a) Is the telling of fibs (tall tales) really a harmful exercise - or is it just part of the fun-loving embellishment of life? b) If a father tells too many tall tales, and it becomes a habit, does that result in the father confusing reality with fantasy? c) Should be the relationship between father and son always be fully honest, and accurate, when it comes to the sharing of life's events and stories? All of these questions are fair and genuine, and they will be reviewed, along with the belief that the relationship between father and son can be anything that the father and son agreed it should be - as long as there is honesty and an open line of communication as to the accuracy of

Gradually, though, after setting out in search of clues about his father's real life, "William learns that truth is made up of much more than facts." His father has said that Will wants "All of the facts and none of the flavor," and Will does indeed come to the conclusion that his father wasn't actually a liar he just couldn't stop himself from turning life into a fantasy.

Meantime, when Will says, "you become what you always were," he means that we humans are products of our environment, and no matter what we do we can't hide from who we are. His father may have been something of a rascal for telling all those tales, but nonetheless, Edward was Will's father, for better or for worse, and that fact (which is not destructive) can never change.

The American Dream may be about buying property - which Edward really did, in the town Specter, although he embellished that story to his son - and it may be a dream to have money. But it is a "dream" all people have about what they hope their lives will lead them to.

ISSUE #4: Is there really any harm in telling a tall tale? It should be remembered that all stories told by all people in all languages everywhere are at lease slightly embellished or changed - some to dramatic degrees - because the human mind has limitations. Our minds do not permit, for most of us, an exact, precise recounting of actual events. Even the fish in a fish story tends to get a little bigger as time goes by (which is one of the subplots in "Big Fish"). And things that stand out in our minds that we did in our youth are never exactly the same as those actual events. For example, when Edward is telling his stories about playing football in high school, he turns out to be catching the winning touchdown - what every young man dreams of doing.

And also, it may have been "heavenly" in order to show him what he will get when he dies, if he lives a good life. When Edward goes back to Specter and finds all the buildings in a sad state of repair, and he buys all the buildings (except one), it may have symbolized that we all try to "buy" our way into heaven by doing the "right" things that will ensure our arrival there. If you buy up the houses in heaven, you certainly then own the rights to return there and be assured of your membership in that community.

And as imperfect as Edward is, and as frustrated as Will is over his dad's inability to tell history accurately without exaggeration, Edward is a loving person and at the end, Will realizes he does love his dad very much.

Will has not had a conversation with his father for years because he's upset with his dad's tall tales, but Will has now returned from Europe because his father is in ill health. Will hangs around his ill dad (who is literally on his deathbed) "...and hurls sarcastic daggers at [his dad's] stories, reminding Edward that he was a traveling salesman, not a roguish adventurer," writes Phil Villarreal in the Arizona Daily Star.

The Ransom Fellowship discussion also asks if knowing "how you'll die" makes living easier. Nobody I've ever met has wanted to know in advance how they will die. Life is for living to the fullest, and it seems that if a person had knowledge as to how he or she would die, it would disrupt the flow of life's natural ups and downs. Knowing how you will die would take the mystery out of life - and it would turn one's life story upside down, with the ending known in the beginning. That is the opposite of how life works, and of how stories are told.

The truthfulness or lack of candor in the ancient stories and literature - including biblical parables and the Bible's reporting of the miracles of Jesus Christ - do not have to be accepted at face value to be valuable. Not to compar

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bible Edward's, Star Gradually, Burton Edward's, , Ransom Fellowship, Edward Will's, Yes Specter, Edward Bloom, Fellowship Web, Apparently Thompson, tall tales, father son, stories told, ransom fellowship, telling tales, dad's stories, american dream, truth father, relationship father, relationship father son, edward's stories, truth dad's stories,
Approximate Word count = 2504
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)