Fun Home - Is Allision Trustworthy?
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is an autobiographical analysis of young Allison Bechdel, who is reflecting on her past, with a fresh perspective on her life. She is assessing her fathers death, or suicide as she thinks, and using this to paint a picture of her father, one she had not done as a child. The whole basis of her claim, the one where Bruce committed suicide, is not completely unfounded, but takes a little too many liberties. Throughout the book, Allison debates continuously about her own importance to her father, and if that meant anything in the light of his death. She almost wishes for this to be true. "And with my fathers death falling so hard on the heels of this doleful coming out party, I could not but help but assume a cause and effect relationship" pg. 59. She very clearly states that she believes that her fathers death had something to do with her. The problem with this assumption is the strained relationship we see earlier in the book, where her father seemed rather disconnected with his family as a whole, due to his sexuality, struggles, assault or other reasons. Allison, who had a hard time connecting with him seeks a long lost connection that hadn't been present when he was alive. Its almost as if she wishes he died because of her, which will then prove to her that she meant something to Bruce. There is absolutely no evidence to show this fact, but Allison treats it as such. This book sometimes even shows "evidence" of the truth, like mimicking photos from long ago or official records. However, she isn't proving this to the authorities, as the case was already closed long ago. She is proving this to herself. This book represents the desire to relate to her dad, a way of coping with the unaddressed trauma she's had for years. Even immediately after his death, she doesn't know what to think about it. "When someone you knew actually died, maybe you'd get to skip a phase or two of the grieving process -- denial and anger, for but in fact, all the years spent visiting gravediggers...only made my fathers death more incomprehensible." Years later, she finally decides to come to terms with it, in her own sort of way.
This isn't the only part where Allison draws conclusions to connect herself with her father. Later in the book when she is examining photographs from her fathers earlier years, she stumbles across one where he is hanging out with some friends. In almost an offhanded remark, she ponders "Was the boy who took it his lover?". She mentions this as she holds a similar photo of her in her bathrobe, taken by her lover. Its only a moment, and not monstrously important to the narrative, but does show how Allison is willing to draw random conclusions to tie together her and her fathers lives. Overall, Allision being a untrustworthy narrator is not due to her poor writing skills, but a need to connect with her father, who, even years after his death, is still finding ways to confuse Allison.
Hi Connor, I think Fun Home was meant to be read as a meta-narrative where Alison Bechdel knows that she's reaching and searching for a way to tell this as a story to ourselves. I also think that writing this book is a method for Bechdel to heal and reclaim a part of her past and spin it into a story for herself. All of these different ends being linked together by Alison also just shows how introspective and careful she is analyzing her past, whether those connections are accurate or not.
ReplyDeleteGreat reflection of Alison's internal strife. With Bruce out of the picture before Alison even had time to process what truly happened during her childhood and the loss of a "parental figure," she had to draw conclusions where possible to fulfill the story she was crafting. The story we read was one where she connected points throughout her life that may or may not be seamless. But without Bruce's testimony, Alison is left to her imagination and what she remembers.
ReplyDeleteI'm also curious about Alison jumping to conclusions in an effort to make sense of her father, and this is especially prevalent in the case of his death. Considering that this is a retelling of a true story, her foggy perspective definitely makes it seem like not everything she says may be completely accurate. The connection she makes between her photo and her dad's photo certainly feels like a sort of random stretch that she pulled out of absolutely nowhere.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Alison jumping to conclusions, even if they aren't the most logical, is her way of grieving and making sense of Bruce's sudden death. Her desire to relate to him in any way possible reminds me of one of their last conversations, where the two talked about the clothes they wore as kids, and seeing Alison's excitement during that moment makes me wonder if every time she's jumping to conclusions she just wants to feel that happiness and connection to her dad.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a unique book in terms of the question of narrative reliability, and the stakes are maybe even higher than usual, since the lives and deaths of *real people* are being exposed and explored here. You're right about all of the contingency and uncertainty surrounding certain key aspects of the story that become treated as "facts" by the narrative (most prominently, Bruce's suicide--the book really never takes the alternative into consideration, since the whole story would collapse if it were just an absurd/random/tragic accident). What is so distinctive (and postmodern) about this "memoir" in my view is how *aware* Bechdel is throughout that she IS shaping the story to reflect her own emotional or autobiographical needs. But of course we also can't confidently state that she is *incorrect* in her projections--we simply don't know, and the facts of the case (in true postmodern fashion) do not tell the whole story. In a strange way, we come to see how there's an emotional and even socio-cultural kind of "truth" in the story of Bruce's suicide which maybe doesn't even depend on it being true--it seems *meaningful* both in terms of Alison's own life and her own coming-of-age, and also as a reflection of larger issues in LGBTQ history.
ReplyDeleteHello Connor,
ReplyDeleteYou definitely have a very interesting reaction to this book, definitely a lot more critical than most other people. While I definitely agree that a lot of Alison's claims aren't based on hardened fact, the fact that she ponders these ideas anyways gives the story a lot more suspense and makes it more interesting. Other commenters before me mentioned her foggy perspective, especially since her relationship with her father during her childhood wasn't very deep. This book is definitely an exploration into something that may not be very clear.
Connor, I totally agree with your classification of Alison Bechdel as a not completely trustworthy narrator. She tends to jump to conclusions and it seems like she wants to shape the facts of the world around he to mold into agreement. I think an interesting thing in this book is that Alison is very much aware of her nature. She knows that she wants to feel a connection with her father and she knows that she makes large assumptions to do so.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think Alison's generally unreliable because of her constant effort to validate her connection with her father. The narrative doesn't feel like a compelling collection of evidence because her emotions may be clouding her judgment over Bruce's death. It's also important to note that her unreliability isn't out of dishonesty, but rather the need to seek closure.
ReplyDeleteHi Connor,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! It's interesting that you mention *Fun Home* being told by an unreliable narrator due to her tendency to jump to conclusions and interpolate history from fragmented pieces of advice. Even Bechdel seems to acknowledge and questions this, saying that perhaps her father's death was truly an accident and that she is simply spinning a tale of fiction to create a (perhaps fake) connection with her father. The book is interesting in this aspect since either way, it is an interesting tale: if her father did indeed plan out his death and Alison's interpretations are true, then the story of her connection with her father is meaningful. On the other hand, if his death was truly random, then this could be a tale of tragic fiction in which a daughter yearning for a sense of connection with her father and a father afraid of sharing his story were misaligned. Alison seems to intentionally leave this open, and it is an interesting thread to pursue.