Ambition, Courage, and Personal Fulfilment Theme Analysis

Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish highlights the importance of facing challenges in order to achieve personal goals. In the novel, narrator William Bloom chronicles the life of his father, Edward Bloom, through a series of metaphorical short stories—or “tall tales,” as William calls them—that emphasize Edward’s determination and courage as he battles through life. The tales transfigure Edward’s personal challenges—such as leaving home, finding work, and finding love—into adventures involving beasts, giants, and other magical adversaries whom Edward must conquer as he makes his way in the world. Edward is driven by his desire for personal fulfillment. He even sees himself as a metaphorical “big fish” who’s constantly seeking a bigger “pond” so that he can keep growing as a person. In order to realize his ambitions, Edward has to push beyond his comfort zone and keep moving forward, even though it entails facing frightening, uncomfortable, and dangerous situations. Each time, Edward’s courage pays off, and he ends up much more fulfilled than people who are afraid to take risks. Wallace thus emphasizes that people who don’t shrink away from challenges, but face them with courage, are better able to realize their ambitions and achieve personal fulfilment in their lives.

In a tale about Edward’s attempt to leave his hometown and emerge into the wider world, Wallace shows that people who are brave enough to take risks (despite their fear) escape the fate of living as listless, unfulfilled, disappointed beings. One of Edward’s earliest challenges is to cross the path of a vicious, biting dog (named Dog) who stands between home and the world at large. Dog metaphorically represents the challenge of taking a risk when afraid. Edward is successful because he channels his courage and risks leaping past Dog, even though he is terrified of getting bitten. Edward leaves behind many people whom Dog has trapped in a damp, grey, lifeless “place with no name” that’s characterized by “getting used to things.” These people are condemned to live as listless ghosts of who they could have been because they are too afraid to risk facing the dog one more time. The tale shows that in order for a person to realize their ambitions, they must be courageous and take risks even when they are afraid of the consequences, or they’ll spend their lives “getting used to” a miserable, empty existence.

Other tales show that Edward faces many difficult trials in his life, but he never lets them stunt his optimism or make him retreat. Each time, his tenacity in the face of fear causes him to emerge on the other side of the challenge better for having experienced it. For instance, when Edward is attacked and robbed on his first night away from home, he continues on undaunted. Despite being beaten to a pulp, he refuses to retreat after a failure, even in the face of hardship and uncertainty. Edward’s urge to move forward instead of retreat to the safety of home is captured by his willingness to keep moving “forward, onward, ready for whatever Life and Fate chose to hurl at him next.”

Edward turns most of his failures into successes by making the best of sub-optimal situations. For example, it takes Edward a year to recover from his injuries after being attacked on his first night in the adult world, but he doesn’t become discouraged. Instead, he turns the time into an opportunity to work at “Ben Jimson’s Country Store”—where a kindly family has taken him in until he recovers. Edward ends up improving business through advertising and earning money to fund his next adventure, which is to attend college. The money that Edward earns enables “the world, like a splendid flower [to open] up for him,” meaning his perseverance despite a setback propels him forward into the world and enables him to realize his ambitions. Edward also tells his son, William, that he had many “failed” business ventures but pushed through the difficult times until he found success, resulting in a life of adventure, travel, and wealth. In another tale about Edward’s college days, Edward perseveres in a situation where he is being intimidated with threats of violence by an evil gang of bullies, but he faces his bullies head on despite the risk of conflict, which makes the bullies—and not Edward—retreat. The evil gang represents people who try to dissuade personal progress using intimidation tactics. In the tale, Edward is looking after a glass eye belonging to an old lady. If he returns the eye to the old lady (as he has promised), the evil gang will take his own eye. Edward does not let being intimidated by the gang thwart him. He thinks all night and solves the dilemma resourcefully: he returns to meet the gang with the old lady in tow, who is wearing the eye. The evil gang run away, terrified of the old lady, who they think is a witch. Edward’s perseverance in the face of intimidation enables him to pursue a college degree without being bullied by the gang ever again.

Edward never gives up on moving forward, even when he is on his deathbed. In the final tale of the story, Edward’s death is captured as his transformation into the “big fish” that he always saw himself as, and he swims out into the great unknown, seeking ever bigger ponds to grow bigger in. The analogy metaphorically represents Edward’s ambition to keep pushing forward, even in the face of death. Through the story’s metaphorical tales, Wallace argues that people who face their fears head on and keep pushing forward in life are bound to achieve great success. Thus, a person shouldn’t fear or avoid life’s challenges because facing them enables personal growth, broadens horizons, and allows people to pursue their ambitions.