Fun Home A Family Tragicomic Literary Analysis

Memoirs and fiction are two different types of literature each consisting of characters unique to each style of writing; non-fiction characters and literary characters. Both types of characters can share similar motives and emotions, the obvious difference being that characters in memoirs are real and characters in fiction are fake. However, what makes characters in memoirs understood as literary characters? In the graphic novel memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Alison Bechdel, uses illustration and simplistic language to develop the characters of her family to the reader, conveying her complex relationship with her father and the struggles of life in a closed minded town. By comparing characters in memoirs to literary characters through the purpose of each type of character, writing style, and methods of story development the reader can understand characters in memoirs as both real and a part of a fabrication. In Fun Home Alison’s character is shadowed by her father, her character being openly imperfect and her father being more secretive. When thinking of the purpose of a character in a memoir it is important to …show more content…
Both however, are a part of a larger story. Jay Gatsby, for example, can be understood as a metaphor for a false American Dream. Alison’s father could be interpreted as a metaphor for how secrets can split a family. “He started to cry. He pressed his forehead down and I watched his shoulders shake…” (Green 259). John Green’s novel The Fault in our Stars is encompassed around metaphors. Most fictional authors, including John Green use literary characters as a piece of a larger puzzle. Both literary characters and characters in memoirs are similar in the sense that they are a part of a larger story. Yet, the purpose between the two types of characters is telling a story and expressing an author’s view of a bigger