Fun Home By Alison Bechdel - 1551 Words

In the novel, Fun Home, Alison Bechdel explores the Franciscan value of respecting the unique dignity of each person. Throughout the book, Bechdel’s father often challenges this value in his behavior with Alison. From a child development standpoint, these actions complicate the development of Bechdel’s identity. Fun Home follows Alison Bechdel’s childhood, showing both a prominent father-daughter relationship and Bechdel’s developing identity. Following the potential suicide of her father, the author reflects on time spent with her father. As Bechdel explores her complicated relationship with her father, important issues arise that relate back to her identity. Her relationship with her father and her identity are integral to the main plot†¦show more content†¦On page 11, Alison’s brother struggles to hold a Christmas tree still. As he inevitably fails, due to his age and size, he begs the angry-looking Bruce not to hit him. In the same scen e, Alison runs away from Bruce after accidently clinking some glassware. Similarly, Bruce confronts the children when a vase is placed too close to a table edge on page 18. Although Alison claims she was not involved, Bruce still hits her. The faces of Alison and her brother and mother show a clear fear of Bruce. These two instances highlight both his propensity to use physical force against the children and his view of the children. He clearly views the objects as more important, as he treats them with more care. Along the same lines, Bruce also constantly orders the children around to do chores for him, showing their value to him as a workforce. The children also witnessed domestic disputes while living in the house. During one incident, on page 68, the children hear a crash of books and their father telling their mother, â€Å"You’re the one with a problem, you crazy bitch!† This angry and argumentative home life would likely be traumatic to the children. Throughout the novel, Bruce exhibits aggressive behavior. In conjunction with his violent behavior, Bruce also controls Alison and her choices. On page 7, Alison is upset because the wallpaper for her room is pink and floral, despite her dislike of these overtly â€Å"feminine† symbols. Her father shows a complete disregard for her thoughtsShow MoreRelatedFun Home By Alison Bechdel954 Words   |  4 PagesIn her graphic memoir Fun Home, Alison Bechdel records her unusual relationship with her late father Bruce Bechdel and reveals her family secrets. Through Chapter Three she speculates about the reason of her father’s death after first knowing the catastrophe. By applying the allusion between writer Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald’s famous character Jay Gatsby, and her father, Bechdel effectively presents the tragic nature of her father that he lives in the fictional world created by himselfRead MoreFun Home By Alison Bechdel1392 Words   |  6 PagesIn Alison Bechdel s Fun Home, there is a focus on a sculpte d perception of gender roles produced by society and a great emphasis on how Bruce and Alison challenge these strict gender specific characteristics. Through Bruce’s femininity and Alison’s masculinity along with their homosexuality, they are able to go against the norms and the collection of rules set by society. It is also through their struggle with gender roles that one is able to understand their sexual orientation. Although Bruce andRead More`` Fun Home, By Alison Bechdel1163 Words   |  5 Pagespsychoanalytical study, Alison Bechdel’s, Fun Home, is a charming story about a girl’s search for identity within an unconventional family. The novel style autobiography frames Alison’s childhood and adolescence as she struggles with themes of sexual confusion, gender identity, and convoluted family dynamics. These ideas are explored through the examination of Alison’s relationship with her father, and their shared passion for literature. Early on in her childhood, Alison came to the realizationRead More`` Fun Home `` By Alison Bechdel847 Words   |  4 PagesAlison Bechdel’s comic book â€Å"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 herselfRead MoreFun Home By Alison Bechdel1518 Words   |  7 PagesAlison 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 narrativ e 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 allusionsRead MoreThe, Fun Home, By Alison Bechdel Essay2271 Words   |  10 Pagesof autobiography in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. Fun Home is a retelling of Alison Bechdel’s life through the lens of her relationship with her father. However, because of what she considers to have been his suicide, Alison is left with an incomplete picture of who he was in life. By calling Fun Home an autobiography, Bechdel enters an autobiographical pact with the reader that ensures that what Bechdel is telling us is the truth. However, elements out of her control leave Bechdel unable to provide certainRead MoreFun Home By Alison Bechdel920 Words   |  4 PagesIn Alison Bechdel’s first graphic memoir Fun Home, the main focus of the story is Alison’s father Bruce, and her writing wrestles with how both of them came to terms with their sexuality and how they have influenced one another throughout this process. Bechdel does not get to have as many discussions with her father as she would like, however, because Bruce dies shortly after Alison writes home to tell her parents that she’s a lesbian. Aliso n frequently speculates if her father committed suicideRead MoreFilm Fun Home By Alison Bechdel1410 Words   |  6 Pages Alison Bechdel’s comic book Fun Home clearly portrays the importance of gender roles in the society. She mentions in her book incidents which illustrate as to how gender plays a major role in forming a person’s identity. Throughout the book, Bechdel suggests how the society has divided people into different genders on the basis of appearance, duties and behavioural expectations. The society as a whole needs to re-asses these gender roles so that people don’t end up ruining their life thinking aboutRead MoreFun Home by Alison Bechdel Essay1386 Words   |  6 PagesFun Home Picking up the book Fun Home, one would imagine that the novel would embellish some sort of comical life story of a misunderstood teenager. Although the short comic-book structured novel does have its sarcastic humor, Alison Bechdel explains her firsthand account of growing up with the difficulty of living of finding her true identity. Alison was a teenager in college when she discovered that she was a lesbian, however, the shock came when she also discovered her father was homosexual.Read MoreAnalysis Of Fun Home By Alison Bechdel992 Words   |  4 PagesAnalytical Essay on â€Å"Fun Home† By: Alison Bechdel Even though a lot of thing events that happened to Bechdel was sad, dark, or scary she manages to use a very witty tone throughout the story reflecting on her personality. She believes dark events are not central to one’s life. She uses this tone as oppose to an angry tone because she never realized her family was any different until she was compared it to others. This strongly classifies Bechdel in the optimistic category of personalities. The