The summer Alison turned thirteen, many significant events imbricated in the Bechdel family as well as throughout our country. First of all, Alison’s “father’s secret almost surfaced” (153). He started seeing a psychiatrist, which Alison realized as an adult, was probably to stop cheating on his wife with underage boys. Alison’s diary plays an important role in this chapter specifically because as Alison explains, “There was a lot going on that summer. I’m glad I was taking notes” (154). The Watergate scandal was also unfolding during this time in Alison’s life. It seemed to occur with what she perceived as the loss of her childlike innocence as she explains, “It was only one of many heavy-handed plot devices to befall my family during those strange, hot months” (155). …show more content…
She started menstruating at the age of thirteen, her intimate discovery of masturbation, and the satisfaction she gained by dressing like a man for the first time. Alison does not tell her mother right away about her period nor does she write about it when it initially starts. She discloses “my diary was no longer the utterly reliable document it had been in my youth” (162). This may have just been an exceedingly difficult time her life because she leaves out her true feelings about how she feels about this new development she is going through. Alison learns how to masturbate and achieve orgasm when by rocking back and forth in her chair. She confesses to her diary using the secret code “ning” (169-172) to indicate menstruating and masturbating, two subjects she is too embarrassed to refer to in the literal sense. When Alison and her friend Beth miss a ride to the school dance with a boy named Randy, the girls raid Bruce’s closet and play dress up in his clothes instead. Alice compares this newfound enjoyment to being a “mystical pleasure, like finding myself fluent in a language I’d never been taught”
The setting is important for “The Diary of Anne Frank” because it sets the mood of the play. Anne talks about how their hiding place looks. “The rooms are dusty, the curtains are in rags. Chairs and tables are overturned.” (Anne Frank 701) The quote states that the room is in bad condition and not a very good environment to live. Anne also states the area of their hiding place. “It is the top floor of a warehouse and office building in Amsterdam, Holland.” (anne Frank 701) Anne states the location of their hiding location. Lasty, the area they were hiding was very dangerous for the Jews, and their hideout was a very small, old, and ugly place to live.
Abigail and Becky Reed were called by their mother “The September Sisters”, because their birthdays are only a day apart and they pretend that they’re best friends. Abby and her younger sister Becky are always at each others throats. But really, they delight in making each other miserable. Then, Becky disappears in the middle of the night, causing the jealous-filled Abigail to become more envious as searches for Becky start and she is disregarded. The distress of Becky’s disappearance soon haunts Abby when the first day of school approaches and Becky’s disappearance is still fresh on everyone’s mind. Abby is described to have been a person ...
Instead, he was focused on his decorum that he took care of as if it were his children while he treated his “children like furniture” (268). As an adult, Bechdel is influenced by her father’s action; creating a strong, honest women who knows the dangers of hiding information and the consequences that it can
...within her household. Within her own household, Alison was uncomfortable of being herself; in fact, at times she felt that she almost had no say in the selecting items such as clothes. This was also quite complex when it came to her subjectivity as well. Instances such as the time Bruce wanted Alison to wear a particular dress to a wedding, or when he insisted for her to were a particular set of pearls, would play a pivotal role in her sexual self development. Other factors such as her relationship with her girlfriend and the news she would find out following her fathers death seemed to also play an important part. Alison Bechdel’s battle in her sexual self-development was one full of anguish and pain because of all of its complexities but she now presents the confidence in herself and her sexuality to present in her eloquent and impactful graphic novel, Fun Home.
The novel Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel is about the Bechdel family, and the struggles that they endured during their lifetime. The Bechdel family lived in a town in Pennsylvania and directed a funeral home business. Alison’s father Bruce was having sexual relationships with men and boys, the mother Helen, was fully aware of Bruce’s adulterous actions. Alison discovered at an early age that she wanted to dress as a boy and she eventually concluded that she was attracted to women, and at the age of 19 she came out as a lesbian. Not too long after she told her mother that she was a lesbian, her mother revealed that she asked Bruce for a divorce, within two weeks of the revelation Bruce died. Alison suspected that it was a suicide when she began to discover evidence that would correlate to his death. The themes that were present in the novel range from gender identity, repression,
Bruce forces Alison to dress up more in a feminine way like he always wanted to do for himself. At times he forces her to wear a clothing or jewelries that were more feminine. “What’re you afraid of? Being beautiful? PUT IT ON, GODDAMN IT!” (Bechdel 99). She feels forced to follow her father’s orders yet she still did it. Bruce is harsh on his daughter because as a kid he wanted to dress up like a girl and so by deciding what Alison should wear, he is reliving his childhood. In the reading, Bodies and Bathroom, same idea is addressed “…, in which a 10-year-old biologically male student wanted to be known by a female name and dress like a girl. The school, he said, ultimately agreed” (Frosch 245). Although, Bruce feels frightened by the idea of announcing his identity, based on Alison, they could have accepted who he was as a person and a father. If only Bruce has shown his identity and sexual desires, then he could have enjoyed his life and escape the darkness he was living in. While Alison was able to over come her shame while Bruce died with his secret.
Eight years have passed. The narrator is 26 years old, and is now a mother; just like Alice. In the eight years Alice had lost her husband and two of her children. She is old and has tumor filled knees. Alice says in lines 98-105, “And in those eight years I had married and become the mother of sons and did not always keep my floors clean or my hair combed or my legs oiled and I learned to like the taste of beer and how to talk the bad-woman talk… Alice, when I saw her again, was in black, after the funeral of my brother.” It wasn’t until the narrator had gone through exactly what Alice had gone through did she realize why Alice had lived the way she did. In lines 113-117, she says, “When I found Alice sitting alone… I was afraid to speak because there was too much I wanted to say.”
Every family has secrets. Taboo secrets are typically the one's we'd like to keep hidden the most. Unfortunately, what's done in the dark always finds itself resurfacing to the light. In Allison Bechdel "Fun Home", she recollects the memories that impacted her life the most when she was in the stage of discovering her true self. The memories we remember the most tend to play a major role in our life development. For Allison, one well-kept secret that her father contained well from her, unraveled many memories of the truth that laid before her eyes.
In Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel entitled Fun Home, the author expresses her life in a comical manner where she explains the relationship between her and her family, pointedly her father who acts as a father figure to the family as she undergoes her exhaustive search for sexuality. Furthermore, the story describes the relationship between a daughter and a father with inversed gender roles as sexuality is questioned. Throughout the novel, the author suggests that one’s identity is impacted by their environment because one’s true self is created through the ability of a person to distinguish reality from fictional despotism.
Because they are hiding, Anne cannot have a normal school experience, so she is homeschooled. Anne’s liking for knowledge of literature grows and enjoys studying and writing. To pass time, Anne would often study or read.
There is a famous 1961 film called West Side Story. In this film the “Sharks”, who are Puerto Rican immigrants battle the “Jets”, who are New Yorkers, for claim of New York City. Often erupting into violence, these two different culture groups despise each other simply because of the ignorance both have experienced. Through the rubble a love story emerges and eventually put aside their differences. This is however after several knife attacks, gunshots fired, deaths, and a hate filled mamba dance routine. Stories such as this about cultural differences are ones that one would think are far in the past. That as a society, we have moved past the differences accepting and embracing the differences that make each individual unique. But this is not the case, especially not in Northern Ireland during the 1960s till the 1980s. In Ireland, especially in Northern Ireland, religion has been the main divider between the Irish. The Catholics and Protestants have become forms of ethnicity in which the natives identify with. In John Conroy’s book, Belfast Diary, one sees an American journalist’s perspective on the conflict which hinders Ireland. The “democratic system” that was in place created an unstable power struggle only lending more fuel to the fire between these two groups. Strong examples of the unbalanced system are seen as John Conroy gives the reader access to his experience of “the Troubles” of Northern Ireland.
Have you ever had a diary?well Anne Frank did,and it's a well known book!Anne Frank was a young girl who lived in Germany. Anne and her family soon had to into hiding from Hitler,Germany's president.Will her family survive?
Alison Bechdel’s beautiful graphic novel Fun Home explores the cause and effect relationship that exists between her late father Bruce’s sexuality and his internalized homophobia and disapproval of her own budding sexuality throughout her young life. The book defies the natural chronological order of most novels by revisiting key points in her life multiple times, each instance from a slightly different viewpoint, or revealing vaguely different information. Because of this, we are shown her coming out three times throughout the novel, even though in one chapter it isn’t explicitly stated. Each time, though, is slightly different, because we are shown a different person’s reaction or point of view on the announcement. The themes of each chapter in which her coming out takes place affect the announcement itself, and change whose reaction is shown in the forefront.
...e does this in utilizing the Bible, which is associated with male authority, to back up her assertions. She works within the patriarchy of society, saying, “’Had God commanded maidenhood to all Marriage would be condemned beyond recall, And certainty if seed were never sown, How ever could virginity be grown?’” She is simply attempting to justify her unscrupulous behavior and her being married five times with her misinterpreted Bible verses. In her tale, Alison can be seen as confirming the misogynist ideals through her promiscuous acts. Instead of seeking a husband while keeping feminist intentions in mind, she merely seeks someone who will provide for her in exchange for lewd sexual favors, thus overthrowing the idea of being a strong, independent female.
to my efforts because I believe I was one of the best workers he has