How Bruce is Portrayed

I think the most interesting part of this book was the complexity behind Alison Bechdel’s dad, Bruce. From the first page of the book, in the picture frame for chapter 1, we see him depicted as this grueling depressed man standing in front of their house in a stance that showcases power but then in the following introduction of him, we see him as a caring father figure playing with Alison (Bechdel, 1). There are countless scenes throughout the entire book that involve grief, regret, and confusion between Alison and Bruce.

During the first chapter, Bechdel gave us a good overall dynamic in her family and it was nice getting to see this through a graphic novel with so many details in every panel. Especially when it comes to depicting Bruce’s obsession with furniture and the decorations around the house. Bechdel said “I grew to resent the way my father treated his furniture like children, and his children like furniture” (Bechdel, 14). It shows anger and confusion in the way that she wishes to be the thing that he cares about like the way he renovated their home, even though that sounds outrageous. How could a father care more about re-flooring the living room instead of spending time with his kids? But at the end of chapter 1, we got to see a vulnerable side of their relationship when she deeply remembered about bath time with Bruce. Just in the first chapter alone, I feel like we got to see Bruce portrayed in so many different ways.


Throughout the later chapters of the book, I felt like there was more raw emotion that got expressed like a murder mystery. The way Alison narrated the panels but also showed so much details regarding the things that were a secret from her. When her mom told her about Bruce’s past and how Alison started to piece all the evidence together to try and understand the father she never got to really know. I think the part that spoke out the most was on page 220-221 during the only time she ever got to talk to her father about his real identity and the pain of having to hold that back his entire lifetime (Bechdel, 220-221). Despite his harsh parenting and unique disciplines growing up, I think this graphic novel was written and represented in a way that provided closure for Bechdel as she got to revisit a lot of these deep emotions about her closeted gay father.


Comments

  1. Annika DApril 3, 2026 at 6:57 AM

    Writing this as closure is a very good point, revisiting all of the difficult topics throughout her writing shoes the complex relationship. The change in emotion throughout book displays her difficulty tackling the topic. Her shared similarities with her father were well showed in the book and you did a good job unpacking that!

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  2. EllaApril 6, 2026 at 5:51 PM

    I agree that the complexity of Bruce's character was the foundation for this novel and Alison's exploration of her father. The medium that allows for ambiguous expressions, a melancholy (and at times murder-mystery) color palette, and panels that showcase non-linear storytelling allow for Bechdel to really lean into the complexity that still lets the reader try and parse through it themselves.

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  3. MitchellApril 7, 2026 at 2:45 PM

    I like the comparison to a murder mystery. There is a dynamic throughout this book wherein we learn to read every frame as representing a combination of objective fact (this is what photographs show the house looked like), memory (playing airplane with Dad), and revised memory (realizing what's really going on with Roy the "babysitter" hanging out having a beer with Dad on the weekend). Bechdel never "innocently" reconstructs a memory, in a way--she always already now KNOWS what she believes is really going on in these scenes, and she can't *unknow* it. We can't access a different version of this book that only reflects her memories of her father BEFORE she learns his secret, and now that she knows his secret (essentially the "crimes" that he never confessed in life), it inflects every single memory she has from her youth. Looked at in this light, how could she NOT come to the conclusion that his death had to have something to do with her?

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  4. PennyApril 7, 2026 at 5:34 PM

    Hi Helen, I loved that you said it's kind of like a murder mystery case because it really really is. The way the book is so cyclical in its memories and the way that the pictures are utilized and compared show how she's looking for something deeper in his death. I also found it interesting how Bruce's voice came through the house itself, and how he cares more about furniture than his children. You make some really awesome points in this post!

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  5. KruthiApril 7, 2026 at 8:46 PM

    Hi Helen! I think it is interesting to frame this as piecing together parts of a mystery, though in this case it's done so specifically to adhere to Alison's view on Bruce's life. As she herself says, a lot of this evidence gathering and mystery solving is done to support Alison's firm belief that Bruce's death was a suicide, and it's implicit that there are various details to the story that either aren't emphasized or omitted because they clash with Alison's carefully crafted story. She herself admits to this, and I think it's interesting how the piecing together almost reveals to us more about Alison than Bruce at times.

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