Thoughts on Bruce and Alison
Thoughts on Bruce and Alison By Mateo Hernandez Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was, in a sense, a change of pace and perspective, compared to novels like The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar. It featured hand-drawn art by Bechdel herself, and was a memoir of sorts, a story about discovering things about her father, Bruce, that she’d never known. It’s an extremely complex novel that dives deeply into touchy subjects about sexuality and identity, and the pain of not being able to ever know the truth. Throughout the novel, Bechdel attempts to create a reality in which her coming out as a lesbian is related to her father's death, and she suggests that her father may have taken his own life because of this event. But in reality, Bechdel is creating a false truth, as the evidence for a suicide is simply not substantial, and her interpretation may reflect her search for reconciliation and meaning. To begin with, the evidence for a suicide is...