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
