Fun Home by Alison Bechdel: Gender, Queerness & Identity

Introduction to Fun Home and Alison Bechdel

American writer Alison Bechdel is recognized as one of the most celebrated authors in contemporary comics. She is the author of the widely acclaimed graphic memoir Fun Home, published in 2006 and often referred to as a "family tragicomic." The presence of phase transitions and queerness in the comic has made it enormously popular among comic readers.

The comic highlights the childhood and youth of the author in Pennsylvania, USA, centering on the complexities of her relationship with her father. Some of the main themes addressed in the book include sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, family dysfunction, and most importantly the role that literature plays in understanding oneself, one's life, and one's family. More than seven years were taken by the author to compose Fun Home, as she needed considerable time to process the book according to her artistic vision. She photographed herself in the pose of each and every human figure she depicted.

Both popular and critical success has been achieved by Fun Home. The book appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, and various critics have described it as an important contribution to literature. Sean Wilsey, writing in the New York Times Book Review, called the book a pioneer work that merges two important areas of literature — comics and memoir. Several publications named it one of the best books of 2006, and it has since been recognized as one of the best books of the 21st century. The book has won numerous awards, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Eisner Award.

Plot and Themes of Fun Home

The comic is nonlinear and recursive in nature. Newer themes are used to move from one story thread to another, and the structure of the book has been described as a labyrinth — beginning from the outside and moving inward through increasingly complex situations. There are many scenes in which the author recreates earlier themes and moments with greater emotional force, drawing out the energy of memory and memoir. The main structural framework of the memoir is built on literary allusion, drawing from sources that include Greek myth and the visual arts. Family life and the author's adulthood are presented through this allusive lens (Bechdel 56).

The main theme of the comic revolves around the childhood and adulthood of Bechdel's family and the complex relationship between Alison and her father. Bruce Bechdel, Alison's father, is shown working both as a funeral director and as a high school teacher. Most of Alison's and her siblings' childhood took place in Beech Creek, where the funeral home served as the family business. The title of the book comes from the nickname the family gave to the funeral home. The name is ironic, as it also refers to the tyrannical rule of her father. From the outset, it is clear that Bruce Bechdel's two main occupations — death and literature — are perfectly reflected in the book's central preoccupations.

The beginning of the book focuses on Bruce Bechdel's obsession with restoring the family's Victorian home, an obsession that distances him from his family. This emotional distance is expressed through cold behavior and abusive outbursts. The author also highlights this emotional remoteness as connected to Bruce Bechdel's suppressed homosexuality. The element of sexuality is introduced through the revelation that he had homosexual relationships with several of his male students, babysitters, and friends. Bruce Bechdel died by suicide at the age of 44, stepping into the path of a truck two weeks after his wife filed for divorce (Bechdel 89).

Focus on Gender

The book places significant focus on gender and sexuality. Bruce Bechdel's homosexuality is one of the central highlights of the book's treatment of gender. Alison Bechdel also describes her own struggle to find her sexual identity, ultimately realizing and embracing the fact that she is a lesbian, which she reveals to her partner. One notable aspect of the memoir is that there are no sexual limitations imposed on its narrative. Alison Bechdel's sexual development is portrayed openly. The comic also includes entries from her childhood diary, among them accounts of her first experience with a girlfriend.

One of the key parallels between father and daughter is their shared homosexuality, alongside which both characters are shown to have obsessive-compulsive tendencies and artistic inclinations. The opposition between the two characters creates an important source of tension in their relationship. A partial resolution comes when their shared history of sexuality becomes part of their conversation. In several sections of the book, the author wonders whether her lesbian orientation was one of the factors that contributed to her father's suicide — raising the possibility that Bruce Bechdel recognized how his own obsessions and emotional distance may have influenced his daughter's development. Beyond sexual orientation, gender identity is a second major theme. Alison describes seeing her father as a "sissy man," a perception rooted in the fact that Bruce Bechdel consistently tried to make his daughter conform to a more feminine presentation.

Another important dimension of gender in the book is Alison's perception of her father's masculinity. She compares him with the more conventionally masculine men in the town, and it is this comparison that leads her to think of him as lacking in masculinity — and to recognize that where her father fell short, she herself could compensate (Bechdel 89). This realization underlines the profound differences between the two. One notable scene that crystallizes this difference is when her father insists that Alison wear a barrette and pearls. There is a strong polarity between the two characters, but this same polarity is also the basis of their deep connection. As Alison discovers and embraces her sexual identity, her process stands in direct contrast to her father's ongoing concealment of his own. This oppositional relationship is rendered metaphorically in the book through a dream sequence in which Alison invites her father to join her to watch the sunset, and he fails to do so (Bechdel 90).

Conclusion

The book has been written in great detail, and there has been considerable criticism directed at its depictions of sexuality and queerness. This is understandable. However, Alison's life is shaped by this queerness — by a sustained struggle between her own sexual identity and that of her father. The strength of Fun Home lies precisely in the existence of this queerness and sexuality at its core.

Works Cited

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Mariner Books, Edition 001 Series. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007.