Suicide In Alison Bechdel's Fun House

Words: 693
Pages: 3

Everyone enjoyed looking back on their life, reminisce, and tell stories; unlike most stories, Alison Bechdel explains her events in comic form. Fun House is a graphic novel which is initially written to convey why Alison’s father committed suicide. However, the book delves into so much more. Fun House captivates the audience through strange family quarks, erotisism, and a sense of curiosity. In the second chapter, Bechdel informs the reader of her father’s death: He was accidentally hit by a truck when crossing the street, but Alison is convinced it is a suicided, giving specific facts and incidents as evidence. Every chapter after the second explains her family life leading up to the death of her father. The readers get to know numerous characters, especially two in particular; Alison and Bruce. Alison, the author of the story, has a very …show more content…
Mainly, the comic focuses around his connection with her father. This is because Alison attempts to convince with herself and the audience that her father did in fact want to die. She writes about the unstable relationship her father had with her mother, ultimately leading to a divorce. The book mentions the judgemental town she grew up in which would confine her and her father’s sexuality, but the recurring themes which frequently appear throughout the book is sexuality and the hobby of houses. Both Bruce and Alison are gay, Bruce still keeping it a secret. There are multiple pages displaying relationsions both characters had. Furthermore, Alison gives in depth detail about her life through her teen stage, which included puberty. The old house as well as the funeral home is described on numerous occasions. Though it gets extensive at parts, these two elements of the plot are the most engaging; everyone goes through puberty and even though most people don’t share the same passion for fixing up old houses, everyone enjoys hearing the about