Fun Home: Journaling and Memory

 Katie Roessel

21st Century Literature and Time

11/9/22

“Fun Home”: Journaling and Memory


In creating “Fun Home,” Alison Bechdel refers to her written journal entries to formulate her narrative in an accurate way. Throughout the first half of the book, Bechdel references specific events, conversations, dates, and other details from growing up that most would not have remembered. Towards the latter half of the book is where Bechdel’s narrative becomes more vague as her source material dwindles.The depiction of the past thereby becomes less specific, more faded.

When I reflect on my life when I was at the age of Bechdel in the narrative of “Fun Home,” an age much closer in time to me than Bechdel at the time of writing, I only remember my past in short, foggy bursts. I can remember the people I went to school with, who I liked and didn’t like, some favorite teachers, and other silly things, but I don’t remember any specific events or other details like Bechdel is able to. The difference between us is that she wrote down everything and I did not. Growing up in the digital age, I think that we emphasized preserving memory through things such as pictures and social media rather than writing in a journal or a diary like Bechdel did in the 80s. I have a slew of pictures from my time in high school in places that I certainly recognize, but I could not explain what I was doing, who I was with, or when it was. During my adolescence, I never took pictures or posted anything on social media about my life because of personal insecurity. Now, at 20 years old, I don’t remember anything from the ages of 11-14 because I don’t have any pictures or posts to refer back to, and I never once journaled about my days like Bechdel did. I find this disparity so interesting; Bechdel and I grew up in completely different periods of time, although not drastically far away chronologically. Because I grew up in the digital age of the 21st century, I don’t have the concrete words from journals or diaries that someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s like Bechdel does.

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