On Gender Identities and Sexuality in Fun Home and “The School Children”
Among the most fundamental tenets and heavily-discussed concepts in Feminist Theory is the relationship between sexuality and gender, and the extent of which the two interchangeably influence and dictate one another in the perception of the individual and society at large. Providing a direct and provocative challenge to the societal reliance on cisgender heteronormality, modern literary voices present a dynamic perspective on the true fluidity of sexuality and the constraining implications of gender identities, particularly on historically objectified subgroups. Alison Bechdel’s expository memoir, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, presents a complex discussion on the relationship between sexuality and gender identities through the external influence of conditioned bias, while Louise Gluck’s brief yet profound poetic piece, “The School Children”, provides a dismal snapshot into the gender-defined life of stay-at-home mothers whose existence is limited to their position relative to the patriarch- both exposing and indirectly confronting preconceived conceptions of gender and its convoluted relationship to sexuality.
Throughout its tell-all narrative, Fun Home presents a realist portrayal of the effects of suffocating societal conceptions of sexuality and gender on the individual, particularly in the parallel conflict between the author’s sexual awakening and her father’s lack thereof. While her father is initially portrayed as cold, unexpressive, and exacting, it becomes increasingly evident that his unpleasant demeanor and unhinged disposition is a product of his inability to overtly express his desires, thereby creating an unescapable sense of insufficiency and insecurity. The narrator is initially disappointed in her parents for their unfavorable response to her notably courageous act of coming-out as a lesbian, as her mother expresses stern and patronizing disapproval in her reactionary letter when she states, “My life is tied firmly at this time to family and work, and I see your choice as a threat to both of these” (Bechdel 77). While her mother’s sentiment is uncharacteristic of modern attitudes regarding sexuality, they serve to reflect the closed-minded ideology of the mid-20th century, existing as a reoccurring point of interest throughout the narrative.
The narrator’s mother’s pointed reaction to the idea of her being an open homosexual and the father’s crippling reluctance to live a self-actualized life is not necessarily a product of conscious prejudice, but rather an expression of heteronormative gender conceptions of the time. Her father’s fear of sexual transparency is derived from a conditioned conception of masculinity, specifically the perceived imperative of heterosexuality in determining one’s validity as a man, and therefore a father. In attempting to emanate the American idealist appearance of a cultured, masculine, heterosexual male, her father finds himself in an ever-present battle with his needlessly covert sexual desires, creating conflict and adversity to the extent of nearly being persecuted for courting young males- demonstrating the detrimental and disorienting effects of virtually-compulsory societal conceptions of sexuality and gender on the individual, expressed when the author reflects on her father’s internal struggle: “I suppose that a lifetime spent hiding one’s erotic truth could have a cumulative renunciatory effect. Sexual shame is in itself a find of death” (Bechdel 228). Although her father’s behavior throughout the narrative can be justifiably construed as cruel and unloving, it is evident that his behavior can be attributed, at least to an extent, to his torturous plight of disguising something arguably essential for individual fulfilment.
Serving as a dismal portrayal of the feminine aspects of restraining gender conceptions in the 20th century and beyond, Louise Gluck’s poem, “The School Children”, provides the reader with a snapshot of a typical day-in-the-life of a stay-at-home mother as she ushers her children off to school. While the piece in its most basic form is simple to the extent of arguably being an imagist work intended to communicate the bare essence of a scene similar to that of a painting, further analysis indicates that it serves to convey much deeper meaning. By capturing the dreary simplicity of a compliant stay-at-home lifestyle, Gluck is making a statement about the dismal and socially imperative role women were placed into at the time. While the hypothetical mother in the piece picks apples and sends her children to school to pursue their own interests and achieve the promise of individualistic autonomy, she is ultimately left to the fate of socially-induced mundane conformity in the omnipotent shadow of the patriarch- a reality now less prevalent but eerily persistent in less progressive cultures.
By portraying the detrimental effects societal imperatives of sexuality and gender entail for the individual, both pieces expose and challenge these norms through a dynamic and covert literary style, thereby providing readers with an accessible understanding of these issues and an unprecedented ability to reflect on their own subconscious positions of both privilege and oppression. Only through addressing these issues on an ideological and conceptual basis will our society be able to achieve direct equality and overcome an irreconcilable history of bigotry and oppression.
Works Cited
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006. Print.
Gluck, Louise. “The School Children”. ENGL 2830 Canvas Page, Poem Selections. 2015. <https://slcc.instructure.com/courses/330192/files/?preview=49473534>
