William I Am Your Father Character Analysis

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Austin Hubbard 3/18/12 Big Fish Essay “William, I am Your Father.” Paternity tests can provide key knowledge for someone unsure who their father is. What if a simple blood test couldn’t answer this question for you? What if all you knew of your father were stories, nothing of true merit? William, one of the main characters in Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish: A Novel of Epic Proportions understands such grievance. The relationship between Edward, William’s father, and himself changes as the story progresses. In the beginning of the book, the reader sees that Edward was never at home with his family. This absence took a toll on the relationship between father and son. Edward was always telling “mythical” stories about his life resulting in William not knowing who his father truly was. Near the end of his life, Edward is provoked…show more content…
Edward’s death is presented to the reader by means of four takes, or accounts of what’s happening in the Bloom house as Edward’s last days become numbered. With each take presented, the desire William possesses to learn of who Edward really was intensifies. Although William urges Edward to give him real information about his life, Edward plays the notions off with another telling of an already overused tale. In “My Father’s Death: Take 1,” the reader is first introduced to the condition Edward is in. The family doctor, Dr. Bennett, tells William and his mother “If you have any peace to make with Edward, anything to say at all, I suggest you say it now” (page 13). This notion of having last words is what seems to spike William’s interest in who Edward really is. William states that as his father begins to pass away he becomes “a man, a man without a job, without a story to tell, a man, I realized, I didn’t know” (page 17). Edward begins to open up to his son when telling of how all he wanted was to be a “great

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