Wednesday, March 25, 2015
A Gratifying Assumption
Fun Home is an
extremely interesting piece in which Alison Bechdel candidly shares the complexities
of her family life and specifically issues dealing with her father. There is so
much to talk about here, but something that struck me and which I am quite
curious about in this novel is Alison’s certainty that her father did in fact
commit suicide. That may very well be the case, but I think the argument could
be made that Alison wants to believe he killed himself without real evidence of
it being so. In making that argument, I have
to ask why she would prefer to accept
that his death was suicide rather than a tragic accident. Is Alison comforted,
because it was what he wanted? Or does she feel gratified that he realized what
a lousy husband and father he had been? I am more inclined toward the latter based on the text so far. Much of what I’ve read suggests that Alison
did not like her father, but there are comments here and there that seem
something like love. Lines such as, “Was he a good father? I want to say ‘At
least he stuck around.’ But of course, he didn’t.” (28) make me wonder what Alison
is trying to say. If his only good
quality was that he “stuck around”, why would she care that he was gone? This
line suggests to the reader that he ruined the only good characteristic he had
going for him, but that only makes sense if she wanted him there. This leads to my larger question which
may perhaps be difficult to answer, is Alison glad that her father is dead? I’d like to hear
your thoughts.
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Rachel, You raise an interesting question. I wish that I could answer it. The best one can do, at least to this point in the reading, is speculate. Perhaps, Alison felt a certain empathy for her often unloving father, once she understood what he was going through. But unlike his daughter, he lacked the courage to declare his homosexuality openly, and thus failing to live an authentic life. There was clearly much unresolved and repressed conflict in him. I think about the absurdity of his lie.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that she is necessarily happy that her father died, but I think it doesn't really affect her because her father was never really there for her anyways. On page 22 he says "He was really there all those years," and then a few lines later she says, "but I ached as if he were already gone." Before her father passed away he didn't really make an effort to be in her life, so when he did die, it was not a huge loss to her because they weren't close in the first place.
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