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Part II, On Meeting the In-Laws—The Day I Was Born

Summary: Part II, On Meeting the In-Laws

Edward meets Sandra’s parents, and they are mythical, too. Mr. Templeton, who adores his daughter, is completely hairless and Mrs. Templeton is bedridden. After Edward and Sandra married at the Auburn courthouse, they tell her parents. When they tell Mr. Templeton, he avoids the topic and instead tells them a story of a man named Bloom that he rode with in the cavalry back in 1918. They talk about horses and Jesus and avoid the subject of marriage until dusk. The couple leaves without disturbing Sandra’s mother. 

Summary: Part II, His Three Labors

Edward and Sandra move to Birmingham to seek their fortune, where Edward must perform three labors. First, he cleans cages at a veterinarian’s office. Second, he sells lingerie at a department store, where he is regularly snubbed by the overweight, wealthy Mrs. Rainwater. Edward hides the new girdles where only he can find them. When Mrs. Rainwater finally lets Edward wait on her, she is transformed by the new girdle and praises him, prompting his promotion to manager. 

Edward and Sandra move into a house previously owned by Amos Calloway. The neighbors don’t approve of the Blooms despite their efforts to recreate some of the Calloways’ habits. When a pack of wild dogs terrorizes the neighborhood, all except one, the Helldog, are exterminated. One night, while on a walk, Edward attempts to save a little girl from the Helldog. The dog lunges at Bloom. For his third labor, Edward tears out the dog’s heart, holding the little girl in his arms. 

Summary: Part II, He Goes to War

Edward becomes a sailor and sets sail on the Nereid. One day, the ship’s hull is ripped open by a torpedo and the crew prepares to abandon the ship. Men jump onto rafts and into the water. Edward jumps into the sea. He sinks and feels like he’s breathing through his skin. Edward once again sees the mysterious river girl and swims toward her, underwater. When he surfaces, he’s far from the ship and waves to others to swim toward him. As a result, the men are not sucked under when the ship goes down. 

Summary: Part II, My Father’s Death: Take 3

The story returns to Edward’s decline while resting at home. Dr. Bennett and Sandra are frustrated by Edward, so Will goes in to talk to him. When Edward tells silly doctor jokes, Will encourages him to be more straightforward and to stop telling outlandish stories. Edward confides his father was a drunk and tells another joke about a dog who drinks martinis. Will begs Edward to be serious, but Edward cannot. Edward knows exactly when he will die, and it’s not today. As a child, he had dreams that predicted the deaths of several family members. Edward tells yet another joke, which infuriates Will so much that he slams the door on his way out. 

Summary: Part II, The Day I Was Born 

The story moves back in time to Will’s birth. Edward mows the lawn and listens to a football game between Alabama and Auburn. Sandra sits indoors in the air conditioning, looking at the electric bill, feeling like the baby is coming soon. As the game ends, Sandra screams in pain and Edward screams because Auburn wins. 

Analysis: Part II, On Meeting the In-Laws—The Day I Was Born

Edward’s three labors recall and satirize the labors of Hercules, again highlighting the comparison of Big Fish to classic mythology. Hercules’ fifth labor was cleaning the Augean stables in one day, a place that housed more cattle than anywhere in the world which had never been cleaned before. Edward’s stint cleaning cages compares to such labor. Hercules’ ninth labor was obtaining the girdle of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazon. Wallace playfully adapts this labor in the story of Mrs. Rainwater in the lingerie department. Hercules’ twelfth labor, capturing and bringing back Cerebus, involves a black dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to keep the dead from leaving. The Helldog of Edward’s third labor is a play on this labor. Again and again, Wallace, through Edward and Will, emphasizes Edward’s stature as a mythical hero, but he does it in a way that pokes fun at both the real-life situations and the comparisons he makes.

Many literary heroes go to war, and Edward is no exception. The anecdote of the sinking Nereid evokes Greek mythology because Nereids were nymphs of the sea, the fifty young daughters of the sea god Nereus. Nereids are usually playful and friendly, helpful to sailors such as the Argonauts. The river girl who appears at the end of this chapter is a kind of Nereid because she saves Edward’s life and the lives of all the sailors who follow him to a safe distance from the sinking ship. Edward is a god of the sea in this chapter, and like Jason the Argonaut and the sea nymphs, Edward leads his crew to safety.

Will’s birth is compared to a long-shot football game in which Auburn, the Blooms’ alma mater, plays their nemesis Alabama, who ultimately wins. At the very moment that Alabama kicks the game-winning field goal with just a few seconds remaining, Sandra screams as Will is born. Will tells this tall tale in the first person, continuing his father’s tradition. Outside, the air is very hot, and Edward reddens in the sun. Inside, the very pregnant Sandra relishes the cold air-conditioned air although she frets over the electric bill. The confluence of hot and cold, indoors and outdoors, and pregnancy and pain, all happen in one moment of victory and birth.

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