Big Fish

As we English students now know, Big Fish has many examples of archetypes and symbols that are used to put a theme together. Some of these archetypes are the witch, mermaid, giant, werewolf, circus, Spectre, and the list goes on. These archetypes are what the father, Edward, uses to compose a story of his "history", which leads to the frustration of his son, Will. However, although the main focus of watching the movie was to analyze the archetypes, I think the message the movie had to offer through these archetypes was just as important, if not, more so. A prevailing theme of the movie is that we are all made up of our "stories", and the "real" self that we see everyday may not be our truest one. Each one of those archetypes that we analyzed all had a significant meaning in Edward's life, and the importance he gave to those things is what made him who he was. Each person likes and gives importance to different things, and that is what makes up each persons core or soul. What we show people everyday is very different from the person we all are inside, and these stories are a way of symbolically expressing that inner core and getting people to know what the human soul is made up of. Perhaps the existence of symbols and archetypes came by the want to be able to show people what we feel instead of explaining it or to express what we feel without using formal definitions. Regardless, maybe it's not the study of the archetypes themselves that's as important, but rather what they mean instead.

-Daniel Hawkins

Alice Reading Response #1

"Alice replied, rather shyly, 'I-I hardly know, Sir, just at present--at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'"

-Chapter 5 (Advice from a Caterpillar)

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Growing up, I felt like this a lot. I didn't quite know who I was, what "label" I fit under, and what I even desired to be. I'd change my persona day to day--even class to class. How I was in first period definitely was not consistent with how I was sixth period. It was all unconscious and very confusing. Random forces that I still can't accurately identify seemed to toy with my very own identity.

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By having Alice try to identify herself to the Caterpillar, Carroll explains the confusion involved with the entrance into puberty and maturity. Carroll uses Alice's chaotic dream to serve as a parallel to the "adult" world that children are thrust into at a certain age. Wonderland's talking creatures and various other eccentricities resemble new responsibilites, ideas, fears, and opportunities that present themselves to those entering the "adult" world. Alice's confusion and uncertainty with who she is (and who she is supposed to be) is universal amongst children at that age. She has yet to truly define herself and cannot properly answer the Caterpillar. Her consistently evolving size adds another dimension to her self-pronounced changes. Pubery changes identities of children physically, extending the realm of confusion. Alice's answer resounds with anyone experiencing drastic life change.

--Emily T.