What Really Happened to Bruce?
Throughout the novel Fun Home, the main character, Alison, tries to understand the mystery of her father’s life and death. She suspects his death wasn’t an accident but a suicide. This idea comes up after she learns that just weeks after she came out as a lesbian, her father was hit by a truck while crossing the road. Though officially ruled an accident, Alison sees signs that suggest otherwise.
One big reason Alison thinks her father’s death was a suicide is the timing. Her mother had recently told him she wanted a divorce, and Alison had just come out. This may have forced him to confront his own hidden sexuality in a way he wasn’t ready for. The book reveals that Bruce had relationships with men but kept them secret. This was shocking to Alison and likely contributed to her theory of Bruce taking his life. He built an artificial image as a family man, teacher, and home renovator, but he struggled with his identity underneath. Alison sees this as a possible motive for why he might have ended his life. Since Alison also went through a discovery of identity, I can see why she thought Bruce's feeling the pressure of hiding his true self could cause mental health issues. I also think that believing his death was a suicide allowed Alison to sympathize with his struggles.
Another clue is his behavior before he died. Alison remembers that he seemed distant, almost like he had already accepted something. The way he died also raises questions. He was hit by a truck in broad daylight. Given that he was usually aware of his surroundings, it seems unlikely he would have accidentally stepped in front of a truck. Alison wonders if it was truly an accident or a choice. This adds to the reasons for Alison to feel sympathy for her father. She knew that her father was smart, so it was hard to believe that he had died in such an unfortunate way.
Bruce's life was full of contradictions. He enforced strict gender roles at home but secretly had relationships with men. He spent years restoring their old house, using it as an escape. He was also not very attentive to his kids. He put so much effort into materialistic things to avoid deeper personal connections with his family. As a result, Alison sees these patterns as signs of repression and shame. This shame is partially because of his sexuality but also because he hasn't been there for his family. She wonders if, after years of hiding his true self, he saw no other way out. Ultimately, it seems unlikely that Bruce took his own life, and Alison wanted to see it that way in an attempt to truly understand her father.
I would go even further and say that while the book does acknowledge the uncertainty around Alison's interpretation of Bruce's death, as the book proceeds she basically treats it as a fact: the meaning of her own story hinges on her view that his death has something to do with her. I think it's equally likely that the very things that seem to support Alison's interpretation--the divorce, her coming out--could just as easily represent Bruce seeing a chance for a "second act" in his life. His marriage ending might be a blessing in disguise, and could help remove the necessity for deception in his interactions with Helen and the kids; Alison's coming out could embolden him to follow her path in some way, taking inspiration and living his best life as his true self. For whatever reason, he IS working on a whole new house-restoration project, just at its earliest stages, when he dies. Why not read this as a sign that he's got plans for the future, a new life, a new aesthetic project? This book is unable to provide decisive answers, but I like how the author doesn't insist on her view. All of my "evidence" to the contrary of her interpretation is ALSO provided by her. She allows for an even encourages readers to draw their own conclusions.
ReplyDeleteChizara, I think you do an amazing job highlighting the contradictions that Fun Home forces us to face, as Alison Bechdel had to face them herself. Alison and Bruce's contrasting relationships with their identity's - one being able to embrace it while the other hides it away - is a recurring theme throughout the novel. It's confusing why Bruce goes to so much effort to stop Alison from behaving outside of traditional gender roles, but it also makes sense because he probably doesn't want her to go through the same struggles he did, and is therefore in denial of her identity. It's interesting to analyze Bruce's death because it makes even less sense, and even more interesting that, as you point out, the hard evidence points to him not committing suicide. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteHi Chizara! I agree with your points on why Alison sees Bruce's death as a suicide, even though I don't personally see it as one. While I might doubt that it is one because of how Bruce was like at the time, with how he was about to divorce while building a new house, it makes sense that someone that actually knows him would have a different perspective. Even though we'll never know what actually happened, it's interesting to think about and try to figure out what happened, and to understand the affects it had on people around him. Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Chizara! I think everyone has thought about what really happened with Bruce’s death and this blog post does a good job presenting Bruce as a character and the way he died. I do think he was sturggling with Alison’s realization of her identity but honestly I don’t know if that’s enough to 100% say that his death was a suicide. If anything, Bruce might have been occupied mentally and that might’ve been the reason to his carelessness the day that he died. Good blog post!
ReplyDeleteHi Chizara, great post! I think that the theories about Bruce's death show us more about Allison than they do about Bruce. Allison's desperation in looking for a connection to her father, even to the point where she believes she caused his death, shows how much that connection meant to her and how much she feels her relationship was robbed short.
ReplyDelete