Fun Home is a book in which Alison describes her upbringing in a home in which her father had a very dominant role, up until his death. The peculiarity in his attitude is multifaceted. The majority of the time, he is a figure who is extremely obsessive over material objects. He was constantly refurbishing their house in a multitude of ways, and wouldn’t hesitate at all to demand the help of others. His love for his material objects is on clear display on page 14, where Alison says, “I grew to resent the way my father treated his furniture like children, and his children like furniture.” He was even shown to beat his children.
Under the public eye, he was seen as a very admirable man. On page 27, the scene of his funeral, another man was quoted on saying, “I can’t believe it. Such a good man.” “Such a good man,” was then repeated on the following panel. This shows how all his violent and obsessive behavior was only in effect at places of secrecy, such as their house. In addition, yet another secret withheld from the general public was that he was a child molester, as hinted on page 17.
Alison’s calm and emotionless manner during her father’s passing is evident through her calm and detached storytelling of her father’s death. She lists possible proofs as evidence that her father truly committed suicide. For example, on page 28, Alison draws the reader’s attention to a specific highlighting her dad created in Albert Camus’s novel of A Happy Death. She even mentions that the highlighted sentence would be “A fitting epitaph for my parents’ marriage.” Alison then proceeds to analyze more potential evidence of her father’s suicide.
This inexpressive feeling of Alison is also portrayed, perhaps more evidently, through her facial expressions in the panels at the beginning of chapter 2. For example, on page 27, she looks completely uninterested in the praises her father’s friends are giving to her and her family. Alison’s cold and inexpressive demeanor is clear in the second, third and fourth panels on page 27.
Credit for picture: http://lkleincourses.lmc.gatech.edu/archives12/files/2012/11/post5_A.jpg
