49 pages • 1 hour read
Alison BechdelA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
While waiting to talk to Helen about Fun Home, Alison reads from Miller’s The Drama of the Gifted Child about how the first child becomes a Cathected Object, which the mother controls. That night, Alison dreams of Helen rehearsing for a play in front of a large mirror in their old home, but she is allergic to her corset’s decorations. As Alison wakes up, she remembers three words: “drive,” “thwart,” and “laden” (207).
During a book tour, a fan shows Alison a cast photo of Helen from The Miser, leading to a story about how she nearly faints on stage due to her corset. That same season, Helen plays Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, a play where a daughter admires her mother’s acting. Alison is in awe of her mother’s performance, particularly her solo of “Liaisons”, but is oblivious to the similarities in the play’s mother-daughter relationship.
Helen obsesses over her makeup and tells a young Alison she looks pale. Alison sneaks her blush away and comments on how it makes her look like “a real child” (214). She also begins retouching school photographs with a crayon and later on, receives a black and white photograph of her doing karate with pink retouching ink on her cheeks.
By Alison Bechdel