Culture, identity, and community
In both pieces, Bechdel and Sappho discuss the consequences and difficulties of losing someone you love.
1: The end of a relationship is hard to accept.
- Alison is still “reluctant to let go of that last, tenuous bond”.
- “Sappho, I swear, against my will I leave you”
- Both texts express the difficulty of letting go of someone you care about, even if it is for the better.
- The image drawn on page 86 represents how distant Bruce and Alison are after, and even before he was dead. Yet, she hopes that his death was somehow her fault because she does not want to let go of her relationship with him no matter the relationship.
- Similarly, Sappho says, ‘Rejoice, go and remember me.” The poem hints that they will never see each other again. Although it is more painful to keep hold of the memories they shared, she still wants her to.
2: Losing someone you care about makes you reminiscent of the good memories with them, whether or not the relationship was perfect.
- In Fun Home, it is clear that Alison and Bruce had a complicated relationship that was not loving most of the time(pg.86). Yet, Alison reminisces about the few happy moments she shares with Bruce (pg.225).
- Comparably, Sappho reminds her lover of all the “beautiful times” they had.
- The bittersweet feeling of reminiscing
3: Both works are fragments.
- Bechdel illustrates only fragments of her memory with Bruce
- Sapphos poems have missing words or phrases
- Although not intentional, the fragments in Sappho’s poem become increasingly frequent, especially in the last stanza. Suggests Sappho gradually losing her lover.
- Both depict just certain parts of their relationship, not everything about it
- Alison and Sappho are both personas. Thus, they don’t show all the other sides of their relationship and their feelings towards it.
- Both focus on the bittersweet feeling of the end of a relationship