Comparing Reflections Of Exile And Bechdel's Fun Home

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Exile, as from a conventional dictionary, is defined as “the state of being barred from one’s native country”. This puissant term is critically elucidated in Edward Said’s Reflections of Exile and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home by illustrating the idea of being forcefully suppressed from orthodox nature and routine and suddenly being dispatched in unfamiliar territory. Bechdel dissects the relationship between Bruce and herself from the war of confusion and sexual thoughts that engulfs her journey through the tragicomic, while Said constructs on his own past situation as a victim of exile as well as on the stories of other deported scholars to further account the intense struggle and despair that built up the despondent passage of banishment. Hence, …show more content…

An example of that being in Said’s text through the sentence: “New York sheltered him anew, but so did endless bouts of drinking and idleness. His life was in ruins…” (175). Said unravels the condition of Rashid Hussein and utilizes it to display the egregious effects of isolation and hopelessness. Similarly, Bechdel undergoes the same mental encounters where she begins to realize the loss of her father: as she comments, “Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” we realize the genuine pain that was felt during that occurrence (23). Going back to Said, The word “sheltered” is unveiled to represent the ongoing penury the exiled poet faced through his journey of exile. He fabricates the mood simply by manipulating this word which, as a matter of fact, describes the safe haven Rashid Hussein took from the Arab world to pursue his “life” of literary purpose. Characters from each of the texts feel the same type of protection. Bechdel suddenly realizes this through her father by his intense sentiment of concern towards her while, on the other hand, Rashid feels it through his house in New York. By executing this, “sheltered” from Reflections of Exile unlocks the key to Bechdel’s state, the sexual exploration and meaning of existence within herself. Thus, exile is shown as being adrift in the isolation from what is known and the unlatching the door of one’s spirit and

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