Works of literature are used throughout the book in different ways, however, it can be pointed out that these references not only show her knowledge of literature, but her connection with her father, who gave her quite a lot of influence to Alison. Therefore, it can be implied that the high literal references represent a part of Alison’s relationship with his father. On the other hand, it is also true that the truth about her father is so vague and mysterious that she needs to use some kind of reference to express his father’s actions and thoughts. This irony, shows how Bechdel says in the text, that they were ‘close, but not close enough.’
Also, the events happening around Alison, and her parents can be considered almost absurd-or ‘tragicomical.’ The complexity of fiction and reality seems to be in a conflict inside Alison in many moments of the book, for example her diary entries when she had OCD. This shows one of the reasons why she is relying on literature references to explain, because she is unable to trust her own single perspective, and therefore needs another way.
What stood up from LitCharts
Understanding her life in its comparison to fiction gives Alison a way not to come to definitive answers, but to frame questions and understand the possibilities of reality. — This deepened my thinking by how it mentions how getting definitive answers are almost impossible, and there are only possibilities that can be explored upon.
In all of these cases, fiction does not, and can not, change reality—and one can argue that Bruce’s tragedy is that he believes it can. –This made me realise the sad reality of how Bruce tried to deceive himself and the others by his periodic house, when it only acted as a persona that came off in the end. I had not thought about what the house meant to Bruce, after I had read the whole book. Although short, I think this expert catches how Bruce tackled with reality, and suffered with the gap between fiction and its real self.
Extracts I found insightful from others
A part from using it as a tool to make sense of her life and her parents, it is interesting to see how she uses intertextual references to showcase how she herself (her perspective of her parents) has changed throughout her life – aiding her in perhaps accepting/ realising the aspects of reality in her life. –By Dhrithika
Good! Your own observations are perceptive, and you’ve made good use of ideas in the reading guide.
Note about expression: “it can be implied that the high literal references” should be “it can be inferred” (the writer implies and the reader infers meaning” and “high literary”