Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. English teacher (Chapter 1)

2. When Alison was nearly 20 (Chapter 1)

3. Beech Creek (Chapter 2)

4. “Fun home” (Chapter 2)

5. A book of poems (Chapter 3)

6. An obelisk (Chapter 2)

Short Answer

1. She refers to the game as “Icarian,” in which she represents the flying figure of Icarus and her father represents Daedalus, the older, more experienced craftsman who warned his son how to avoid destruction only to watch him crash into the sea. (Chapter 1)

2. The question that troubles her is whether her father was a “good” dad. On one hand, he provided for her and fostered her imagination; on the other hand, he was emotionally distant and had illegal sex with underaged boys. (Chapter 1)

3. She worries that her coming out as gay affected her father’s death, which she feels may have been by suicide. (Chapter 3)

4. Bruce admired Fitzgerald for being an inspiring author and the creator of some of his favorite novels, including The Great Gatsby. She believes that, like Gatsby, her father preferred fiction to reality. (Chapter 3)

5. He became angrier and often yelled at her. (Chapter 3)

6. His father was a funeral director, and he took on the role after his father’s death. (Chapter 2)

Chapters 4-5

Reading Check

1. A lilac (Chapter 4)

2. The Jersey Shore (Chapter 4)

3. The Stonewall Riots (Chapter 4)

4. Roy is her babysitter and her father’s lover. (Chapter 4)

5. She read it in her mother’s Dr. Spock book. (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. It refers to how they were opposite of one another. When Alison wished to dress or act in a more masculine way, her father resisted and made her dress in a traditionally feminine manner. (Chapter 4)

2. She might be referring to the similarities between them. (Chapter 4)

3. She was intimidated by her father’s artistic talents. (Chapter 5)

4. Each family member pursued their art alone and obsessively. (Chapter 5)

Chapters 6-7

Reading Check

1. Oscar Wilde (Chapter 6)

2. New York City (Chapter 7)

3. Literature (Chapter 7)

4. Ulysses (Chapter 7)

5. With a young Alison swimming with her father (Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. He gave alcohol to a minor. (Chapter 6)

2. The cicadas emerge, the Watergate scandal happens, Alison has her first period, and Helen appears in The Importance of Being Earnest. (Chapter 6)

3. She saw sexuality and puberty as an unknown quantity, with “Ning” referring to “n” as a symbol for an unknown quantity in math. (Chapter 6)

4. She would dress up in his clothes and read men’s fashion magazines. (Chapter 6)

5. He may have been excited that his son was also interested in men. (Chapter 7)