Erdon Kamberi
Professor Schneider
Honors-200
May 1, 2023
Navigating Parent – Child Relationships
The relationship between a parent and a child is a keystone in the adult life of the child. The relationships of real-life individuals and their parents, and completely fictional characters and their parents in a coming-of-age narrative are very similar. Even despite the divide between the two, one fictional and one quite real, the effects of a parent on the child cannot be undermined. The developmental process of a child is to become an individual distinct form those that raised it, coming-of-age stores show the developmental process of a child, they depict the spawn becoming divergent from the parents. A large part of becoming a distinct individual is
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In coming-of-age stories, a character’s lack of emotional nourishment from their parents can result in a confused identity.
Alison Bechdel’s own coming-of-age is explored in her graphic novel Fun Home. Throughout the novel, the motif of homosexuality is explored greatly. The controlling manner of Alison’s father is not limited to the furnishings of the home, but eventually plagues Alison as well. Alison’s father is against putting a label on Alison’s sexuality, although he is not reluctant to explore his own sexuality. Regardless of the effect of her father, Alison becomes infatuated with the word “lesbian” after learning its meaning from a dictionary at the age of thirteen. She ties her deviant nature with the definition of the word. Bechdel writes, “My realization at nineteen that I was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing. A realization not of the flesh, but of the mind.” (Bechdel, 74). The sudden realization of Alison’s sexuality can be attributed to the freedom she was allowed as a child. Alison’s