Young girls in Flower: hhe Construction of Space in Fun Home and Valmikis Daughter

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine Alison Bechdels Fun Home and Shani Mootoos Valmikis Daughter, aiming at an analysis of the construction of space in the narratives. I argue that these narratives share a number of connections not only in thematic aspects and subject matter, but in the emphasis placed in the representation of spatial relations. Both works approach conflicted father-daughter relationships, the experience of same-sex desire, patriarchal family structures and the performativity of gender. Departing from this analogy, I explore how the space of the home and the city manifest themselves and are created in the stories, linking them to wider issues of gender, sexuality and identity. Considering that Fun Home belongs to graphic novel genre, my study looks at Bechdels visual composition and representational practices as an important component of her spatial construction. I make a similar argument for Valmikis Daughter and its use of literary devices and textual organization in relation to how space is constituted. To propose this reading, I draw from a set of critical perspectives that discuss conceptions of the domestic and public spheres to understand the space that the characters in the narratives inhabit. A queer and feminist framework support my investigation on the topic of desire, gendered subjectivities and the expression of sexuality, discussing also its geographic, cultural, historical and political intersections to conclude that subjects in the novel are variously positioned within multiple axes of power and alterity.