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A glaring comparison between father and daughter is the openness of their sexuality, that is, Bruce's "closeted" sexuality and Alison's openness; thus, I believe that Fun Home juxtaposes Bruce and Alison as a symmetric pair in regard to the development of their sexual orientation.  Due to the dynamics surrounding his coming of age, Bruce may have intentionally suppressed Alison's development as a result of his own experiences. It is important to address the fact that both Bruce and Alison are very much victims to the social standards of their times. However, it is interesting to observe the differences between their sexual expressions as a result of these; for example, men are supposed to be viewed as strong whereas women were weaker and more submissive. Despite this, we see that Bruce takes a more passive approach whereas Alison is much more headstrong. One aspect that could have changed Bruce's sexual expression could have been his lack of a role model. A sc

Sylvia Plath's depictions of suicide and her descent into "madness" are extremely articulated in her story The Bell Jar . I think that one particular aspect of her descent into madness is the plain-ness of suburbia and the symbolization of some of Esther's depressive elements as a symptom of aggressive capitalist expansion with a disregard to the social progression of women. Suburbia has been demonstrated to contribute to the depression and social malaise of residents (1, 2) and I believe that the effect of suburbia on Esther is not much different. It is shown in the text that the mental struggles that Esther faces during her stay at home is significantly worse in comparison to that in New York; we note her odd meal behavior and insomnia, just to name a few. I think in recognizing the causes of these symptoms, there are three likely "candidates": 1) a continuation of the anxieties of her New York trip, 2) complications to her pre existing illness through the