While reading the most recent chapters of Fun Home, I noticed that Bechdel referenced her father's love for the novel, "The Great Gatsby". It is not so much a love for Gatsby as it is a love for F. Scott Fitzgerald. I began to pick up on the allusions to The Great Gatsby that I felt were embedded in the chapter. There is a well known theory that the narrator of The Great Gatsby, Nick Carroway is secretly in love with the character of Jay Gatsby, a significantly older man. The reverse happens in Fun Home. The father is in love with much younger men.On pg. 84, we are shown an illustration of the father with a young Allison sitting in a giant library which was the father's prized room in the house which reminds me of the Great Gatsby because Gatsby gifts Daisy with her own private library in an attempt to win her over. The relationship between Bechdel's parents reminds me of the relationship between Daisy and Tom in the novel. There was no love, no affection towards each other, and both sets of partners found what they wanted in a partner through extramarital affairs although it is not explicitly stated if Bechdel's mother had affairs like her father did. I also found it slightly ironic that the father is obsessed with gardening and the protagonist in the Great Gatsby is named Daisy.
There were a lot of great pieces brought to light or referenced to in the two chapters. Were there any allusions that anyone else found?
Haley, I definitely saw these Gastby similarities; however, some of the details you point out had not crossed my mind. I did , immediately, think about the Nick Carroway loves Gastby theory, however, the library and the similarities and references to Daisy were not something I had seen. I find these Daisy references, particularly her marriage in comparison to Bechdel's marriage, is a very interesting point.
ReplyDeleteI found it extremely uncanny that Bechdel chooses Fitzgerald to reference her father. When reading The Great Gatsby in another seminar, a couple semesters ago, I realized that Fitzgerald inserted a large amount of queerness within his writing. I wonder if this has anything to do with the father's attraction to it.
ReplyDeleteYour theory of connection is extremely interesting to me, especially because I have never read The Great Gatsby. It really makes me want to go and read Gatsby so that I can make these connections for myself. After class on Wednesday I went back through Fun Home to take a closer look at the other books that Alison Bechdel illustrated into the pages of her graphic novel. More often than not I was unfamiliar with the texts (I have heard of most of them, but have not had the chance to read them) and so it did nothing more than in incite my curiosity further. It is so interesting to think that there is a hidden treasure map put into the pages, we only have to follow the lead to get the connection.
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