Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Personal Mythology”

In this activity, students create the story of their own life using mythology to describe important events.

Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish uses mythology to tell the story of Edward and the adventures in his life. Create your own story using mythological details to describe events that have taken place. Then draw comparisons between your own storytelling and Edward’s. Use the prompts below to guide your thinking.

• Describe the unusual events that took place surrounding your birth.
• Describe how you overcame difficult scenarios with unbelievable qualities (such as super strength, speed, or wits).
• Describe important events in your life with exaggerated self-importance.
• Describe a major political or environmental problem you solved with your larger-than-life qualities.
• Feel free to add elements of magical realism to your Personal Mythology and be prepared to explain what separates these elements from those of a myth.
• Explain how characters or animals are particularly drawn to your personality.
• Explain how your characteristics are paralleled by Edward and his own tale.

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful for students to start by creating a timeline of major life events. Then consider allowing students to discuss possible qualities that may have helped them resolve difficult issues or explain mysterious events. Students may want to address parallels between their life and Edward’s in the conclusion of their written assignment.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students who would benefit from additional assistance with organizing their thinking in advance might first analyze Edward’s life chronologically; they can list his life’s events and decipher what they think may have really happened with each. A graphic organizer like a plot diagram can aid in charting Edward’s life events; then students might continue with the Activity using a plot diagram to represent major events in their own lives.