In chapter one of "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic", written by Alison Bechdel, we
learn about the relationship between Alison and her father when she was a
child. She explains how her father is really into decorating and design of their
gothic revival house in Pennsylvania, and she doesn’t have much of a
relationship with her father whatsoever. Alison refers to her father as “a
Daedalus of decor,” (p. 6) and she truly wishes he took as much energy he puts
into decorating into showing affection towards her. She really only speaks to
him when he asks her to help with decorating something around the house, so
that vital father connection is not really there during her childhood. In the
beginning, they have a couple minutes of fun together playing the airplane game,
which every child usually experiences sometime in their life, but when they
were done he loses interest and says, “This rug is filthy. Go get the vacuum cleaner.”
(p.4) This makes Alison feel like her father doesn’t even enjoy or notice the
times they spend together.
Alison
is also uncomfortable in her fathers’ presence because he gets angry very
easily when something isn’t perfect. When they were setting up the Christmas
tree, Alison’s brother was holding the tree, but the needles were sharp, so the
tree fell. Her father got into a fighting stance and her brother shouts, “Don’t
hit me!” (p. 11) This image portrays to the viewer that the father can be abusive
at times to the children since they react this way towards him. Alison soon
realizes that her father “used his skillful artifice not to make things, but to
make things appear to be what they were not.” (p. 16) Knowing this, Alison recognizes
that her father must have a secret if he’s trying this hard to be perfect, or
reflect perfection. At the end of the chapter, we learn that her father commits
suicide when she’s about twenty. Will Alison be scarred for life from the
absence of her father’s love as a child?
-April Cust
I agree with April's reflection. Alison is very uncomfortable in her father's presence because he gets angry very easily. I can relate to this because I know someone who gets very angry every easily. I know how hard it must be for Alison. Reading stories about abuse does affect me cause I just don't understand why people would ever act in such a foolish way. After reading this story i was very thankful for the relationship me and my father share. We are very close and have a very good relationship. He is always there for me when I need him and I can't imagine it not being that way.
ReplyDeleteI too agree with Aprils reflection. Alison has a harsh upbringing with her relationship with her father. While she recalls one fond memory in the beginning of the chapter, the rest describes her bad memories with him. Alison tells us of the pressures of being perfect and her father obsession with architecture and his families perfect image. She tells us, "My father could spin garbage ... into gold" (pg.6). She also tell us that even though her father made them portray the perfect image of a family, they were far from it. She says, "He appeared to be an ideal husband and father, for expample. But would an ideal husband and father have sex with teenage boys?" (pg. 17). I can only image how hard it must have been for Alison to know this and to cope with it at such a young age.
ReplyDeleteAs my other members said before, April’s perspective is accurate. A relationship between a father and daughter is critical for any growing girl. A father serves as the main male figure in a girl’s life and sets the expectation on how men should treat her and how her attitude toward other men are. As April mentioned how her father was not engaged in the “airplane” game, this moment shows how her father did not give her undivided attention, which Allison craved for. This, in turn, takes a great turn on her personality and how she views her father throughout his actions toward her and others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the rest of the group that the relationship between a father and young daughter is critical for a growing girl. Her father doesn't show her any affection and only cares about decorating their house. This has a negative impact on Allison and will probably affect her for the rest of her life. Its also very unfortunate that her father gets angry and abusive with Alison and the rest of the family because that isn't healthy for a stable family.
ReplyDelete