Scaly Flowers

Bechdel is a talented writer, a talented artist, and if her looking too deeply into her father's death is any indication, she'd make a pretty ace conspiracy theorist, too.

It's great Alison is interested in getting to intimately know the details behind her father's death, especially considering the rest of her family doesn't seem to care how or why Bruce really died. Likewise, the thoughts going through Bruce's head those weeks before he passed is an even more esoteric component to her father Alison does not overlook. These are all oft-neglected, but important pieces of information the rest of her family, whether through preoccupation with grief, apathy, or simply not caring enough, do not zero in. According to the truck driver who hit him, Bruce "jumped backwards into the road as if he saw a snake" when the truck neared the pre-occupied dad. In addition to the snickering phallic reference behind the snake (if anything could get her father to 'jump' it'd be a penis, right? Even his supposed way of dying involved his homosexuality literally creeping up on him) mention, Who else actively pursues the truth beyond the eyes of a truck driver? Only Bechdel, at least to our knowledge. What isn't great, however, is Bechdel's presumptuous idea that she had something to do with Bruce's passing. This is the kind of thinking I'd expect out of an adored, only child trust fund baby; not someone with two equally neglected brothers. "For a wild moment I entertained the idea that my father had timed his death with this (Bechdel coming out) in mind, as some sort of deranged tribute. But that would only confirm that his death was not my fault. That, in fact, it had nothing to do with me at all. And I'm reluctant to let go of that last tenuous bond," muses Bechdel, self-determinedly, towards the end of chapter three. Well, at least she's honest. She knows she's reaching pretty far in her theories, as well as admitting that part of her presumptuousness stems simply from wishful thinking on her part. Since their father-daughter relationship was not strong in life, who says they can't become closer through death? Bechdel certainly doesn't. However, Bechdel this is all cyclical. Like I mentioned at the start, I still feel like Alison has already decided in her mind . She so desperately wants Bruce's death to have involved her in some way that she's willing to jump to unfortunate conclusions. This narrow tunnel thinking is as dangerous as the 'snake,' the metaphorical and literal one, who supposedly sent Bruce to his grave.

Speaking of snakes and more phallic symbols, Bechdel drops a hidden reference to not only the male organ, but pedophilia (or at the very least toleration for a naked child's form) and its relation to the phallus halfway through the chapter. The reference is highly fitting considering both Bruce's homosexuality and sexual relationships with boys. Bechdel knows how to chose her pop culture references well. However, the reference is one only rock n' roll history geeks would probably pick up on without researching the band. "I got the Blind Faith album," announces a working mode Bruce - is that a smile toying with his lips for once? - on the front porch to his children and babysitter, although his attention towards Roy during this scene is obvious and barely constrained. He lives through teenaged boys by proxy - or vicariously, as you described during our class discussion today. His kids might as well not even be in the same scene. You know how children love winning their parents approval? Imagine Bruce as the child, and Roy as the parent. Call me judgmental, but I just can't see Bruce enjoying Blind Faith behind the provocative album cover's "artistic" value. Though Blind Faith is musically well-known for including guitarist Eric Clapton and having a few minor hits in the UK and the US (again because of Clapton's presence), their fame extends mostly to the album cover of their only proper record. It'd be controversial today, if not even more so: a topless, redheaded twelve year old girl holding a toy airplane. The young girl, the daughter of friends' of the band, was given explicit permission by her parents to appear topless in the photograph. The band was attacked as "assaulters on common decency" almost immediately after their self-titled album was released, with some record shops refusing to sell the record, and an alternate cover was issued for stores who wouldn't stock the original artwork. The plane the girl held, in particular, was attacked as an obvious phallic symbol, which Either way, I feel like Bechdel's inclusion of the Blind Faith album isn't coincidental. She clearly chose to showcase the album as an allegory for not only her father's phallic concerns, but his homoerotic, pedarasty-esque fascination with boys, as well. The only difference is that the album cover is far removed from real life, especially since it is (in my opinion) inexplicit other than showing undeveloped breasts in addition to the girl sporting a (most likely ironic or signs-of-the-times-like) spaced-out expression on her face, while Bruce's attraction to boys is like steam. Expose him to an attractive boy and watch Bruce's inner conflicts play out through his tormented facial expressions. Blind Faith's girl has no such concerns.

Bruce's sexuality has been well-developed for years while the girl shown on Blind Faith's album cover is undeveloped, 'budding', much like the "silk flowers, glass flowers, needlepoint flowers, flower paintings, and where any of these failed to materialize, floral patterns" in the Bechdel home. The word I homed on in specifically was needlepoint - a /needle/point flower is like a double dose of phallic symbols thrown together. Although they are sometimes cheap plot devices, phallic symbols can be, and are in Fun Home, an effective method of showing how Bruce copes with his sexuality: through proxies. Through expression. Through creativity. "What kind of a man but a sissy could possibly love flowers this ardently?" disagrees Bechdel.

A repressed one, I answer.