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A Brief Review Of Allison Bechdel's Fun Home

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When reading an autobiography it is safe to assume that you are dealing with an unreliable narrator. This is the author’s story and no matter how objective they may try to be it will always be tainted with their own perspective of what happened since they were so close to the situations being described. So, one of the things someone writing an autobiography needs to be good at is tricking the audience into believing that their story is the truth. In Allison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home, she uses a visual medium to help her accomplish this task.
Since this text is based around Bechdel’s father and their relationship, there would be evidence Bechdel needed to draw on that happened before she was even born that explains his behavior. This …show more content…

In this case it not only bolsters her claims that these photos existed but it also clarifies the situation for the reader. When describing how the photo looked there is the potential for a lack of clarity. This issue is resolved when Bechdel recreates the photo through a drawing and shows the readers exactly how the photo was staged, rather than trying to describe the contents (Bechdel pp. 100-101). Actions like this taken by Bechdel make her appear to be more honest and impartial about the story she is telling because she is making it abundantly clear what it is she saw and leaving no room for personal interpretation on the part of the reader. There is no way to reimagine the drawing as something other than what it is.
When describing certain events the use of the visual medium allows Bechdel to use more creative descriptions while maintaining the integrity of the story. When she is called to the morgue in the funeral home she describes the incision on the body as being, “… split open to a dark red cave” (Bechdel 44). Were this just described textually it would likely be interpreted as an exaggeration. The incision would be thought of as large, but with the visual representation it can be shown just how large it is and that for an opening about half the size of the abdomen the descriptor used is quite

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Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir, Fun Home, illustrates and depicts her unique upbringing. Her life story is told through her own illustrations, showing her internal conflict with who she is, as well as struggling to understand her father’s death. This unconventional way Bechdel chose to express her story positively affects the reader's comprehension of the novel. Being able to clearly see the situations creates more feelings of empathy towards the characters, and deeper connections are made. Reading about a situation, and actually seeing it are two very different things.

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