In pursuit of perfection it’s easy to lose grasp on reality. People often only see the external appearance of a family and family is often viewed as the most important thing to make viewed as perfection. When a marriage is going through turmoil the parents try to put on a persona to their children that everything is still intact. When a child struggles with an identity crisis they put on a persona for their parents so that they don’t see their child as anything less than perfect. In Fun Home, both of these personas’ were displayed in every page.
Alison’s father struggled with trying to make his family be viewed as the perfect family even though he was a homosexual and family life was all a lie. Alison herself struggled with how to feel about the news that she herself was a lesbian. Alison’s mother struggled with trying to forget that her marriage was a sham. I almost feel the worse for her mother. Every day she was faced with the fact that not only had her husband had various affairs but in a small community she had no hope of having a new life. She instead throws her focus into her acting. “In a photo taken a week before the play opened, she’s literally holding herself together.” (Page 164) In the photo her eyes are sunken into her head and she has such a distraught face. It’s almost like the stress of the play’s opening was an excuse for her to show her true emotions about the stresses of her real life. Having to mask your disappoint in how your life played out is the hardest acting job.
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