Sexuality in Fun Home

It appears that the author and the main character in this book, Alison, struggles with finding her calling to sexual preference and coming into her own. She is different than the other girls in the neighborhood because she just wants to be one of the guys. Alison is even different from her family, especially, her father, because as he is searching for the newest fashion or flower bulb for the perfect garden, she is busy trying to work on her sports and muscles. Alison is almost compensating for everything that she thinks her father is lacking. However, her father's actions and behaviors signify and possibly foreshadow who Alison grows up to be and her ideals. Where I am in the book, Alison is always angry with her father for making her dress girly by putting a barrette in her hair or making her wear pearls. She also gets upset when her father is out in the yard working on his flower garden while most of the other fathers stick to playing baseball with their children. All of Alison's actions seem to be an act of rebellion against her father, her mother always seems to be out of the picture or uninvolved in her life, and this act of rebellion shapes her into who she becomes. She is called butch at times, and wants to get a boy "crewcut" hairstyle. However, I think that as much as Alison is trying to escape her father and avoiding all that he tries to do for her, maybe her father is acting the way he does because of his own parents. It could be a vicious cycle of attention and sexual confusion that starts with a strange or lack of connection between parent and child. This unusual relationship between Alison and her father seems to be growing, even though her father is dead. This book is going into detail about specific events in their relationship so that we as an audience can try to figure out what is going on between the two of them and even deeper, within themselves.