The Parallels Between Alison and Bruce's Journey with Sexuality

     In Alison Bechdel's Fun Home, there are parallels in the struggles that Alison and her father, Bruce, experience. They both struggle with identity, more specifically sexuality, but handle it in very different ways. Throughout the novel, Alison gravitated towards self-acceptance and the journey to taking pride in her sexuality. She had the strength to experiment with her identity, read about it in books, and eventually come out to her parents, while Bruce remained hiding behind secrecy and the need to maintain a traditional family image. Their opposing ways of navigating their sexualities not only shaped their personal lives, but also the relationship between them.


     This distinction becomes especially clear when Alison decides to come out to her mother and eventually learns about her fathers secret affairs with young men. A significant moment for her had been overlooked by Bruce's hidden life and the facade of the stereotypical family he had been hiding behind. Alison says “I'd been upstaged, demoted from protagonist in my own drama to comic relief in my parents’ tragedy” (Bechdel 58). Bruce's inability to take pride in his sexuality not only affected him, but had also ruined the relationships with the people closest to him. Rather than separately going through their struggles, their stories have intertwined, causing Alison's attempt at opening up to be ruined.


    This tension between Alison and Bruce continues to show throughout the story, specifically when they saw a female truck driver dressed in masculine clothing at a diner during their trip to Philadelphia. This was a pivotal moment of identification for Alison, but her father saw it differently. “Is that what you want to look like?” her father said, insinuating that her identity should be seen as “abnormal” and “unconventional” (Bechdel 118). Rather than using this moment to accept his daughter's identity, Bruce revealed his disagreement for Alison's sexuality, leaving her in an uncomfortable position. 


    The most notable example of the difference between Alison and Bruce's approaches to their sexuality is Bruce's death. As Alison moved towards self acceptance, implying her coming of age journey throughout the novel, Bruce remains trapped in a feeling of isolation and pressure, leaving him unable to come to terms with his identity and causing him to commit suicide. Bruce's inability to accept this important part of himself and open up to those around him caused him to not only isolate him from others, but also from himself. Alison was able to find power in embracing her sexuality, while Bruce's story ended with suppression and tragedy.


    Alison Bechdel uses the parallels between her and her father to show how the concept of identity was handled in their household and how it ultimately affected their relationship. Their differences in the way they handled their journeys with sexual orientation overlapped in ways that complicated both of their lives. Alison's openness and pride in her sense of self may have created jealousy and resentment in Bruce, given that he tried to take away from his own desires by steering her away from being gay. On the other hand, Bruce's secrecy and private relationships led Alison to feel like her big coming-out experience was taken away from her and left her feeling like her journey of self-discovery had been overshadowed. By the end of the novel, Alison is able to live freely knowing that she feels accepted for who she is, whereas the way that Bruce is remembered will be as someone who was never fully able to express who he really was.


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