Big Fish

Q1.What does the phrase "a big fish in a small pond" mean to you?

A1.The phrase means that the fish doesn't actually belong to the pond because being a big fish in a small pond, you're easily spotted and you must have something special to allow you to survive in the pond.

Q2. What is the purpose of Edward Bloom's tall tale about the big fish and the wedding ring?

A2.The purpose of Edward Bloom's tall tale is to create a fiction story that people will be interested in, and therefore he could sell books regarding the story, earning money.

Q3. How does William Bloom as a boy feel about his father's telling of the tale? How does this feeling change as he gets older?

A3. William Bloom, as a boy, feel that his father is embarrassing his by telling the tale. But as he grew older, he felt that his father is not trying to embarrass him, but to let himself gain fame and earn money.

Q4. Why does Edward Bloom feel the need to keep repeating the tale throughout his life?

A4. It is so that it will constantly remind him of what happened in the tale so he'll never repeat the same mistake, nor tell something similar to the tale anymore.

Q5. What does the tale reveal about the relationship between Edward and William Bloom?

A5. It revealed that Edward and William Bloom's relationship are very close for strangers but far apart for a father-son relationship.

Q6. Consider the following quote: "In the telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me. It doesn't always make sense, and most of it never happened, but that's what kind of story this is. " What stories have you been told that match this description? What is the effect of telling a story in this way?

A6. A fairytale. The effect is the exagerrate stories to make it more interesting or more fun to read or listen.

Q7. Does bending or exaggerating the truth for the purpose of conveying an entertaining story undercut the believability of such a story? Is a tall tale less valid than a straight reportage of the facts? Why or why not?

A7. Yes, bending or exaggerating the truth does undercut the believability of such a story. A straight reportage of the facts is more valid than a tall tale, since tall tales are suppose to be exaggerated to make the story more interesting or more fun to listen to, rather than just facts, but tall tales might need the help of evidence to prove the "facts" in it, if not it's most probably fake.