Allusions In Fun Home

The graphic autobiography assessed as a family tragicomic, Fun Home, written by Alison Bechdel follows the thoughts of Alison after the death of her father. In the excerpt, Alison premises the section by explaining that since her father’s demise, her mother, Helen, has diminished his collection of books. She then thinks back to a prior interaction she shared with her father. In the excerpt, literature is used throughout to compare and introduce the ideas that Bechdel is trying to portray through the graphic novel. Through these literary allusions and inclusions, Bechdel is able to characterize each individual and give insight into their relationships even through a small section of the book.
Perhaps the main connection to a literary works …show more content…
The idea that Joan’s poem is shown as its own idea and is written in a different font that the rest of the words on the page makes it stand out to the reader as if they are also reading the poem rather than distancing its truth from the reader by having it read. The difference of displaying this poem rather than reciting it like the other literary mentions in the excerpt can symbolize its truth and factuality to the family’s life rather than the other works of fiction. Within the poem, Joan wrote that the book was “Cloth-bound, grey and turquoise/ heavy in my hand as a turtle shell/ filled with mud”, accentuating its weight (82). Not only could refer to the physical weight of the book itself, but the weight that such literature in the library symbolizes, the mud representing the disarrayed state of living through fiction in reality. The poem exposes the reality to the situation and is written from an character outside members of the family, allowing for the differing perspective outside of the novels that usually surround …show more content…
As Bechdel refers to her past, she uses the format of the graphic novel to draw conclusions about her life, as well as exposing the readers to the same ideas. The literary comparisons scattered throughout allow her to portray the connections of the characters and their own characteristics as an introspection of her past. The literary analysis of each characters interaction with literature allows her to understand their own tendencies, specifically with her father. After realizing that the died only three days before Fitzgerald, she comes to a conclusion that it could have been on purpose, meaning that his death was not caused by her and was not connected to her in any sense, and she is “reluctant to let go of that last, tenuous bond” (86). Through her connections between her father and literature she is able to decipher his causes towards his death and no longer blame herself for his actions. This look into the past is furthered through her depiction of her and her father sitting inside whole the image is shown through windows (86). Showing that she is looking back on her experiences as an outsider with a changed