What is suggested about the role of literature and fiction in her representation of her own reality? and about her self-conscious treatment of the intertextual references?
The intertextual references are there to better explain certain things and so that the audience can better understand the circumstances of the event/situation. The references also show the similarities between the different worlds and stories showing that despite being very much apart from one another they often carry a very similar message. Such as the mythological reference to Daedalus and Icarus in which similar messages are being said.
However, the references can be shown in different ways while maintaining the same similarities between one another. If that is not very well explaining, an example of this would be Daedalus and Icarus reference in which it is inferred that the father (Bruce) is Icarus, as he fell from the sky. Icarus was a very talented man being born as the son of Daedalus who himself was the most amazing inventor in the world, but fell from the sky due to becoming power-hungry with the power of flight and so fell due to him flying too close to the sun. Bruce has a similar situation in which he poses talents which can be seen as amazing often being quoted as someone who can turn “garbage into gold” however, he plummets from the sky (not literally in this case) because of his homosexuality and because of this has gotten into many troublesome cases and some other shady activities.
- In Fun Home, Alison is upfront that she doesn’t and can’t know if her father actually did or didn’t kill himself, whether coming out did or didn’t play a role in his death, if her father was gay or bisexual, or even during the brief single moment when she and her father discussed their sexuality which of them was playing the “parent.”
- She throws herself completely into the roles, learning not just her own lines but everyone else’s as well. This perfectionist tendency pervades all throughout Helen’s life, causing her to sometimes act neglectfully towards her family. Further, though, as the book progresses it starts to seem clear that Helen’s devotion to her theater roles is at least partially driven by the fact that, through theater and the chance to inhabit someone else.
A promising post…you make good sense of the Icarus reference. You have picked out interesting insights from the reading guide (though you don’t explain your thoughts about them), but I wonder if there are more in there that could give you a more nuanced view of Bechdel’s use of intertextuality.