Big Fish English Exam

Mythological Connections

-Hero -> Dad -Journey -Death -Rebirth -Water vs Desert

Describe the place with no name

-It is like Ashland ~ "some of the same stores were on Main street in Ashland -Muggy ~ "the day grew dark, and the skies lowered, and a thick fog embarrassed him -Ghost town "..dully from the empty doorways.."

SA : One of the virtues (written on a paper bag) that Edward hope to pass on to William

-Optimism -Perseverance -Ambition -Personality -Strength -Intelligence -Imagination

Describe the people in the place with no name

-They all have unique things that are wrong with them -They are all lonely and kind of just lost

SA : The number of labors that Edward had to fulfill

3

C ID: WIley

A citizen of the small town, Specter, (Sharif then pastor)

C ID: Muriel Rainwater

A frequent and rude customer where Edward worked

Motif

A recurring image or idea : a journey

How are stories in Specter like folktales?

As the stories spread and get told differently just like folktales get spread around, changed, and never forgotten

SA : The college town where Edward fell in love

Auburn

C ID: Don Price

Auburn Student/Fights for Sandra

Why does Edward not tell anyone the story

Because he thinks that no one will believe him

SA : The guy in the fraternity who hated Edward and who once dated Edward's sweet heart

Don Price

SA : The city where the Blooms lived and where William was born

Edgewood

SA : Edward and William escape from the hospital to go to

Edward's Grove

What happened to Jenny?

Eventually Edward left Specter and did not return so she got depressed and wouldn't leave the house and it soon became a swamp just like Edward found her

T/F : William adores the tales his father tells

False

T/F : On the day that Edward Bloom was born, snow fell in white sheets.

False - Rain in drought

T/F : Due to unruly behavior, Edward was asked to leave his hometown to travel through the place with no name

False - he wanted to leave and go be successful

T/F : Edward Bloom is frem the small town of Ashville, Alabama

False ; Ashland

C ID: Dr.Bennett

Family doctor/delivers news/emotional

C ID: Willie

First man Ed meets in the place with no name

What was the worst thing that could have happened to Edward?

Having to stay at home.

How does the father react when his son asks him if he believes in Heaven?

He brings up a joke so it doesn't get serious

What does it mean that all the mourning people are "a part of him" and that "he is a part of us"?

He has touched and changed the lives of all of their lives greatly just as they make up his legacy

Willie tells Edward: "Think you're a real big fish. But you're not the first we've seen" What does he mean?

He is telling Edward that he may think he can do something in the world or become something but they have seen others with the same dream who have come and failed.

How does the Dog react to Edward?

He like him and rubbed up against him. This shows he was meant to leave Ashland

How does Edward outsmart Karl the giant

He pretends to sacrifice himself to allow him to get a response

How did Edward survive the Naval accident

He swam far away so when the ship went down he didn't get sucked down with him

What were Edwards three labors?

He was a vets assistant, second was being a sales clerk in a lingerie department, the third was going against a wild dog to save a child.

SA : Edward repaid the old women by returning this item

Her glass eye

According to William what "makes a man great"

If he is loved by his son

"So in a way it is true: as I grew, he shrank" What does this mean

In the process of teaching William and passing things on, he made his son bigger than he ever was so Edward shrank as his son grew and found things out

Significant event when Edward was born?

It rained ~ starts a new lifetime, it created a mother and a father ~ a new beginning

What is the meaning behind Edward's last words to his son "Pinocchio"

It references back to the joke he was telling when Jesus said "Father Father" and Edward said "Dad! Dad!" and so Edward relies just like the carpenter by saying Pinocchio. This shows that the description of Pinocchio is just like his own son -unusual birth -great transformation -well known -still loved by many And this is the only remarkable thing about Edwards life (my interpretation so it can be different for you)

What is a facade

It's a mask or cover

SA : The name of the girl (age 20) who falls in love with Edward is

Jenny

Theme of Big Fish

Living forever

C ID: The old lady

Missing eye, magical powers, tells Edward how he dies

SA : Edward served in this branch of the military

Navy

C ID: Dog

Neighborhood dog/guards the place with no name/bites the fingers off the people who arn't meant to leave

Archetype

Old imaginative pattern that appears across culture and repeated over time, character, plot, or image

C ID: Edward Bloom

Protagonist (Father, Husband) wants to live forever

SA : List one taboo subject of discussion for the Blooms

Religion and Politics

Juxtaposition

Sad and Happiness at the same time (Birth and Death)

C ID: "Beneath the facade there's another facade and then another, and beneath that the aching dark place, his life"

Said by William.

SA : The love of Edward Bloom's life

Sandra [Key Templeton]

SA : List one of the ways that Edward saved Williams life

Saved him from a ditch that was filling with water/saved him from a collapsing swing

C ID: William Bloom

Son of Edward Bloom, wants to know his dad truly before he dies

SA : The name of the town where Jenny lives and where Edward spends 2-3 days a month is called

Specter

SA : The place where the mourners who gathered in Edward's dream

The Bloom's front yard

Example of a Symbol in Big Fish

The Fish - Immortality ~ through the stories and jokes

C ID: Karl

The Giant ~ Angry and is just hungry because mother abandoned him and Edward saves him and the town and takes him to the circus

Who is the girl in the ship wreckage he sees? (Navy)

The girl/young lady he met in Edwards Grove ealier

C ID: Jasper "Buddy" Barron

The man who speaks about Edward's first day in the world - come to live in. Buddy was vice president of Bloom Inc., taking over the helm when Edward retired

How have the roles reversed between father and son?

The son, William, is now looking after his father, Edward. William is "feeding" his father just like he cared for him when he was younger.

C ID: Jenny Hill

The women who lives and owns the last part of specter

Why do Don Price and Edward fight?

They fight because Don believes that Sandra "belongs to him" and that she belongs with him and not Edward

What were townspeople doing when Edward was born

They were amazed by a huge cloud that appeared when there was a drought

What power did the old lady's glass eye have?

To see into the future

T/F : Edward Bloom had the uncanny quality knowing every name of every face-down tot he sound their shoes made when they walked

True

T/F : Edward feels genuine regret for missing much of his son's childhood

True

T/F : Edward forgot his home work after walking six miles to school, and yet he returned home to get his homework

True

T/F : Edward is beaten and robbed when he leaves the place with no name

True

T/F : Edward never tells the story of the catfish

True

T/F : Edward wanted to be a big fish in a big pond

True

T/F : Everything is damp in the place of no name

True

T/F : The novel is narrated by William

True

T/F : When Edward sees the girl in the water, the snake turns into a still

True

T/F : The archetype of "water" is witnessed early in the novel

True - Rain when born

T/F : Edwards mother died before he was born

True - then she came back to life

Instead of dying, Edward ___________ at the very end of the book

Turned into a "big fish"

Symbol

Using an object or action that means something than its literal meaning Ex. Water

How does Edward outsmart dog?

While he is distracted he ran out of the place with no name.

C ID: Sandra Key Templeton

Wife to Edward and mother to William

Quote ID : "He became just a man, a man without a job, without a story to tell, a man, I realized, I did not know.

William

Describe Edward's escape from the hospital

William covered him and placed I'm in a wheelchair. They went down the elevators and escaped the hospital. They headed to the car and drove to Edward's cove.

When Edward stayed home and he soon became a "...a man without a job, without a story to tell, a man...." What does William realize?

Without his stories, his father is someone totally different and someone he doesn't even know