The Myths of Families Essay

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).

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.

Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir, “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic”, frames the development of her own sexual identity as she “comes out” as a lesbian and masculine woman. While sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically or sexually attracted, to represent the process of establishing sexual identity of Bechdel, Queer Theory is the best for demonstrating the development of one’s established sexual identity. According to Butler (2011), Queer theory builds both upon feminist challenges to the idea that gender is part of the essential self and upon gay and lesbian studies' examination of the socially constructed nature of sexual acts and identities. However, Bruce, the father of Bechdel, has struggles in his sexual identity. He does not acknowledge his sexuality, which fluctuates within the LGBTQ sphere. By declining to occupy his space within the queer community, Bruce denies his own identity, as a bisexual man and a feminine male (Eleanor, 2014). This article is going to explore the presentations of the sexual identity of Bruce and Bechdel represented in the graphic novel.

Alison Bechdel’s memoir, Fun Home, is a compelling narrative in which Bechdel takes the reader through her life and gives insight into her relationship and the complex lifestyle her closeted homosexual father, Bruce Bechdel. However, her serious topic is told through the narrative of comics, images that literally put the readers into the moments of her life with her. Even though, the graphic images provide visual insight, Bechdel makes a conscious decision to include a multitude of literary allusions because, as Bechdel describes, “I employ these allusions to James and Fitzgerald not only as descriptive devices, but because my parent’s are most real to me in fictional terms.” (Bechdel, Page 67) Her continued use of literary allusions can be seen as an insight to her life. The particular works of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Oscar Wilde’s plays An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Ernest because of their content concerning facades and the lengths one person goes through to keep a part of their identity or life a secret. TRANSITION Bruce Bechdel was the master of secrecy, hiding a part of his sexuality behind his heterosexual marriage in order to keep his idea of an acceptable livelihood. It is clear that Bruce Bechdel had a few infidelities with males throughout Bechdel’s childhood, infidelities that she did not know until later in life. This creates a whole new perceptive for Bechdel. The father who she thought as a controlling, stern, literary fein

Stephanie Coontz is a social analyst, family historian, writer and professor. She is a professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington and teaches history and studies of families. She is also Co-Chair and Director of Public Education at the Council on Contemporary Families, which is a non-profit & non-partisan association of family researchers and practitioners. Her research interests include the historical accuracy, myths and facts that surround our present concept of traditional family values. In 1992, Stephanie published ‘The Way We Never Were: American Families and The Nostalgia Trap’ and it tells the story of how family is perceived in society versus how it is.

“Excellent education and an excellent environment are two hallmarks of our state. How we treat our environment is connected to so many other opportunities in Maine”

Sexuality and Redefining Societal Norms Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is a tragicomic that portrays characters with differing styles of dealing with their own sexuality. Everything about the novel, from the manner in which it is told, to the character development of Alison and her father Bruce, is a unique way of discovering one’s self and the effect the outside world has on this discovery. Both Alison and her father struggle with coming into their own identities. A further complication to their own self-discoveries are the time period in American society that they live in. Homosexuality was a taboo and not currently shared by people in these circles.

Long before Alison learns the truth about her father’s sexuality she discovers her own. As Fun Home is an autobiography, the reader is given an unadulterated look into the evolution of Alison’s sexuality. The revelation about her homosexuality occurs with much assistance of literature, a fact Bechdel describes thoroughly: My realization at nineteen that I was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing. A revelation not of the flesh, but of the mind.

Alison Bechdel’s comic book “Fun Home” is narrated by none other than herself who builds the narrative around her family and her life growing up. Then, years later, her father dies in a car accident, and despite not knowing if it was really an accident or a suicide, she occupies herself with finding a justification for his death. Now imprisoned with the task she put herself to, the narrator blames her father 's shame and lack of happiness due to him being a homosexual, which she also discovered herself being at the age of 19. The story touches on several themes including happiness, identity and honesty. More specifically, “Fun Home” suggests that happiness is unattainable if one conforms to society 's norms by suppressing their true identity. This is demonstrated through the comparison made with the character Jay Gatsby from "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Bruce Bechdel, as well as the narrator’s depiction of herself.

Working in an elementary school, I have had several times when I have met someone with a different worldview than mine. For instance, I have had students that are Jehovah's Witness. Some challenges that I have had relating to those students are centered around holidays activities and birthday parties. One of my students was not allowed to participate in any holiday activities or birthday parties. Her parents did not celebrate holidays or birthdays and they did not want her to participate. If we had a special Christmas program, I would have to arrange for her to go to a different classroom. My principle would let her come help her during any special events.

This film study will define the theme of the unconventional family in the film Mostly Martha (2001) by Sandra Nettlebeck. This film takes place in Germany in a primarily German restaurant named Lido. The plot of the film involves the professional struggles of brilliant chef, Martha Klein (Martina Gedeck), that has trouble interacting with the customers due to her perfectionist behaviors. However, Martha soon meets her niece, Lina (Maxime Foerste), after her mother was killed in a car accident. Lina is a very angry and disturbed young woman that is grieving the loss of her mother, which makes communication extremely difficult. More so, Martha cannot find a babysitter for Lina, so she ends up bringing her to the restaurant. Finally, the arrival of a jovial new sous-chef named Mario (Sergio Castellitto) allows Martha to have a more relax and enjoy her job, but more so, it allows him to brighten Lina’s depression by making her good food. Overall, this film shows the overarching theme of the interchangeable family in that Martha, Lina, and

Family systems theory represents the aspects of a particular family member. Jamie is a teenager; he lives with his family who resembles many of the functions that a family needs to be safe and happy. Jamie has been intrigued by the new reveal of drugs in his environment. At home Jamie shows no evidence of abuse, but he can feel isolated and scared. In the Family Systems theory, they look at the specific Macro view points, and what could have been the reason for what was a tragic ending in this situation. Family System Theory looks at who Jamie was interacting with, what impact it has on other family members and the different rules that were set in place by the parents.

In her book The Unfinished Revolution, Kathleen Gerson argues that today, family pathways are more important than family structure. In this context, family structure refers to the organization of a family, and the way that it has been changing as a result of the gender revolution. For example, some nontraditional family structures that are explored in the book include double parent families with both parents earning, single parent families (mostly single mothers), and families with same-sex parents. Gerson argues that while family structures are not negligible, it is family pathways that are more important for the children of the gender revolution. That is to say, the children value the dynamics of their family more than the structure. They are more concerned about how well their parents are able to provide them with the necessary emotional and financial support than they are about how well their families follow a norm. For them, it is more about feeling like they’re part of a family rather than just physically being in one. Gerson emphasizes this when she explains that the people she interviewed “focused on the long-term consequences of parental choices, not on the specific form or type of home these choices produced at any one moment in time.” One important implication of this argument is the way in which the children of the gender revolution imagine their own romantic relationships unfolding. Even there, they prioritize a feeling rather than a format. For example, one

Family can be defined in a verity of different ways and depending who you ask, the answer will vary. A 5-year-old can have a different definition than an adult. Our book Understanding families defines family as “any unit that defines itself as a family, including individuals who are related by blood or marriage as well as those who have made a commitment to share their lives” (Hanson, 2). The definition of family will be viewed differently in school systems, hospitals, and even legally. Society has constructed this image of family, that holds an unrealistic expectation on communities and especially on children. The image society has placed on us, is a husband and a wife living behind a white picket fence, with 2.5 children and a dog. However, what I have learned is that family changes, they come and go, and do not last forever.

How can a definition be given to a phrase that has a different meaning for everyone? When someone thinks of what a perfect family is, chances are it looks like a mother, father, and kids all living together. This ideal scenario is not always the case for everyone. There are many circumstances that people are placed in, which would limit them from being able to fit in this stereotypical connotation. A perfect family is normally defined as a group with two parents and their kids, but for anyone who has grown up missing a parent it is a parent or parents and their kids.