Eleanor's blog

       During one of our final discussions of Fun Home,  we were prompted to think about the meaning of the title of the final chapter of the book, "The Antihero's Journey". Habits from Dr. E's Hero's Journey class kicked in and I started to view Alison's narrative in comparison to Joseph Campbell's hero's journey template. Joseph Campbell's hero's journey or monomyth is a template with 17 stages for narratives, which ultimately depicts a major transformation in a character. Some heroes' journeys have stages that are out of order, skip stages, or repeat stages. But at what point is it no longer a hero's journey?      I won't go through every stage of the template with Alison's narrative but I think it is clear that her narrative aligns with the template well. Alison's separation phase occurs when she leaves for college and begins researching lesbian literature and understanding her own sexuality. Her initiation phase occurs ...

Both Holden Caulfield and Esther discuss being enclosed in a glass container; Holden in a glass case, and Esther under a bell jar. Although the characters have many similarities their feelings about being in glass enclosures are very different. Holden and Esther both greatly fear their fast-approaching adult years and resent the social expectations that go along with their coming of age. Despite Esther being a model, scholarship-winning student and Holden having been kicked out of a number of schools, both characters seem to want the continuation of their school lives to prevent facing the challenges and pressures of life after graduation.  Holden wants to prevent corruption and loss of youthful qualities by being able to stop time and enclose people in glasses cases, like the displays at the natural history museum. Due to his hatred of the unpredictability of the adult world and the loss of childhood innocence, Holden wants to stop the coming of age of children. He also expresses ...