In Fun Home, Bruce has an "awesome capacity for cognitive dissonance" about his family. He wants them to be like the perfect families in his books—with a mother and father who fell in love at first sight who live in a richly furnished house. At the same time, Bruce cheats on his wife with young boys, and focuses more on the looks of the house rather than the people living inside of it. Although we don't know what he is thinking, he doesn't seem to be aware of the dissonance between his actions and expectations.
The phrase "awesome capacity for cognitive dissonance" is used to describe Bruce on page 199, when he talks about Mr. Antolini turning out to not be a good friend because he makes a 'pass' at Holden. He talks about this to a class that includes a student that Alison implies he is sexually involved with. If he is aware of his parallels to Mr. Antolini, he never shows it. Instead, he seems to think of himself as similar to Fitzgerald, his favorite author, and several of his characters, with a "metamorphosis from farm boy to prince" transformation (page 63). He also seems to identify heavily with the Bundren family from the book As I Lay Dying. In a letter to Alison, he says "The Bundrens ARE Bechdels - 19th century perhaps but definitely kin." (page 200). This is an interesting choice, considering that the novel follows the Bundrens as they become more and more distanced from reality as they journey to bury their mother in her hometown (highlights include: their father almost immediately getting remarried, the youngest child becoming convinced that their mother is a fish, and the main narrator getting sent to an asylum).
Bruce's relationship with his wife is another aspect of his life that does not match up with his idealized expectations. Their early life and meeting is very traditionally romantic, with them staying in touch even as he serves in the military. Bruce sends her romantic letters, saying things like "Do you know I love you. That made me feel so good I'll say it again. I love you I love you I love you, you crazy wonderful girl." (page 63), along with other phrases from books that she had sent him. However, this is contrasted by their relationship by the time Alison is old enough to remember. They behave in almost the complete opposite way from the letters, and "did not use terms of endearment" (page 68). In fact, Alison is 'discomfited' to see even them casually touching each other. Additionally, and perhaps more tellingly, Alison finds out towards the end of Bruce's life that he had a series of affairs with young boys, many his students, or people that Alison knew well. Additionally, Helen files for divorce just before Bruce's death, something that the characters in his books don't do. They have clearly fallen out of love by the time Alison starts the story, but stay together to keep the illusion of a perfect family.
Their house is another thing that Bruce maintains to continue his image of a family from out of a book. He decorates it as if they were fabulously wealthy, and controls the furnishing of every room to match his aesthetic. He treats his children like set pieces of the life he wants, treating "his furniture like children, and his children like furniture." (page 14). Despite wanting a loving family, they often take a backseat to his own ambitions and wants. Bruce doesn't allow Alison to dress the way she wants, because it would shatter his illusion of a perfect family to have his daughter wearing 'ugly', mismatched. or men's clothing.
Bruce's preoccupation with being picture-perfect is an extensions of his love for literature. He can't truly express how he wants to dress, or who he wants to be with, so he tries to substitute it for the happy life that people in stories have. To some degree, this worked. When Bruce died, people outside the Bechdel family remembered him as "such a good man" (page 27). However, he couldn't truly have the life of people in stories, and his fixation on emulating them means that can't see the differences between his life and theirs.
I love that frame, where Alison's "authorial commentary" box literally points to Bruce's "awesome capacity for cognitive dissonance." It also reflects the complex structure of this novel, as Alison *within the frame*, as a senior in high school and the "only one worth teaching" in the class, is listening to her father talk about Antolini as a character within a novel serving a certain function (and complicating Holden Caulfield's potential epiphanies at the conclusion of the novel). But Bechdel the author is revisiting this scene years later and marveling at the fact that her father could stand there in the room with Bill (who doesn't seem to be paying close attention) and talk in a detached, aesthetic way about Antolini as a fictional character--it's a great illustration of cognitive dissonance. I wonder if their discussion gets into the ways that Holden later feels that all Antolini told him might be jeopardized by his apparent corruption--we see Bruce trying to serve something like an Antolini role himself, lending out favorite books and sharing quotes with his favorite students. You can't help but wonder how he reconciled all these contradictions--what did Bruce think about while rereading those scenes in _Catcher_ and preparing for class?
ReplyDeleteHaving taken the Hero's Journey class this semester alongside this one (thanks, China), I think the As I Lay Dying section which you've elaborated on is especially interesting. I didn't read As I Lay Dying when I read Fun Home, so I never really thought much of it. Now that you mention it though, Bruce's mention of that book is...strange.
ReplyDeleteIs he implying that the Bechdels are about to experience tragedy? Or admitting the sort of tragic, messed up nature of their familial relationship? And which parent is the fish? And which one is Anse Bundren (my by far least favorite character, for many different reasons)? Why would Bruce say something, which, when you look into it, is so inflammatory and ominous like that?