The use of myth in Daniel Wallace's Big Fish is particularly what allows Edward Bloom to keep other people in his life at a distance. By stretching the events of his life into tall tales, Edward was able to create an identity for himself that was more noteworthy or memorable than the objective facts that typified his existence. However, Edward's son, Will, is called home to reconcile with his father has he nears death; though one of his true motivations is to separate myth from reality once and for all. Essentially, this is the emotional setting of the story: Will believes that if he can divine the facts of his father's life from the myths, then he will somehow be closer to him and understand him before his death. Yet, as he uncovers more of the inspirations for Edward's tall tales, he comes to realize that the fictional stories he's been told his whole life are more true to the character of his father than a straightforward telling of them ever could have been. Consequently, Will learns that in order to tell the story of his father's death, he must call upon the myths that gave it meaning. .

             The book Big Fish is rather more convincing than the film adaptation with respect to the representation of Edward Bloom's death. This is because the competing takes on how the death came about reveal a more intricate progression of Will's understanding of his father. At first, William only sees the stories that his father tells him as ways to keep intimacy at bay. When Edward tells his son about how a local panhandler claimed that he owed him money, Will responds, "That's funny"; to which Edward states, "Well, laughter is the best medicine," even though neither one of them were laughing (Wallace, 18). This is within Will's first attempt at relaying the events of his father's death; it is significant that at this point he cannot even embrace the humor that exists within Edward's stories. Fundamentally, this is because Will is holding onto the hope that the underlying truth about how his father lived his life should come out at his end.