Telling tall tales
Throughout his book, Edward has always told his son grossly exaggerated stories which has led to his son to question he authenticity of his tales. However, as he has grown older, his son William finally realizes that the tales were a way of conveying important life messages to him, in a comical way. Rather than taking the stories literally, William delves deeper to identify the hidden meaning.
Personal fulfilment
Edward uses the stories he tells his son as a way of highlighting how he was able to find personal fulfillment. For example, he describes a story in which he had to fight a vicious dog in order to be able to cross a path. The message behind his story is to be able to have the courage to face situations or else you will be trapped behind. Indeed, Edward refers to himself a “big fish”, who tries to find a bigger pond so he can keep growing.
Parental love
Parental love comes in many forms and no one parent is the same. For William, he grew up believing that Edward was an absentee father as he could not have a serious conversation with him without it being a tall tale. However, once his father is on his death bed, William realizes that his father expressed his parental love through these stories as a way of bonding with him.
