The Big FishStylistic DevicesThe Big Fish is a novel authored by Daniel Wallace in 1998. It revolves around a story of William Bloom and his father Edward Bloom. At his father’s deathbed, William Bloom tries to understand who his father is through memories. It is at this time of death when William understands the real characters of his father. This paper analyzes the stylistic devices used by Wallace in the novel. It does this by critically evaluating the manner in which he uses the elements of first person narration and symbolism in the presentation of his work.
To begin with, Wallace uses the first person narration technique to deliver his message to the audience. This is evidenced the first chapter of the novel in which the narrator’s father was born. As Edward narrates, his father was born during one of the worst summers, drought and famines that were experienced in the land. In his own words, he explains how his father was born at a time when there was a scarcity of food. He also illustrates his feelings about the birth of his father which he attributes to be a blessing since it occurred on a rainy and cloudy day.
At the same time, William Bloom also uses first person narration in the first chapter of the book to demonstrate the cordial relationship his father had with animals. He explains that cows and horses liked his father, and they followed him around; and chicken once laid a mysterious small brown egg on his lap. At one time, he says, “This is what is meant by last words: they are keys to unlock the afterlife. They're not last words but passwords, and as soon as they're spoken you can go.” This implies that all these could only be ascertained during the death of Edward.
William Bloom also uses a lot of symbolism as indicated in chapter one of the Big Fish. The element of symbolism is seen when William equates his father to a big fish. This is used to symbolize that Edward Bloom is an intelligent and knowledgeable man. As a widely read person, he has a wealth of knowledge on philosophy, history, arts and other literary fields. Thus, his knowledge can not be compared to a librarian or any other person, but can only be compared to a big fish. Moreover, it symbolizes that he was a very unique person who had an extraordinary ability of communicating to the animals.
Therefore, symbolism helped Wallace to portray Edward as a mysterious person who could not be easily understood. In conclusion, he Big Fish is a well written novel. By making a careful choice of literary devices and effectively using them, Wallace managed to bring out an outstanding story. Even if William does not understand his father, he learns to know much about him at the time of his death. By using the elements of first-person and symbolism, Wallace manages to successfully appeal to his audience by telling them the story of the mysterious Edward Bloom whose real traits are discovered at his death bed.
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