Connections Between Allison & Bruce

 In Fun Home, Allison has a complicated relationship with her dad, Bruce. She is like him in numerous ways but also very different than him. It seems like she finally realizes they have somethings in common to late because he dies shortly after. Allison and her dad are shown getting along in some parts of the book but others it seems like the dad is controlling her to an extreme point. The aspects of their relationship that should be talked about are the controlling of her clothing and looks when she is younger, their sexuality similarities, differences of style, and how they both like reading. 

When Allison was younger the dad would always try to make Allison wear girly clothes and have her hair with barrettes. This was not Allison's choice as she preferred more stereotypical male looks and clothes. Her father was into clothes that were more fancy but still masculine. It seemed that he wanted to express his feminine side in Allison because stereotypically he couldn't dress feminine. In the book in a conversation with her dad, Allison says, "But I hate pink! I hate flowers!" (pg.7)  This is in response to her dad trying to make her room girly and Allison doesn't want the decorations/curtains he is trying to add.

The next thing that is similar is their sexualities. Allison comes out shortly in the book as a lesbian. The dad doesn't fully ever admit it but we see signs all through the book of him being interested in men. The mom says that he has had affairs with men and there are pictures on his camera of other men in more so sexual positions. Allison and her father share a similar interest in their same gender but the difference is one is out of the closet and the other is still closeted.

Another aspect of her relationship with her dad is that he has such a different style than her. He is always interested in cleaning and repairing the house. He also always is into buying decorations for the house but Allison seems to disagree with the style choices. Her style is shown through her art and we can see in the book how it is unique and cool. In the book, he asks the mom "what do you think of this gas chandelier?" (pg. 13) He ultimately ends up buying what he wants and Allison comments on this aspect in the book which she adds too in her art. They also both like reading and communicate about this while Allison is in college. The dad does seem very much to live by books and so does Allison.

Overall, Allison and her dad, Bruce have similarities. Even with these similarities, they still have a complicated relationship and when they eventually do realize this it is too late because the dad then dies. The differences seem to divide them when Allison is younger but as she gets older the similarities become more and more.