The Relationship Between Alison And Her Father, Daedalus And Icarus?

The relationship between Alison and her father, Bruce, seemed to be nothing of the ordinary parent-child relationship. Growing up she observes the differences between her and him and how they how effect their relationship, but as she ventures into adulthood she discovers that they had a lot more similarities than what they noticed. In the book, you notice that Alison uses the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus as a comparison to the relationship that her and her father share. Sometimes she Icarus and sometimes her father is Daedalus, but they always seem to a role as each in between these two. Even though, their relationship is out of the ordinary, Fun Home tells us a story about a young woman coming to age and figuring out family secrets and …show more content…
She and her dad are playing the “Icarian Games”, which is a game where she lays across her father’s feet and he lifts up her like an airplane. While playing with her father she notices the similarity between the myth and relationship with her father. She then says, “In our particular reenactment of this mythic relationship, it was not me but my father who plummeted from the sky”. She is comparing her father to Icarus, the son of Daedalus, who flew to close and plummeted downward. This is significant because both Icarus and Bruce die from an incident caused from someone else, with Icarus it was his father and with Bruce it was a Sunbeam …show more content…
Daedalus was a mastermind inventor who creates a labyrinth in order to keep the Minotaur from terrorizing people. In comparison, Bruce is a mastermind in home renovating. He is constantly correcting, furnishing, and rebuilding things in the Bedel’s household. As he is renovating his home, he is also trying to construct this image that he is the picture-perfect husband. He helps around the home, helps with children, and seems to be a very tidy man. But, that is all a façade to hide his true self from his family, as you read further into Fun Home you learn that Bruce was a man that was confused about his sexuality, had a bit of an anger issue, and had secret affairs with younger men. Bruce was truly a craftsman, he excelled in home renovating and formulated this perfect husband persona, even though he