Humanities Homework Help

Book: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

OPTION C: “UNRELIABLE NARRATIONS”: As we saw in Gatsby, there are many kinds of “unreliable” narrations in “fictional” texts. Bechdel and many other modern writers and artists explore the issue of “unreliability” in a different context.

Terms such as “autobiography” and “memoir” are often assumed to be “non-fiction” texts: one just writes about one’s own experiences and ideas OR those of people they know very well–such as a parent. BUT MAYBE IT’S NOT QUITE THAT SIMPLE. Please pay close attention to the numerous panels in which Bechdel writes in her “diary”–a type of writing that is usually associated with complete honesty. What starts to get complicated about this process? And since this a “graphic” text, how does Bechdel use visual images to help a reader understand her uncertainty about describing even the simplest events in her family life?

WHEN REFERRING TO THE BOOK, PLEASE INDICATE EITHER THE PAGE OR THE “LOCATION” IF YOU ARE USING A PDF.

ALSO, PLEASE NOTE THAT “GRAPHIC NOVELS” HAVE PANELS, NOT PARAGRAPHS. SO PLEASE USE THIS SIMPLE NOTATION:

(PAGE/LOCATION, PANEL)

THAT IS, IF YOU WRITE (13, 3), THEN I KNOW YOU ARE LOOKING AT PAGE 13, PANEL 3.