Literary Allusions in Fun Home
Throughout her novel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Allison Bechdel alludes to several pieces of literature in order to provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the scene at play and provide an additional illustration. Not only would she compare scenes to literature with a simile (ex. ______ was like <insert piece of literature), but she would also zoom in and focus on the books that her father was reading, indicating greater importance and meaning to the reader. This was a notable stylistic choice in her writing that constantly made me feel like she was dropping in extra hints or symbolism that you wouldn't quite get unless you dug into them -- maybe it was just me because I was unfamiliar with most of these titles but after looking more into them, you begin to realize how interesting her subtle allusions were. One of the first books she alludes to is A Happy Death by Albert Camus. This piece of literature is introduced as one that her father was reading...