Atharva Satpute

Homework-Fun Home Chapters 2-4

Instructions

Please read up to the end of Chapter 4 of Fun Home (p.120) and then spend 45 minutes writing a response to
the following question:

"How does Alison Bechdel present the ways in which she is affected by her father's sexuality?" 

Your response should include analysis of Bechdel's visual and linguistic choices with quotations from the text
and reference to specific panels (use page numbers to identify these.)

Response:

In Fun Home, the character of Allison is affected by her father’s sexuality in several
ways, and Bechdel presents this using some very interesting linguistic and visual choices. The
first instance where Allison feels the impact of her father’s sexuality is on page 57, on which
chapter 3 begins with an exceedingly large first panel which takes up more than half of the page.
The panel is simply a snapshot of the dictionary, where the definition for the word ‘queer’ is
highlighted. Allison then comments on her father’s death by stating that it was a ‘queer
business’, which was followed by her expressing that it left her feeling “qualmish, faint, and on
occasion, drunk”. Allison then points out that her father’s death was associated with the
definition of queer that was omitted from the dictionary. Drawing a picture of the dictionary
herself, Alison points out that omission and social oppression are everywhere, and in her family,
this is especially true when it comes to suppressed or hidden sexual orientation. This correlates
with the last two panels of the page, as the panels show Allison drinking some sort of liquor,
suggesting that she tried to use alcohol as a coping mechanism to suppress her emotions.

We then learn on page 58 that Allison announces to her parents that she is a lesbian, by
sending them a letter through the post. This is followed by Allison speaking to her mother on the
phone, through which she gets some shocking news. It is then unveiled that Allison’s father has
had affairs with other men. Allison reacts by stating: “I’d been upstaged, demoted from
protagonist in my own drama to comic relief in my parents’ tragedy”. This indicates that Allison
felt that the revelation of her sexuality had a lower significance than the dark secrets of her
father. This is followed by an interesting use of visuals on page 59, where in the first panel,
Allison is lying on the floor in a fetal position as she speaks on the telephone. Her facial
expression in the panel suggests that she feels shocked, and that she is contemplating heavily
regarding the situation. This resonates with her statements in the next few panels, in which she
states: “If I had not felt compelled to share my little sexual discovery, perhaps the semi would
have passes without incident four months later”. Furthermore, Alison's question about whether
Bruce's death was caused by her revealing that she is lesbian exemplifies the Bechdel family's
continued preference for suppressing one’s emotions over honesty.

On page 97, the character of Allison suggests that her father is effeminate, as she says:
“And despite the tyrannical power with which he held sway, it was clear to me that my father
was a big sissy.” Alison's perception of her father as a "sissy," owing to his love of flowers,
Atharva Satpute

reflects her own societally imposed ideals of masculine manhood. As a result, her growth as a
person is heavily impacted by her attempt to compensate for the conventional masculinity she
thought was lacking in her family. Furthermore, flowers and their arrangement throughout the
Bechdel household serve to reflect Bruce's deception in a variety of ways: while they look
pleasant, fresh, and innocent, the flowers are part of Bruce's deception and help to cover the
humiliation of his secret, which fills the house. This later creates a contrast, as Allison realizes
that she is similar to her father in terms of being attracted to the same sex, but they are
completely different in terms of personality, as Allison is portrayed as very masculine (as
suggested on page 97 in the panel where the characters play basketball), whereas her father is
portrayed as a ‘sissy’ (effeminate or weak).