After reading and writing what I noticed in the second chapter, I later came to realize that similar ideas were also shown in the first chapter, just through different hints and myths. In the first chapter of Fun Home, Alison describes how she is a polar opposite of her father. This is related to the second chapter as the 2nd panel on the first page itself is a hint that Alison ignored her father, an act that she now perhaps regrets. In the next couple of pages, there are several references to The Myth of Icarus and Daedalus, which is related to the book she later reads The Myth of Sisyphus (chapter 2).   

Subtext:

The Myth of Icarus and Daedalus is actually about Daedalus who set to work to fabricate wings made out of wax for himself and his son Icarus because both of them had to escape the labyrinth that Daedalus had created at the request of King Minos to imprison the mInorau who was half-human and half bull. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high because the heat of the sun would melt the wax, nor too low because the sea foam would make the wings wet and they would no longer fly. Icarus did not obey the words told by his father. He flew too high up and near to the sun and that melted the wax of his wings. His death is the results of his rebellious attitude as he disobeyed his father. 

Inference:

Bruce Allen in some sense was similar to Daedalus as he was too a craftsman and he used to find solace in creating things. Similarly, like Icarus, Alison wanted freedom from the life she was living, she wanted to express her homosexuality and have her own identity like Bruce Allen who wanted to express his own feelings as well. They both felt as though they were caged and had their freedom stripped away from them so, in context, Bruce Allen being with teenage boys and Alison rebelling in her own little ways were their “waxwings”.  

Connection:

This reflection is shown on the first page in the first chapter (Old father, old artificer – skilled mechanic) where Alison and Bruce Allen are playing “airplane”. The significance of this panel is that they are basically reflections of one another, they both want freedom. Both of their arms are away from each other which could symbolize that they are both flying and as they are facing each other it could suggest that they’re both aiming for the same thing. It could also be seen as “hands-off parenting” where they refused to rely onto each other for support when they needed it. Additionally, Bruce Allen had also created a labyrinth of this own – his gothic house – which he almost converted into a maze with its mirrors and artifacts.