Annotated Bibliography
Michael, Olga. “Queer Trauma, Paternal Loss, and Graphic Healing in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic.” Arts of Healing: Cultural Narratives of Trauma, 2020, pp. 187-195.
The article discusses how through the loss of her father, the main character of “Fun Home” manages to accept her personality and redefine her life norms. Reinterpreting her adolescent years at home and relations within a family, Bechdel gives her father ‘a second chance’, thinking of him as an artist instead of a heterosexual father for whom he wanted to pass himself. This redefinition helps Bechdel to come to peace with her homosexuality and experience a feeling of pride at the fact instead of a feeling of shame (Michael, 2020). The article is published in a peer-reviewed journal; the author used many scholarly sources to lend credibility to her findings. This article is beneficial for my research since it shows how the redefinition of attitude leads to acceptance and pride of homosexuality, which was earlier a source of shame and regret. It supports my claim that people often think of themselves the way others see them instead of being guided by their hearts.
Sastre Van De Worp, Ana-Maria “The theme of Queer Pride and Shame through Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home” and Maggie Nelson’s “The Argonauts.” Academia Letters, 2021, pp. 1-6.
This article discusses the notions of pride and shame in Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home” and gives an insight into how these notions change depending on the reaction of Bechdel’s family. Realizing her lesbian orientation, Bechdel goes from pride to shame to acceptance. Bechdel’s mother’s negative response made Bechdel feel ashamed of herself; however, her father supported her and confided that he, too, had same-sex partners. The author states that often the feelings of shame or pride are produced by people’s reactions and, in reality, serve as labels that heterosexual people unconsciously give to heterosexual ones (Sastre Van De Worp, 2021).
The article is a peer-reviewed work published in an academic literary source. The author did a great job synthesizing a number of works and providing quotations to support her point of view. The article will give credibility to my analysis as it allows me to see how people’s stances influence a person’s self-perception and self-confidence and supports my claim that people should be tolerant of each other.
Urcaregui, Maite. “A revelation not of the flesh, but of the mind”: Performing queer textuality in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.” The Routledge Companion to Gender and Sexuality in Comic Book Studies. Routledge, 2020, pp. 365-374.
This article discusses the ways homosexual people incorporate sexual components into their identity by looking at two different ways of life: Bechdel’s and her father’s. While they both wanted a same-sex relationship, Bechdel’s father chose to conceal his sexuality marrying Bechdel’s mother and staying in his hometown. Investigating her father’s death, Bechdel believes that it could have been a suicide since it was difficult for her father to lead the life he did not want (Urcaregui, 2020).
Bechdel, reversely, decides to follow her heart when she decides to go to the urban center, where she can feel liberated from social bonds. The article is published in a peer-reviewed journal; the author relies on many literary sources. The article will enhance my research since it describes two possible outcomes of social unacceptance, contrasting them and giving an insight into what social stigmatization may lead to. It supports my point that people should be guided in their choice not by social prejudices but by their inner perceptions of how they want to spend their life.
Welch, H. (2019). Fun Home: Representations of a Fractured Father. In Teacher Representations in Dramatic Text and Performance (pp. 39-49). Routledge.
The article discusses the image of Bechdel’s father, a man who has given up his dreams to be accepted into heterosexual society. The author claims that by making this character die, Bechdel only portrays what happened a long time ago when he gave up his personality for illusory social norms and the notions of right and wrong (Welch, 2019). Bechdel gives his daughter a second chance; she goes from shame to joy, finally leaving her town to live her life as she wants. The article is published in a scholarly journal; the author relies on scientific studies of the book in her work. I intend to use this article in my research to show what harsh circumstances social stigmatization may lead to and support my claim that tolerance is one of the basic social norms we need to learn.