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Bruce Bechdel is a complex figure in Alison’s life. Her father’s contradictory traits and secretive nature make him difficult for Alison to understand and feel close to. His elusiveness, both in being unknowable and in taking his own life when Alison was 19, is at the center of Fun Home, as Bechdel’s memoir is driven by the need to know and understand her father. Bruce is a closeted man and a sexual predator who had affairs with both underage boys and adult men. However, he also has an intense bond with Alison’s mother, his wife Helen, and was driven to suicide, Alison thinks, in part because Helen had asked for a divorce. Bruce can be a violent and controlling parental figure, often instilling fear and anxiety in Alison and her brothers. His temper, which seems to be driven in part by his shame over his sexual habits, holds sway over the Bechdel household, forcing family members to walk on eggshells to prevent sudden violent outbursts. However, Alison also describes her father’s kindness as “incandescent,” recounting his moments of tenderness. These dichotomies make it difficult for Bechdel to understand her father, and she often finds the most clarity in holding his contradictions side-by-side.

Alison and Bruce are often depicted in the memoir as being opposites or “inversions” of each other, playing off the antiquated gay slur. When Bechdel describes Bruce’s behaviors, she defines them as stereotypically feminine, contrasting with her own interest in stereotypically masculine dress and behavior. Bruce is devoted to creating an ornate, impeccably decorated, lavish home filled with antiques, while Alison herself prefers the modern and minimalist. But it’s perhaps in their similarities that Bechdel finds simultaneously the most confusion and the most solace. For example, at the end of 4. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, Bechdel observers a striking resemblance in a close drawing of two pictures of her father and herself at similar ages, and she wonders if both pictures were taken by queer lovers. She calls herself a “translation” of her father as she wonders about how much he lost in not having the privilege to live an openly gay life, as she does. Bechdel, in exploring who her father was amidst the pain of his suicide, his lies, and his violence, also feels immense compassion for him.

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