Fun Home reading questions

Here are some questions to help guide your reading of Fun Home. Many of these you won't be able to answer until we get to the end, but keep them in mind.

1. In what ways are Bechdel and her father different? In what ways are they alike?
2. Bechdel believes that her father committed suicide. Why? What does she think the motivation for him was? Why is this significant for her?
3. What role do books play in Bechdel’s relationship with her father? What role do they play in her own self discovery?
4. Can you find an image in the text that sums up Bechdel’s relationship with her father? Is its placement in the story significant?
5. In what ways is Bechdel’s father able to support her? How does he do so?
6. Why does Bechdel allude to so many literary texts? How do they relate to her parents? To herself?
7. TV shows, magazines, newspapers– various images of media appear in the panels of Fun Home. How do these images of media relate to the characters in the book?
8. What do you think the purpose of creating Fun Home was for Bechdel? What passages demonstrate this purpose?
9. In what ways are the telling (the narration) different from what is in the showing (the monstration)? Think of McCloud’s categories. Also consider that the narration is an adult Bechdel looking back and the monstration is often a young Alison experiencing things for the first time.
10. Is Alison Bechdel a reliable narrator? What does she believe that others in the book may not believe? When does she judge and when does she resist judging? What biases might she have?