Allegory In Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

In her graphic novel tragicomic, Fun Home, Alison Bechdel considers a broad range of subjects such as her and her father’s homosexuality, her parents’ often-volatile relationship, and the harsh reality that her fondest childhood memories may be a sham. On pages 82 and 83, Bechdel relays a scene that took place shortly after Bruce Bechdel’s funeral. Alison and her girlfriend, Joan, are relaxing at the Bechdel home when Helen offers Joan her choice of one book from Bruce’s prized library. Joan chooses a collection of Wallace Stevens’ poetry, which Helen reads and appears to have a deeper connection to. When Joan redacts her request, Helen insists that she take the book. This scene is microcosmically significant because it symbolizes Helen Bechdel’s

Each element can be thought of as metaphoric for an aspect of Bruce’s life. “Complacencies of the peignoir” could refer to Bruce’s disinterest and lack of sexual attraction to female peignoir (lingerie) or his feigned complacency within his heterosexual marriage. “Late coffee and oranges in a sunny chair” represent the niceties Bruce treasures so: his fascination with home décor, his love for certain works of literature, and so on. The “green freedom of a cockatoo” could refer to homosexuality, as I stated before; the “cockatoo” referring to Bruce’s flamboyant ways. Helen’s quiet endurance must be the “holy hush of ancient sacrifice” – because for years, she has lived within an unhappy marriage. As the title of the chapter would suggest, “that old catastrophe” refers to the situation surrounding Bruce’s suicide. No knowledge of these symbolic elements could stop the tragedy’s “encroachment” upon the

Bruce lurks in the crevices of Helen’s mind, as she begins to purge her life of his memory and glows angelically rather than grieving. There is a visible rift between Joan and Alison, potentially prompted by the storm of events leading up to Bruce’s demise. Joan senses an emotional heaviness in the Wallace Stevens book, as evidenced in her poem, and Stevens’ poem “Sunday Morning” serves as a possible allegory of the family’s current dynamic. Bechdel presents this in an innocuous fashion, but this perfect storm of allusion and imagery convene to show just how homosexuality, family dysfunction, and death have affected the