While reading Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, I was struck by the prominent role that geographic location plays in the process of identity formation, sexual identity specifically. Because Bechdel’s graphic novel describes the process of both Alison’s and her father’s separate experiences of identity formation, we get two perspectives on how geographic location affects this process. Bruce’s process of identity formation is curtailed by his limited geographic location, while Alison, who moves more freely from place to place, is able to develop her sexual identity with fewer restrictions.
Bechdel emphasizes how her father’s geographic location curtailed his process of identity formation through two key illustrations. The first illustration maps significant places related to her father’s life (his grave, the place where he died, her family’s house, the house where her father was born) within a circle a mile and a half in diameter (30). The illustration marks these points with the letters A, B,C, and D and places them within a shaded circle with a thick black line bordering it. In addition to emphasizing the smallness of the geographic location in which Bruce Bechdel lived his life, the dark border and shading suggest that the geographic circumference enclosing Bruce Bechdel’s life was unbreachable, and that if Bruce were to cross that thick black line, there would be serious consequences. Overall, the visual that the illustration provides echoes what we learn from the narrative: that Bruce had to enclose all instances of sexually transgressive behavior or desire within a similarly delineated border of privacy.
The visuals in Bechdel’s narrative also illustrate how geographic location affected the development of her sexual identity as the character Alison. Unlike her father, Alison crosses geographic borders more frequently. As she crosses and recrosses these geographic borders, the expectations governing her sexual identity change. When the Bechdels go on a family trip to Europe, Alison is allowed to wear boys’ hiking boots, an experience that she describes as “intoxicating.” When she leaves home for college, crossing over the geographic boundary that circumscribes her father’s existence, Alison becomes intoxicated in a different way; she describes herself as “seduced completely” by the experience of being able to express her sexuality freely with Joan (80).
The contrast between Bruce’s and Alison’s processes of identity development is striking. While Bruce must constrain his non-normative sexual behaviors and desires to strict privacy, Alison is able to more freely express her sexual identity. The difference in the way that Alison and her father occupy geographic locations mirrors the way in which each is able to express their respective identity. While Bruce must contain his “deviant” behaviors to the private sphere in the same way that he lives his life within a limited geographic range, Alison is more able to publicly express her sexual identity, similar to the way that she more fluidly transitions between geographic locations.
I totally agree with you that place and identity are intertwined in Fun Home and I find interesting that you draw a parallel between the physical space where the characters evolve and the finding of their own identity. The father seems secluded in this small area that constitutes his world and he has troubles facing his identity as a queer man, while Alison becomes more independent and crosses geographic border and quickly accepts her identity. However, I think that it is important to take into account the different periods of time. Alison came out when she was a teenager during the 1970s, a period known for its social movements and its openness to changes in terms of LGBT rights. In opposition, her father lived at a time when it was harder to deviate from the norm.
Geography and the ways in which location permits certain actions is an interesting aspect of Fun Home. The sections of the novel where the Bechdel family went abroad or to New York showed different aspects of the individual family members. When one of Allison’s brothers goes wandering about the city, Bruce immediately becomes worried and upset due to the lack of safety for young boys in the city. This contrasts the ways in which his predatory actions are displayed while in the vicinity of their home town. In addition, the ways Bruce’s actions are enabled by his wife and the inhabitants of the town.