Latonya Millien

Professor Dana Horton

ENGL-224: LGBTQIA Literature and Experiences DLA

05/09/23

Final Exam

When reading both Allison and Bechdel’s text fun Home discusses a parent-child

relationship where the speaker comes to understand the parent via theories, introspective

inquiries, and Trash in light of the larger dynamic, where understanding happens just before after

a significant character dies. Both text deal with serious issues and family relationships, including

a parent's passing. Alison has siblings, but the comic doesn't spend much time on their

relationship. Alison's father passes away, and the mother in Compassion also dies, and that

pivotal moment is the only time the siblings can be in the same room and accept each other. The

only thing that really keeps humanity together, in my view, is compassion. The simple acts of

kindness we show one other are what keep us sane in the face of such devastation daily. Without

taking into account other people's experiences and expressing empathy for their predicaments,

we become captives of the harsh society we live in. I have a great deal of sympathy. When

dealing with others, I make an effort to fully put myself in their position because that could

be possibly be me, and I would want someone to show me the same kindness.

Another similarity I recognize between Dorothy Alison's "Compassion" and Alison Bechdel's

Fun Home is that both authors wrote about their childhood and how it affected how they

approached life, particularly how they dealt with certain individuals and issues. For example, in

Fun Home Alison got her book worm gene from her dad, and as she dove into college she started
reading up on her sexuality and soon after she was ready to come out and Alison’s dad expressed

his sexuality through his gardening. They both find a point where they both basically “came out”

in their own way. I believe one difference in the text is how the parents dynamics are because in

fun home the father is basically cheating on the Alison’s mother throughout their relationship “

‘Dad? With other men?’ ‘And boys. One time he almost got caught and then there was the thing

with Roy.’ ” (Bechdel., pg. 79, 2017). But in Compassion the mother was verbally abused by the

stepfather, “Jack never once laid a hand on her. His trick was to threaten. He screamed and

cursed and cried into his fists. He would come right up on Mama, close enough to spray spittle

on her cheeks.”(Alison., pg195, 2002) Another difference that I noticed was the way the siblings

act in each text. In Fun Home, Alison interacts with her siblings, but the siblings in Compassion

seem closer due to the fact that they mainly care for their mother, “ "Look, we have to make

some decisions." …"We have to take care of Mama, not talk about stuff that's going to get in the

way of that." Arlene's voice was as loud as mine had been soft. "Mama needs our support, not

you going on about death and doom. " ”. Lastly, a theme I noticed in both stories that are

different is the that Fun Home explains more of a weird family dynamic being that the father was

really homosexual/bisexual and in Trash its more about the siblings becoming estranged.

All in all, I felt both texts were an interesting read, but my favorite one out of the two was

Fun Home. I really enjoyed reading fun home because it gave me the experience that I wanted

for myself in this class. It gave me a difference perspective for closeted homosexual men because

I’ve never read about one married and raising a family but doesn’t feel comfortable enough to

live in his truth. I know that social and political factors had a huge part in that, but I felt that

Alison’s dad should have been more open and honest instead of depressed and empty, and maybe

he wouldn’t have ended it all the way he did. Two parts of the story I liked was when Alison
realized her sexuality while reading literature and talking to her dad about him knowing she was

gay. With the literature on sexuality, I felt like it was very interesting that they had so much

LGBTQIA+ literature back then. I never knew that gay culture was around for this long and I’m

glad that there were people back then that was comfortable enough in their sexuality that they

wrote about it. My mom is bisexual, and her mother wasn’t comfortable and accepting of that

side of her. My grandmother passed away back in 2020 and since then my mom has been so

open about her sexuality and feels more at ease because she no longer feels she has no more

judgment around her. The second part of the story were Alison talks to her dad about the book he

gave her to basically help her learn her sexuality was so powerful to me. Since it was not always

simple to identify as a member of this group, especially for older generations, shame is a key

topic in LGBTQIA literature and culture. For humans who decided to be their most true selves in

the face of society's norms and expectations were usually ridiculed and harmed. Even though

things have gotten better, and more individuals may be living peacefully in their own skins,

many other people have encountered a lot of hardships simply because they are striving to be

who they are. He was at his most vulnerable state and even basically said he was gay. They even

had a bonding moment about how they preferred to dress as children. They were so much a like

it was fascinating to me how they basically lived the same life just with different circumstances.

I’m glad that Alison’s dad didn’t make her hide herself, but instead he encouraged her to be

curious and find out what pleased her. He didn’t want her to go through life the way he did

because he wanted better for her even though he was harsh at showing it. I would love to learn

more about this author and her father’s life story.

 Reference

Bechdel, Alison. “Fun Home.” Houghton Mifflin Company. 2006.

Allison, Dorothy. Trash: Stories. Plume, 2002.