inertia with the imagery of a swamp growing around her home, locking her in place, and making her emotionally inaccessible to others, Edward included, because she spends her life passively waiting instead of actively carving out a satisfying life for herself.
The Swamp Quotes in Big Fish
The Big Fish quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Swamp. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 3: In Which He Buys a Town, and More
Quotes
The swamp stops growing after a certain point, when the house is surrounded on all sides by yards of deep, dark, mossy water. And my father returns, finally, and sees what has happened, but by this time the swamp is too deep, the house too far away, and though he sees her glowing there he can’t have her, and so he has to come back to us.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Big Fish LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Swamp Symbol Timeline in Big Fish
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Swamp appears in Big Fish. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 3: In Which He Buys a Town, and More
...says sincerely that Edward doesn’t own the whole town: there’s a shack hidden in the swamp that he hasn’t bought yet. Edward drives to the swamp and wades into the muck...
(full context)
...destiny? William has no idea. Edward lifts Jenny onto his shoulders, wades out of the swamp, deposits her in the house he owns, and moves in.
(full context)
...matter of days, and it rains for days on end. The dam bursts ,and a swamp gathers around Jenny’s house. When Edward returns to Specter, he sees Jenny glowing but can’t...
(full context)
Part 3: How It Ends
...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...
(full context)
