Alison's Fun Home-Personal Narrative

Alison was the protagonist of Fun Home, and she gave her experiences through childhood, her teen years, and beyond. I find that Alison’s most interesting aspect is her various relationships with her enigmatic father and how she’s always optimistic about it. As I’m reading the first few descriptions of Alison’s father, such as the event of the fallen Christmas tree, I feel a growing hatred towards the father. It doesn’t make sense that she can put up with the “Half-bull half-man monster” through college. Why is it that Alison compares herself to her dad as “spartan to athenian, modern to victorian, Butch to Nelly and Utilitarian to Aesthete,” but she still manages to give the guy a break when he is a family man once in awhile? She says herself, “Although I’m good at enumerating my father’s flaws, it’s hard for me to sustain much anger at him.” It’s fascinating how she can muster the strength to forgive the myriad of negative things about …show more content…
The one event that stood out most to me was when Alison and her father were together for the second to last time, in the car driving to the movies. The conversation between the two was lacking of words, but it was so tense you could almost feel the humidity rise. The section was full of hidden emotions that were in Alison’s narration. I could feel the hate her father suddenly dissipate completely after that. What really hit me was when Alison and her father finally made that connection, when her father finally opened up about his gender. It showed me why Alison would not keep a grudge on her father, because he understood who she was and what she was going through, which she really appreciated. The most troubling thing about Alison is how her anxiety went from 0-100 and then back again, which doesn’t make much sense to me. From experience, anxiety is not something you can just get over by writing in a