Big Fish Summary & Analysis of the Story

Ramji Acharya

Jan 16, 2022

Introduction

Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, a 1998 novel written by Daniel Wallace, is set up as William learns his father, Edward, is dying of cancer. On his trip to see him, he recounts how he's going to talk to his dad and root out the truth of his past. He realizes that he needs to go spend time with him because he never really got to know his father. Although Edward loved and cared for his son, he never told him much about himself; instead, he was a joker and tended to answer questions enigmatically. Additionally, since his father was rarely home due to his import/export business, William just never had a chance to really get to know him, which ended up causing serious conflict between the two.

So since his father never gave him much to go on, as William is traveling to see his father, he starts to tell tall tales of how he saw his father's life, creating them from things his father said and from William's own imagination. The heartache he's going through in losing a dad he doesn't think he knows is driving him to create a past that is false just to find a way to relate. These different snippets of his father's life are what William calls death takes. In them he describes how his father was a good man who dealt with magical things in his life.

Summary of the Story Big Fish

This story “The Big Fish” has been written by Taiwanain writer Chen Jo- hsi. This story has taken place during the time of the Cultural Revolution in China. At the time of the Cultural Revolution, the minor workers have to face lots of pain under the dictatorship of communists. All of the workers have to work for their state from morning to late evening but they don't have any improvement in their individual as well as family life. This story is about a kind of rebel done by an old man and his plight and suffering who wishes to buy a fish to make soup for his sick wife.

The main character of this story is an old man named K’uai Shih-fu. He is the man of his late forties or fifties. He has been working for his state in the Nanking Dockyard unit as an ironworker for 30 years. He is an honest and hardworking worker in the Dockyard. He has a son who works in the Eastern part of China. K'uai Shih-fu's condition is too worse. He doesn’t have a fine facility. His wife has been sick for few days. She has lost her appetite because of the same food all the time. K’uai Shihfu brings cabbage each day. He loves his wife too much. Even after having a tight schedule of work, he manages to go home early to care for his wife. T

he wife also doesn’t reveal her pain because she doesn’t want to worry him. She is too much delighted to see her husband coming home early. They do have an intimate love relationship. Being sick, his wife desires to have fish’s soup. To fulfil her desire, K’uai Shih-fu goes to market on his bicycle. He buys a big fish by paying an expensive price. While returning from the market, the cadre man stops him and snatches fish from him saying that the fish is not for the sale but for demonstration for the tourists.

K’uai Shih-fu becomes quite angry with the cadre man. Cadre man tells him to go back to get his money from the cashier. In an aggressive mood, he tells all the bystanders to tell the cadre man to give his money to the foreigners. He returns home without getting money. This act of K’uai Shih-fu shows a challenge not only to cadre man but whole Chinese dictatorship. He fails to fulfil his wife’s desire. He deceives his wife for the first time in his married life.

Analysis of the Story Big Fish

As an honest worker in his state, K’uai Shih-fu becomes a victim of the dictatorship of China. The state has not provided him with facilities. With a little salary, he engages himself in heavy work for the state. This story talks about the rights of the people of China. Even after working honestly for the state, K’uai Shih-fu is biased by cadre man. The cadre man shows the dictatorship of communists over him.

K’uai Shih-fu is even charged by young apprentices (learners) many times for walking on the way of imperialists (king’s devotion) and corrupting young people. At his age, he is not treated well by the young Chinese people. Youths of China praise foreigners but not the person like K’uai Shih-fu. K’uai Shih-fu rebels against such a dictatorship. He becomes so sad for not fulfilling his wife’s desire and also for lying her. He has been serving the state for 30 years but the state’s responsibility towards him is negative. He even doesn’t buy a fish for his wife later on because of communist power.