Analysis Of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic

An emphasis on family is one of the central facets of Native American culture. There is a sense of community between Native American. Louise Erdrich, a Chippewa Indian herself, writes a gripping bildungsroman about a thirteen year old boy named Joe who experiences all forms of family on the Native American Reserve where he lives. He learns to deal with the challenges of a blood family, witnesses toxic family relationships, and experiences a family-like love from the members of the community. In her book, The Round House, Louise Erdrich depicts three definitions of the word family and shows how these relationships affect Joe’s development into an adult.

Bechdel’s fight for her gender identity was a constant in Fun Home, as was Bruce’s attempts to force femininity onto her, driven by his need to express his gender identity vicariously through her. Bechdel’s writing explains the obvious expressions of gender identity such as page 14 when Bruce decorated Bechdel’s room femininely despite her protests, prompting her to claim that her house was going to be made of all metal. But the illustrations depict the less obvious manifestations of gender identity. On page 95, we see Bechdel calling herself a, “connoisseur of masculinity,” with a Western film playing while her father is in the background arranging flowers (Bechdel, 95).

Alison presents herself as a very open-minded individual, not just a woman. She uses sexual desire to obtain what she wants from her husbands. She was a pioneer for the sexual liberation of woman in her time. She describes how she maintained authority over her husbands by manipulation and deceit. Three of which were old, the fourth was a philanderer and the last one, Jankyn was an abuser in the beginning. She explains that she “took [Jankyn] for love and not wealth” (272). Despite his resistance to allow Alison sovereignty in the beginning, he eventually concedes and the power switches from him to her. This switch allows Alison to be in control and not have to stay within the confines of the stereotypical Middle Age woman and wife. Their relationship is then happy and peaceful once she has dominion in the marriage and she was, “kind to him /…/ and he to me” (280). Alison is content with herself and the life she has lived. The portrayal of Alison gives women a voice and

Women are taught from a young age that marriage is the end all be all in happiness, in the short story “The Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin and the drama “Poof!” by Lynn Nottage, we learn that it is not always the case. Mrs. Mallard from “The Story of an Hour” and Loureen from “Poof!” are different characteristically, story-wise, and time-wise, but share a similar plight. Two women tied down to men whom they no longer love and a life they no longer feel is theirs. Unlike widows in happy marriages Loureen and Mrs., Mallard discover newfound freedom in their respective husband’s deaths. Both stories explore stereotypical housewives who serve their husbands with un-stereotypical reactions to their husband’s deaths.

Through the use of irony in the HappyLife home, Bradbury demonstrates the notion that although the home included “everything” the Hadley family “could ever need,” the home could not imitate the human emotion and nurturing that is needed for a truly meaningful life (Bradbury 1). The Hadley parents, George and Lydia, did not feel that human interaction was necessary, but rather that an expensive, state-of-the-art home could provide anything they could ever want. Bradbury emphasizes the idea that the Hadley family was provided for when he states that “They walked down the hall of their HappyLife Home, which had cost them thirty thousand dollars

In the following essay, I shall be exploring the representation of identity in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, mainly through a postcolonial feminist lens. My analysis will focus on Bruce and Alison’s interactions with each other and how Bechdel deconstructs the stereotypical ideals of gender roles and sexuality, via intertextual references.

We are all living in a society that is filled with social expectations of gender. From our early age, we seem to be able to response to these expectations accordingly. For example, we notice Barbies are for girls while robots and cars are for boys only. In the “Performative Gender”, “Doing Gender”, and “Nerd Box”, authors all indicate gender is learned instead of inherited. They bring out their insightful observation and critical personal experience to illustrate how the social expectations with punitive effects construct our gender unconsciously. These articles provide a great lens for us to understand the mental state and behaviors of the main characters in Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. In Fun Home, Alison Bechdel portrays how living in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania during the 1930s not only repressed both her father, Bruce, and her from coming out as a homosexual and genderqueer, but also trapped her mother, Helen, in her “women box”. Through the graphic memoir, Fun Home is able to present the struggling process that one may need to go through before admitting one’s unusual gender identity and sexual orientation.

This story begins to drive the sense of emotion with the very surroundings in which it takes place. The author starts the story by setting the scene with describing an apartment as poor, urban, and gloomy. With that description alone, readers can begin to feel pity for the family’s misfortune. After the apartments sad portrayal is displayed, the author intrigues the reader even further by explaining the family’s living arrangements. For example, the author states “It was their third apartment since the start of the war; they had

Early on in her childhood, Alison came to the realization that her family was different. As individuals, and as a unit, they were just plain weird. Unlike most young girls, Alison lacked a strong bond with her parents, most notably her father, Bruce. Because they both display introverted personalities and had divergent gender identities, Alison and her father never devised a solid relationship. Bruce is described as possessing generally feminine qualities having passion for fine art and sophisticated interior design; whereas Alison claims to have become “a connoisseur of masculinity at a young age” (95). Neither of them fit their stereotypical role within the family; Bruce didn’t act like a macho-man dad, and Alison wasn’t playing dress up with all the other little girls. Though their personas seem compatible, the stark difference in their gender affiliations was a source of great tension between Alison and her father.

Alison Bechdel’s memoir, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, focuses on Alison and her relationship with her mother. Her relationship with her mother affects the way she relates to people, especially her mother. Bechdel begins this portrayal of Alison’s relationship with her mother on the cover of the book. The red, wood-like background of the cover of the book, is behind all of the other objects. This background is most likely a desk or table of some sort with several objects sitting on top of it. Firstly, I notice the mirror. Mirrors are typically seen as a symbol of self-indulgence and vainness. The mirror is golden and the title of the book, Are You My Mother? is placed in the mirror itself. Secondly, I see the red beaded necklace. The beads are not completely on the book cover. Beads, jewelry, and the color red are often seen as signs of affluence and richness. Next, I see the black and white picture. What appears to be two females are present in the picture. One is older than the other. The woman in the picture looks like she is sitting and appears to be smoking and reading some sort of book, magazine, or newspaper. There is a girl off to the left side of the woman in the picture, clasping her hands, smiling, and watching the woman from a distance. Finally, I notice the lipstick on the cover. The lipstick is in a white container with a gold band. I can clearly see that it is a red shade of lipstick. Again, red lipstick is usually seen worn on someone of importance.

       As the tale begins we immediately can sympathize with the repressive plight of the protagonist.  Her romantic imagination is obvious as she describes the "hereditary estate" (Gilman, Wallpaper 170) or the "haunted house" (170) as she would like it to be.  She tells us of her husband, John, who "scoffs" (170) at her romantic sentiments and is "practical to the extreme" (170).  However, in a time

Although Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home demonstrate pronounced differences in setting and design, both novels employ a reflective narration of the past to address common themes of trauma, unorthodox family relationships, and sexuality. Both stories utilize this retrospective narrative to expose masculinity’s stratified hegemony as a driving force of internalized shame, violence, and the death of self. As The Bluest Eye’s Cholly and Fun Home’s Bruce are examined in terms of hegemonic masculinity’s influence, the common themes in both works can be understood as a result of masculinity’s hierarchical ascendency.

The book “Fun Home: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC” is a captivating autobiography that entertains readers as well as engages audiences. The content provided in the book challenges views on normative stereotypes while offering a unique perspective. The book impresses upon readers a stir of emotions while conveying messages effortlessly. The memoir focuses upon uncomfortable subjects such as death, homosexuality, and coming of age offering a candid look into aspects of the Bechdel’s life. The book is an interesting read, the subject matter produced is relatable to readers and unique in its format. Additionally, the content produced in the book relies on her relationship with her father, which aids in entertaining audiences because of their strange kinship.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic novel that recounts different occurrences in Alison Bechdel's life. The most prominent story is of Bechdel’s coming out; the second is surrounding her father's death. Bechdel uses literary references, especially from Homer’s Odyssey and Joyce’s Ulysses, throughout her comic to describe her own journey, her father and her relationship with him. Through the narratives in the graphic novel, it can be seen that the Bechdel household is not mad but rather holds a disturbed family dynamic. Sigmund Freud explains the process and symptoms of melancholy. He describes it as a reaction to a loss of an ideal kind, and in reaction they lose interest of the outside world, capacity to love, etc (244,248). Through his article, it is clear that melancholy has taken over the Bechdel household, especially in Bruce Bechdel’s case. Bruce is overcome with shame because of his homosexuality and becomes melancholic and creates distractions for himself within his life. He elaborately decorates his home to create a facade. Bechdel calls him a “skillful artificer” (7); he is good at making an attractive exterior.

The overall idea of the book is a conglomeration of many different tropes. This novel is: a murder-mystery, a love triangle, and a past/present parallel of two women. The two women, at different times, enter into a strict contract with an architect in order to move into One Folgate Street, a technologically advanced, minimalist house. Both women move into the home in an attempt to change their lives after suffering tragedies. While living in the home, the two women start a relationship with the architect of the home, but they are both swept up in the mystery of his past lovers, both of who are dead. Although there was the addition of minimalism and the minimalism lifestyle, this soon became background information to the plot. The author attempted to use the house as an extended metaphor, but, unfortunately, the author was too explicit in creating this metaphor. What once had promise of being a parallel that brought