Understanding the Complexities of Fun Home: A Literary Analysis

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Alison Bechdel's graphic novel, Fun Home, examining its themes, structure, and literary techniques. It explores the complex relationship between Bechdel and her father, the impact of a dysfunctional family, emotional abuse, and the author's journey of self-discovery, including her sexual orientation. The essay delves into the narrative's recursive and non-linear nature, the use of allusions inspired by Greek visual arts and myths, and the significance of the family business. It also discusses the book's contribution to LGBTQ+ literature and Bechdel's experiences and insights. The essay highlights the memoir's tragicomic elements, and its exploration of identity, and family dynamics.

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THE GRAPHIC NOVEL

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Fun Home is a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel and is considered to be a family tragicomic.
The 2006 comic chronicle is documentation of Bechdel's youth and childhood in Pennsylvania.
The main focus of the comic is the complex relationship of the author with her father. The main
themes addressed by the comic are dysfunctional family and their impact, emotional abuse,
suicide, gender roles, and sexual orientation. It is the journey of Bechdel in understanding herself
and her family. The author took over seven years to illustrate and write the book. This is because
she went through a laborious system of art where she photographed herself in various situations
before illustrating.
The narrative can be considered to be recursive and non-linear. The incidents are repetitive with
new themes and information. The author describes her writing as a labyrinth. Various essayists
have described her writings to be a memoir that attaches and generates new emotions, structuring
a new memoir in the process ("Fun Home Summary"). The main structure of the allusion of the
story is inspired by from Greek visual arts and myths. The storyline provides many clues and
hints, both false and true at the same time, to create a mystery around the relationships within the
family. Even though it is a family memoir, the main conversation of the story is about the
relationship Bechdel shared with her father, Bruce. The title of the book is taken from the funeral
home that was called ‘Fun Home’ by the family. It was a family business, which is an important
aspect of the story but it also deals with the tyrannical rule of her father in the house (Sutcliffe).
Another important life experience that Bechdel focuses on through her writing is her experience
of realizing her sexual orientation. She mentions that even though she realized her sexual
preferences by nineteen, there were hints in her childhood and adolescents. This characteristic of
the author is both similar and contradictory to her father’s. Bruce was also homosexual but chose

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to never come out with it. Bechdel mentions ‘the fear in his eyes’ that signifies his discomfort on
the topic.
There are various allusive references in the story of Fun Home but they cannot be considered as
stylistic or structural. The main reason why the author applied these allusions is that she felt that
her family became more real and vivid if expressed fictionally (Wilsey). She believed that her
distance from her family allowed her to have a literary comparison with them. She saw
similarities between Gothic home in the cartoons with her family when she watched Charles
Addams in her childhood. She also describes her father’s suicide to the reference with ‘A Happy
Death’ by Albert Camus. This piece of literature can be considered to be a transitional
contribution to the literature of the LGBTQ+ community. It is a perfect representation of what
life looks like to a person of the community.

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References
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: uma tragicomédia em família. Editora Todavia SA, 2018.
Wilsey, Sean. "The Things They Buried". The New York Times, 2006,
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/books/review/18wilsey.html. Accessed 6 Apr 2020.
Sutcliffe, Jess. "Fun Home, By Alison Bechdel: Tragic Scenes From A Comic Family". The
Guardian, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/dec/28/comfort-reading-
alison-bechdel-fun-home. Accessed 6 Apr 2020.
"Fun Home Summary". Www.Bookrags.Com, http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-fun-home/.
Accessed 6 Apr 2020.