A bunch of interesting things came out of this whole thought exercise. A few global issues to relate as well.
The first thing is the text with which I compared Heating and Cooling to, which was Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. One thing that struck me was the similarity between the journal entry format that was chosen by Fennelly and the section of Fun home where Bechdel starts to write in her journal. Specifically looking at Fun Home, we see the concept of the unreliable narrator being explored (Bechdel herself in this case) and I decided to try to apply it to Heating and Cooling.
What I did end up looking into was the references to ‘Colin’, the previous boyfriend of Fennelly, in her husband’s books. Interesting for a couple of reasons because one, it does exemplify this idea of the unreliable narrator, and that external experiences may influence someone’s interpretation of specific events. The other thing is how based upon perspective, there is a difference in how certain events are perceived. So for instance, while in the husband’s point of view, Coling is the antagonist of sorts, and this is thus represented by the persona represented in the husbands’s books –
(to be continued ….)
