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Maleeha’s Response: I found you reflection of the coming out scene really interesting Peter, I thought her academic take on something so personal was the definition of “tragicomic”. The best way for her to relate to her family was through literature, which is why she wrote a letter instead of an in person, or on the phone. Whereas her mother told her about her father’s homosexuality on the phone, because, perhaps she was tired of thinking about it and did not want to spend effort explaining something she did not understand. Even as an adult, her parents conflicts are impacting her life. I have a link about developmental science and the impact of parents fighting on children. http://www.developmentalscience.com/blog/2014/04/30/what-happens-to-children-when-parents-fight

Outstanding Scenes: Coming Out

The first scene that stands out is the moment Alison comes out to her parents. This is one of the most important moments in the book and for Alison, as she was able to open up to her parents, “My homosexuality remained at that point purely theoretical, an untested hypothesis. But it was a hypothesis so thorough and convincing that I saw no reason not to share it immediately” (Bechdel, Ch.3 p.3). This came with unexpected responses for Alison, not only was it not received as well as she hoped but also let to news which shocked and changed her relationship with her father. This led to Alison’s mother telling her of affairs with other men, and how he was molested as a young boy. As tragic as this news is, it understandably made Alison seem insignificant, “Then a phone call in which she dealt a staggering blow. I’d been upstaged, demoted from protagonist in my own drama to comic relief in my parents’ tragedy” (Bechdel, Ch.3 p.3). As she clearly experienced this same feeling of being an afterthought to her parents while growing up, she had to go through it again but this time during her biggest moment in her life. With Alison showing her own experiences through the novel, it allows for deeper conversation to those going through similar experiences. This makes the scene arguably more outstanding than any other scene in the graphic novel, not only because of the impact it had on Alison in that moment, but the implications it had for the gay community. Due to the novel’s success, this kind of scene will further the conversation for young adults to have this conversation with their parents, while educating the parents on how they should handle and respond to this kind of new information they received. By: Peter Tsapoitis

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Maleeha’s Responses: I thought your ideas about the purpose of Fun Home were well thought out Michael. I agree, that Fun Home was a way for her to process her family’s loss, and create a work that reflected her truth. Art is a common form of therapy, and is used to communicate emotions, and connect to others. Alison’s art connects to any one with family issues, gender identity issues, or experiencing issues relating to sexual identity.  I have included a link about comic and art therapy, which relates to one of the purposes of Fun Home.  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07421656.2004.10129317?journalCode=uart20

Purpose of Fun Home

Alison took 7 years to complete this graphic novel. She had a lengthy process of drawing and uploading to the computer all her work which doubled the time for completion. She also had her comic to keep up and she split her time with that. The purpose of the novel, as explained by Bechdel in an interview with The Guardian, was her naïve hope to unite the family. She was hoping to heal old wounds. Instead, she managed to upset her mother further as she didn’t want her daughter to air their “dirty laundry” (Brockes, 2008).

Another reason Alison stated was her ability as a child to constantly keep lists, diaries, notes and other assorted writing projects. We see these used throughout the graphic novel. Bechdel explains that Harriet the Spy was her favourite novel as a child, she related to the constant note taking and lists (“Writers On the Fly: Alison Bechdel - YouTube,” 2010). Having this deep trove of primary source to work on made her explore her past and understand her father. Towards the end of the novel, she relates to him through his extensive novel collection and knowledge. Understanding her father using novels is rather ironic since she in college hated the idea of linking concepts of different novels.

Bechdel has also written this novel to be able to understand herself fully, and understand the circumstances leading up to her “discovery” that she is gay. This memoir allowed her the ability to view her life fully again. By: Michael Amaral

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Maleeha’s Response: I liked reading your reflection Michael, the idea of the artists’ colony seemed like a lonely description of her childhood. It makes sense then, why her inner world was so rich, and why her passion for art and writing only blossomed because there was not much else to connect with at home. The tortured artist trope is so common, an example is Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City which explores the connection between isolation and creativity. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/28/the-lonely-city-olivia-laing-edward-hopper-andy-warhol

Michael: How I relate to Fun Home

Everyone seems to think they have a “normal” family and that theirs is better than others. Yet time and time again, we read stories and experience events that smudge this concept. Reading Fun Home, we see many different themes going on at once and how they all relate. Bechdel’s parents in their own world, and do not relate to the children. This causes everyone to grow up separately in the same home. There is no affection, Bechdel describes how she attempted once to kiss her father, and barely pecked his knuckles like he was a mob don (2006, p. 19). She also describes her family as an artist’s colony, everyone doing their own thing (2006, p. 139).

I can understand how Bechdel feels in this regard. I’ve had more than one set of parents. When I was younger, my siblings and I felt like we were in an artist’s colony. My parents employed the “little boys are best seen not heard” mentality, with the bonus of not having the kids seen. We each had our own room and not allowed to leave it unless it was for dinner, school or the bathroom. We were all within 30 feet of each other, but would only see each other a few times a day. I would spend my time watching limited tv and re reading books.  Basically, felt like jail. We grew up to be distant from our parents due to this detachment. I would consider my second parents to be “normal” in the sense that they allowed me to walk around the home and spoke to me and showed affection. Like Bechdel, I grew up and feel like I’m “normal” now. I empathise with her early childhood.

I found this clip of one of my favourite videos. Makes me laugh as it shows a lighthearted version of how I felt like in my room.

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Maleeha’s Response: I found your response insightful Ivan, I think there was a lot of underlying anxiety for Alison. She does not feel understood at home, and seems at times confused. I feel that her family was really removed from the emotions of funerals, and found it ironic that her father’s funeral was in the same home.  I’d like to show you a song from the musical adaptation of Fun Home, about how the kid’s view the funeral home. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK-FJRtB7SY

Ivan: How I relate to Fun Home

This memoir relates to my personal experiences such as living on my own in St. Catherines while I was attending Brock University. In addition, I attended several funerals which I can relate to because Alison’s family owns a funeral home and she had to attend several funerals during her childhood. During my first year at Brock University,  I also made some self-discoveries, such as my first taste of independence and freedom. I discovered my need for independence and to move on from my life in Mississauga, much like Alison’s need to move out of her small town and family home to experience college life for the first time.

In terms of funerals, I attended one funeral when I was younger where one of my relatives passed away from cancer. I felt a lot of anxiety at that point in my life, similar to Alison’s anxiety, which spiked during domestic tensions. The second funeral I attended  was a another family friend died of an immune disorder. When I saw the mom grieving, it made me feel very sad for her. Similar to when Alison felt sad and confused when her father Bruce died. Alison felt guilty for her father’s death because it happened near the point she came out of the closet as a lesbian.

There were many instances in life when I felt these painful emotions that Alison experienced, and had difficulty coping with them. Alison read several books that helped her self-discovery, as I did growing up I read many self-help books to deal with some of my problems.

Jane Megan (2016) Freshers Advice First Year University Tips Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxbK1720FlA

I chose this link because it describes tips about surviving first year at University and all the anxieties that go with it. This video specially talks coping skills to deal with anxiety, much like Alison’s anxieties during her first year.

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Maleeha’s Response: Ivan, I agree that her mother not accepting her was a low point in her coming out. Her emotions of excitement and joy for coming out were lessened by her mother’s reaction. She hoped for understanding, and instead had her mother project her feelings about her father, Bruce, onto Alison. Without knowing the context of their strained marriage, she feels alone in this new phase in her life.  I’d like to share a link about how parents can support a child when they’re coming out, and as you can see, her mother did none of those. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/gay-and-lesbian-well-being/201104/what-do-when-your-child-says-im-gay

Action in Fun Home

The lesbian action scene on page 80-81 depicts how Alison is exploring her sexuality with other women while at college. Alison and the other woman tried various sexual positions, it was the first graphic scene in the memoir, and accounted with great detail because it meant a lot to Alison. The descriptive quote “… the walls were wet and stick and peach and juicy…” (Bechdel, 2006, p. 81) indicates that her thoughts about her sexuality were confirmed. Alison’s mother is non-accepting a writes a letter outlining her disapproval (Bechdel, 2006, p. 77). Alison quotes: “Still I was devastated” (Bechdel, 2006, p. 77). Alison’s mom is a non-accepting parent and research shows that when young adults come out of the closet and reveal to their parents that they are in fact gay or lesbian they are often times met up criticism, fear, and rejection. Homosexual young adults have a hard time opening up to their parents about their sexual orientation especially in traditional Catholic or Muslim homes.  “…they may be torn between their religious beliefs and their love for their children…” (Daimon,  2014). Young adults can benefit from ABFT (attachment based family therapy) to help the young adults cope with acceptance issues with their parents (Daimon, 2014). There is a social group called “lesbian survival” that focuses on the collective survival of the lesbians (Shapiro, 2006). This social group involves taking action towards maintaining the lesbian status in the LGBT community. In conclusion, Alison’s challenging experience will make her more resilient as a person.

http://www.apa.org/about/policy/parenting.aspx

This article talks about how children of lesbian and gay parents are more likely to experience psychological distress than children of heterosexual parents, because of bullying and discrimination. On the the other hand, it article suggests that children of lesbian parents have normal and healthy relationships. By: Ivan

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Characterization In Fun Home

I would like to explore the character of Alison in her memoir Fun Home, and the way that she was characterized at different ages in her life. 

 Introduced to us as the narrator of this story, as a child we see the dynamic of the Bechdel house. She spends her childhood playing at the funeral home, and drawing. We can see how she connects with her parental figures, more so her father, which is what the story is based around. Her father is a strong eccentric figure that Alison longs to gain the acceptance of, but he always seems preoccupied. We see how she deals with developing as a person, in her teen years she deals with her sexuality and comes to term with being a lesbian. Her diary reflects her journey, and her first experiences with acceptance, and her time with her girlfriend are throughly recorded. What the reader soon learns is that both Alison and her father share the same sexuality, OCD, and artistic talent. She is shown to be an inverse of her father, and for this reason her character is more open with her sexuality. By: Maleeha Farooq

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Michael’s Response: Maleeha, loved your post and it makes a lot of sense. You could apply this to almost any situation, not just gender roles. Meaning, Alison was growing up and rebelling against the norms of society and what her parents wanted her to do. Something a teenager is well equipped to do. However in this specific example, Alison showed great courage to challenge something that society viewed as abnormal and had active medical advice against. This took a lot of stamina too to be able to withstand the abuse I’m sure she encountered and the stares she must’ve endured. Reminds me of this lady, albeit she did not suffer as much.

Themes: Gender Roles in Fun Home

Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home challenged society’s stereotypical view of gender roles. The era that she grew up in was when women’s rights were becoming more of a common idea, and even though she was a child her views are shaped by her mother being an unconventional role model as an actress and artist for the time. From the way she chooses to dress, to her attributed about all things “girly” the reader can see Alison eschewing ideas of femininity, in favour of more traditionally masculine traits. For example, she didn’t like the pink and flower wallpaper that her father used for her room, and even described her and her father as inversions of each other. She describes how he was trying to express something feminine through her appearance. Her father also defies gender roles, being a sensitive English teacher with an affinity for interior design, and took joy in traditionally feminine roles. As a recurring theme this allows the reader to see Alison’s experience with gender in a clear way, her disdain for girly things was because she personally felt it was further from her identity. Her seeing a butch woman in a diner was a moment of realization for her, that her identity was outside of the box that she had been placed in all her life. Through exploring what is “normal” for her gender she was able to come to terms with her own sexuality and place in the world as a woman. By: Maleeha Farooq

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Michael’s Response:

Haaris, she has had a great career and lucked out. I think the fact that this memoir was turned into a musical is very inspiring and helpful even in today’s time where not everyone accepts homosexuality. Even Mirvish is getting in on the act and showing this play next year. Overall this story is about discovery and acceptance, and Bechdel does a great job with it.

Author Biography: Alison Bechdel

Early/Adult Life:

Alison Bechdel was born in 1960 in rural part of Pennsylvania, U.S.A. after graduating from Oberlin College she went on and establish herself as an acclaimed illustrator and memoirist. Alison Bechdel grew up with her two younger brother in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. Her parents Bruce and Helen, were creatively minded pair who lived their earlier life in Europe for short duration. Alison’s dad had a love for literature while Helen was an inspiring actress. Alison’s parents made return to America after Bruce’s dad passed away so that they can look after the family’s mortician business. Alison’s childhood consisted with a lot of family time and helping around with family’s business. After graduating from Oberlin College, Bechdel worked as a word processor in New York while starting her own comic Strip. Currently Alison works as an independent cartoonist. 

Influences:

Alison Bechdel’s work is influenced by her relationship with her middle brother. Even though she revealed  in an interview in May 2012 that this is the case where she is influenced by her middle brother, she refused to provide any further explanation or details of this influence solely because she wants to protect their identity and their respect their privacy. Alison’s work is also influenced by other authors and cartoonists such as Edward Gorey, Mad Magazine, Art Spiegelman, R Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Norman Rockwell. All these people have helped Alison develop her aesthetic sensibilities and provide a sort of an inspiration. Works and Awards:

Alison Bechdel’s work include long running comic strip from 1983-2008 called “Dykes to Watch Out For” which captures the lives of women in the lesbian community, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a depiction of her childhood spent in an artistic family and of her relationship with her father who is secretly gay. Lastly, Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama is about her relationship with her mother. Alison’s work has been collected in numerous volumes and also has made appeared in publications such as Slate, The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker and the Granta. Alison’s novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic was finalist for National Book Critics Circle Award and named Time Magazine’s No. 1 Book of the Year (2006) and in spring of 2015, a musical adaptation of Fun Home debuted on Broadway. Her one of the major achievement is being recipients of MacArthur Foundation no-strings-attached stipend for amount of $625,000 in 2014. By: Haaris Ahmed

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Michael’s Response: Peter this analysis is awesome. Alison was on the verge of getting the truth out of her dad when he died and she’ll never get the satisfaction or acknowledgement from him that he was gay. It is coincidental that he died when he did, I personally don’t feel it was on purpose though. If it was, a terrible, painful way to die.Also very selfish considering that the driver has to deal with the fact he killed a man. I’m glad Alison got the opportunity she did towards the end to bond with her dad, it is a shame he waited so long to open up. 

Outstanding Scenes: Her Father’s Death

        Another critical scene within the graphic novel is that of when Bruce, Alison’s father, passes away. It happened not too long after Alison had come out to her parents while away at college. The death itself, albeit sad, was not as interesting as how it was perceived by not only the family but Alison specifically, “There’s no proof, actually, that my father killed himself…But there are some suggestive circumstances. The fact that my mother had asked him for a divorce two weeks before…Maybe he didn’t notice the truck coming because he was preoccupied with the divorce. People often have accidents when they’re distraught. But these are just quibbles. I don’t believe it was an accident” (Bechdel, Ch.2 p.11). There is a reasonable amount of evidence for those looking on as a third party to assume that this was just an accident, possibly as a result of Bruce being distracted. But to someone such as Alison who knows her Father almost better than anyone at that point, there is more to his death then just an accident. It is because of this, and many other reasons, that drove Alison to write this graphic novel according to an interview she took part in, “Bechdel intends her book to be as much a tribute to her father as an outburst of anger directed towards him” (Burkeman, 2006). This graphic novel, is a way Alison coped with losing her father, to the distaste of her family, specifically her mother. The fact that Bruce was on the verge of connecting with Alison more so than ever, right before his death he almost told her the truth about his past and sexuality. I think the fact that she knew how close she was to hearing the truth from him after the fact, is what caused her to be angry with him, but to also write this book to tell people about his life and struggles, a tribute. By: Peter Tsapoitis

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Micheal’s Response:  Ivan, your analysis of the stress of owning a business and how it impacts kids makes sense. Bruce’s OCD issues caused a lot of problems in the Fun Home and his constant need for perfection did not help at all. Growing up in a family business can be traumatic and not beneficial for kids. It also can be a great learning experience, depending on the circumstances. In this case, the funeral home wasn’t exactly the greatest learning experience. 

Images in Fun Home: Funeral Home

The images of the funeral home relates to the graphic memoir key themes: emotional abuse, sexuality concerns, and death in the family. The image of the dead father portray the significant loss Alison’s family. The various funeral images also portray the stress of running a family business such as a family funeral home, and thus a contributing factor to Alison’s anxiety disorder. Bruce inherited the funeral family business when his father passed away and had to manage it along with his compulsive obsession with the household items being in perfect order.

There are several graphic images of the naked dead corpse that Bruce has to prepare for the funeral and viewing, that portrays Bruce’s perfectionistic tendencies, and business oriented skill sets. Alison very often helps out at the Fun Home as opposed to having a normal childhood. The irony of the name Fun Home is that the funeral setting is meant to be a sad grieving setting. The irony symbolizes the Alison’s confusion with her sexuality and various sexual inquires. The family business is to run the funeral home and the father is trying to run it efficiently and effectively while dealing with marital problems and raising two kids can be quite challenging. The irony is the owner of the funeral home, Bruce, died during the novel, and funeral was held at the funeral home. The stress of running the business did trigger some manic depressive episodes in Bruce, and anxiety in Alison. Ultimately, the family “fun home” symbolized the major themes in this graphic novel. By: Ivan

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Michael’s Response:  Peter, I really liked your relation to the memoir, I saw a lot of similarities to my childhood reading it. I too had a great time whenever i met up with my cousins at grandma’s house or whenever we all got together at the park. I miss those days, a lot more carefree and we all got together and along very well. Now, everyone is distant, people moved further away. This relates to Alison and her siblings. They grew up together but were separate throughout their adolescence and early 20’s. Now they are not that close. Opposed to you where you are close to your cousins. Other benefits of this relationship are lifelong.

Peter: How I relate to Fun Home

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic may not have direct comparisons to my own life, but there are ways that it is a reflection of my own life. It is the way she is able to tell her own story; from a young child to a young adult we see different aspects of her life, adventures, experiences, and the relationships she formed with her family. With all these different facets, many people are able to make some sort of connection, which is one of the reasons for its huge popularity. Everyone has their own struggles with family, their sexuality (regardless of sexual preference), and we all have that one place in our lives where we find the most unexpected comfort. The latter, for Alison, was the fun home, “My Brothers and I had lots of chores at the Fun Home, but also many interesting opportunities for play” (Bechdel, p. 12). This related to me because, like Alison, my siblings and close cousins would get together at my grandmother’s house for special occasions, and we would always sneak into the basement where she had a little hairdressing studio and would play, talk, and bond over typical childhood games. We always wanted to escape our parents, not that it was the same relationship Alison had with her own father, but just to get away and be on our own. Now because of this we grew up so close and always get together even if our families do not.

           While reading through Fun Home the most glaring fact at the beginning of the graphic novel was the need for perfectionism. The contrast of Alison’s care-free, easy going attitude, compared to her fathers need to make everything perfect and keep everything the same, “My brothers and I couldn’t compete with the astral lamps and girandoles and hepplewhite suite chairs. They were perfect” (Bechdel, p.13). For myself, I was used to this lifestyle, in a sense, growing up with needing everything to be organized, clean and essentially perfect.  The difference was I more or less embraced this routine. Furthermore, similar to Alison Bechdel, I believe this helped make me the person I am today, for which I am grateful. Although it may not be all to the same extent, that is how I relate to the memoir. By: Peter Tsapoitis

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Haaris’ Response:

Unfortunately we live in a society where we are judged based on our ethnicity, family background and often our sexual identities. Someone’s identity should not put limits on their future aspirations.

Here’s a link that talks about how recently Donald Trump placed limitations on transgender people based on sole fact that they wanted to represent their sexual identity in a way that’s different than others.

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/27/16051892/trump-transgender-ban-army-chief-staff

Social Context in Fun Home

In a highly complex social world, Alison Bechdel has portrayed the family as highly formal, and with unique characteristics that would make them judged in the social world such as homosexuality. The family runs a funeral home in their small town and are have high traditional values. The family values work and business commitment; however, the father was arrested for having homosexual affairs with teenage boys including the local babysitter. Alison’s mother displays concern over Alison’s sexual orientation in her letter. “There are danger that your idealistic outlook seems not to have face” (Bechdel, 2006, p. 77). Alison’s mom is referring to the “…negative feedback from the social environment, because of homophobia and heterosexist…”(Sasnett, 2014).

 Alison’s mom is trying to warn her daughter about the social repercussions and challenges of her sexual orientation of choice. On the other hand, research shows that positive childhood outcome is dependent on family process, rather than the family structure (Sasnett, 2014). This study argues that child’s childhood is not affected by the sexual orientation of the parents but rather by the family structure of the domestic affairs. In other words, if the parents are gay and the family dynamics are well balanced, then the children will turn out well. Unfortunately, Alison did not come from a functional home. By: Ivan

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Haaris’ Response: Michael, I have to agree with how you talked about Alison being creative in her own world by using only black and white color along with blue. Since in her childhood her creativity was always obstructed by her father, she was not at liberty of expression her creativity. By writing this novel she wanted to show her personality and show the difference comparing to others. The way she was able to show her unique personality was by keeping her comics monochromatic. http://study.com/academy/lesson/monochromatic-color-definition-schemes-examples.htmlHere’s a link that I found about and it explains how a writer can express their emotions using different colors. 

Use of Colour in Fun Home

Alison’s choice of lack of colour is interesting. When people think of comics, they associate hand drawn pictures that are penciled and coloured in. However, in Fun Home, there is not a single trace of colour outside of shades of dark blue.  This seemed odd reading the novel, until about midway though the novel, Alison describes her favourite colour as midnight blue (Bechdel, 2006, p. 130). This scene shows her colouring in her book, when her father walks by and tells her it is supposed to be yellow. He takes over the colouring book and colours in the drawing. Alison abandons colour after this episode (Bechdel, 2006, p. 130). In this interview, she goes on to explain that this moment was very traumatizing for her (Samer, 2010).

Having read the interview and the book, I can understand why she felt that way and why she refuses to use colour. Her father was a very obsessive man, the first chapter of Fun Home is dedicated to his obsession with cleaning and fixing their home. His constant control felt a bit stifling for a young artist like Alison. She wanted her own creative license, and his hovering and control didn’t allow for that. She seems to have started doing this out of spite, however, now appears to make this her own signature style. By: Michael Amaral

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Haaris’ Response: Peter, what I find interesting about this novel is the fact how Alison played upon words. In her novel titled Fun home, one would look at the title and presume that it is going to be a light read. However, once you start reading it you realize how serious it is and the issues it talks about. Here’s a link that I found and it talks about the irony in title of novel Fun home.http://www.gradesaver.com/fun-home/study-guide/irony

Significance in Title

Alison Bechdel named her graphic novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic influenced by the nickname of the funeral home her family ran, “The ‘Fun Home’ as we called it, was up on Main Street. My Grandmother lived in the front. The business was in the back” (Bechdel, Ch.2 p.11). There are two main significances of the title “Fun Home”, one being the name itself and what it stands for and the other being the memories and impact it had on Alison. The nickname “fun home” is an interesting, rather disturbing choice, after all it is a funeral home. The name seems to reflect the childhood and lifestyle Alison and her siblings were used to. Even though they would be there to do chores, the children would find time to play, whether it be children games, jumping in caskets, and trying the smelling salts. The irony of the name appears rather quickly in the novel, as the children never had a real chance to have much fun at home, and the only time they were able to take the opportunity was while having to do work at the funeral home. The “fun home” resembled a place for the children to briefly escape their meticulous life, while at the same time, just being another location in their small town where she could not escape and be herself; that did not happen coincidentally until she left town for college. The ironic title, was also carefully branded when it eventually made its way to Broadway, “One initial poster featured the show’s logo—a rectangle house with Bechdel and her father as cut-out figures inside the ‘O’ in ‘Home’” (Mattila, 2016). Ultimately the Broadway musical became another unlikely success for Alison Bechdel yet again, this time as a musical on one of the biggest stage. By: Peter Tsapoitis

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Haaris’ Response:

Peter, I liked your relation to the memoir. I would say that we are all lucky to be in family where we are not facing as many challenges as Alison. However, all the challenges that we face in our lives help us become what we are today. All these challenges define our personalities. We face challenges in our life on daily basis and sometimes they occur so often that they tend to become a part of our daily routine. If we face our challenges and focus on the end goal rather than negativity, we can go very far in our life.   http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/ I found a link about that talks about how our personalities are shaped by what goes around. It further talks about how different challenges that we face in our life help us shape our personality.

Peter: How I relate to Fun Home

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic may not have direct comparisons to my own life, but there are ways that it is a reflection of my own life. It is the way she is able to tell her own story; from a young child to a young adult we see different aspects of her life, adventures, experiences, and the relationships she formed with her family. With all these different facets, many people are able to make some sort of connection, which is one of the reasons for its huge popularity. Everyone has their own struggles with family, their sexuality (regardless of sexual preference), and we all have that one place in our lives where we find the most unexpected comfort. The latter, for Alison, was the fun home, “My Brothers and I had lots of chores at the Fun Home, but also many interesting opportunities for play” (Bechdel, p. 12). This related to me because, like Alison, my siblings and close cousins would get together at my grandmother’s house for special occasions, and we would always sneak into the basement where she had a little hairdressing studio and would play, talk, and bond over typical childhood games. We always wanted to escape our parents, not that it was the same relationship Alison had with her own father, but just to get away and be on our own. Now because of this we grew up so close and always get together even if our families do not.

           While reading through Fun Home the most glaring fact at the beginning of the graphic novel was the need for perfectionism. The contrast of Alison’s care-free, easy going attitude, compared to her fathers need to make everything perfect and keep everything the same, “My brothers and I couldn’t compete with the astral lamps and girandoles and hepplewhite suite chairs. They were perfect” (Bechdel, p.13). For myself, I was used to this lifestyle, in a sense, growing up with needing everything to be organized, clean and essentially perfect.  The difference was I more or less embraced this routine. Furthermore, similar to Alison Bechdel, I believe this helped make me the person I am today, for which I am grateful. Although it may not be all to the same extent, that is how I relate to the memoir. By: Peter Tsapoitis

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Haaris’s Response:

Maleeha, I think that growing up, parenthood has the biggest influence in our lives. When we read the novel and see how distant Alison’s father was, we can tell the struggle that she will be facing in future. Father’s role is to help their children go through different life styles and emotions. If a father figure role is absent from childhood, it can cause a lot of confusion.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-gail-gross/the-important-role-of-dad_b_5489093.htmlThis link talks about how important a father figure is and how if affects a child’s growth.

Themes: Fatherhood in Fun Home

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home deeply explores fatherhood as a concept; from what a father is expected to do day-to-day to the role a father should play in the lives of their children. Throughout the memoir it seemed that Bruce Bechdel was not looking to be a father first, he seemed preoccupied. This came across as being aloof and distant, when we seemed to care about the décor more than spending time with his children. Bruce’s impact on Alison made her feel distant with others as well, and it hindered her acceptance of her sexuality and gender identity because she would push it aside like her father had done for himself. It was not until Alison was an adult that she was able to connect to her father emotionally and understand his behaviours and attitudes towards their family. At the end of the novel, Alison feels that her father was an important figure, and shaped who she was, as inversions, his life ended as her “liberated” life began when she came out. She describes this process by saying, “He did hurtle into the sea, of course.” “But in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt” (Bechdel, 2006, p. 232). By: Maleeha Farooq

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Peter’s Response:  Maleeha, the theme of fatherhood is very prominent throughout the novel. It’s clear that Alison has a deeper relationship with her father rather than her mother. Even with all the negativity and complaints Alison expresses throughout her life, there are moments where they bond and get long. Especially, as you pointed out, the last scene where she discusses her fathers impact on her life and how she viewed him after the fact. It was important that he was in her life, even through all the rough times. The article I decided to share with you shows the importance of having a father presence in a child’s life. http://www.fathersforgood.org/ffg/en/fathers_essential/benefit.html

Themes: Fatherhood in Fun Home

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home deeply explores fatherhood as a concept; from what a father is expected to do day-to-day to the role a father should play in the lives of their children. Throughout the memoir it seemed that Bruce Bechdel was not looking to be a father first, he seemed preoccupied. This came across as being aloof and distant, when we seemed to care about the décor more than spending time with his children. Bruce’s impact on Alison made her feel distant with others as well, and it hindered her acceptance of her sexuality and gender identity because she would push it aside like her father had done for himself. It was not until Alison was an adult that she was able to connect to her father emotionally and understand his behaviours and attitudes towards their family. At the end of the novel, Alison feels that her father was an important figure, and shaped who she was, as inversions, his life ended as her “liberated” life began when she came out. She describes this process by saying, “He did hurtle into the sea, of course.” “But in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt” (Bechdel, 2006, p. 232). By: Maleeha Farooq