" …The most arresting thing about the tape is its evidence of both my parents at work, intent and separate… It’s childish, perhaps, to grudge them the sustenance of their creative solitude. But it was all that sustained them, and thus was all-consuming. From their example, I learned quickly to feed myself."
- Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
The Bechdels, as portrayed by Alison Bechdel, lived lives cloaked in fiction. Bruce, in particular, drowned himself in the painted stories of novels and meticulously fabricated a life for his own family. From the curtains on the windows of their antique home to the outfits they wore to church, Bruce's work only covered the darkest of secrets. But Bruce was not the only Bechdel to live through fiction. Helen, Alison's mother, was a devoted actress. Although Alison does not dig too deep into her relationship with her mom in this novel, it seems that Helen threw herself completely into her roles, possibly to escape reality.
As the quote above states, Alison was well-aware of her family's detachment from a young age. Seeming to exist only as a prop in her parent's public façade, Alison had no choice but to take care of her needs by herself. To Alison, it felt as though she was trapped in her own story. Her means of escape came in the form of a discovery about her sexuality. Once again, she made this discovery through books at her local library. As she continues her research of this new possibility, she grows further and further from the life that had been painted for her.
Alison tells the story of her family through this novel by comparing the scenes of her life to works of literature, creating an intertwined story of fiction and reality. The last line of Fun Home suggests a breaking free from the traditional narrative. She says, "...in the tricky reverse narration that impels our entwined stories, he was there to catch me when I leapt" (Bechdel 232). The whole of chapter seven seems to reframe her life from a more neutral perspective, and this closing sentence hints at a positive view of Bruce, and the reality of his time as a parent.
I also thought it was really interesting how both Bruce and Helen threw themselves into their creative work to escape their normal lives. I think there was one panel in the book that showed the house and all the people inside it consumed with their own activities, and not really interacting as a family. Alison seems more able to stay grounded in reality. Great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Your reference to the line from p. 232 reminds me of the scene where Allison and Bruce watch Helen's theatre production. That could be seen as a moment of the reality and fiction in Helen's life converging. Another similar moment is when Allison reads the Bruce's favorite books (ex. The Cather in the Rye) and vice versa, which could signifying Allison and Bruce entering each other's fictional worlds.
ReplyDeleteThis post is similar to some things other people have mentioned about how much everyone in the family is very deeply absorbed in their own one thing that they do, and that everything else they do is more of a facade or a performance not only for the people around them, but also for themselves.
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