Greek Mythology and Bruce

 The first thing mentioned in this book is the analogy Alison makes between herself, her father, Bruce and Icarus and Daedalus while they are playing the airplane game together. I think it's interesting Alison brings up Greek mythology, because while Bruce shares many similarities to Daedalus, I find it more interesting to compare Bruce with the god of the underworld, Hades, as both deal with death as well as share similar themes. 

They share a similarity as Bruce runs the “Fun home” which is a funeral home, Hades runs the underworld which could be seen as the “Fun Home” of Greek mythology (although definitely not as fun because you know dead spirits and what not). I would also argue that they also share similar aesthetics. Dark gothic architecture always reminds me of death and age whenever I see the long columns and age and time. This style of architecture also drew comparisons of her family and the ever gloomy Addams family. But unlike Bruce, Hades is enamored with his wife, Persephone, to the point where he abducts her so that he would be able to be with her, the direct opposite of Bruce who Alison has to wonder if he really loves her and if they have a connection. However one could draw a similarity to Hades abducting Persephone to the way that Bruce brings in students to have homosexual affairs with them. 

I think it's also telling that Alison wonders “and if my father liked to imagine himself as a nineteenth-century aristocrat overseeing his estate from behind the leather topped mahogany and brass second empire desk… Did that require such a leap of the imagination?” Alison thinks her father, Bruce, thinks of himself as some sort of self imposed ruler over his house, which is his creation and what he could consider his domain. I also find this comparison fitting since Hades is a work of fiction and both Bruce and Alison have a hard time separating reality and fiction. Alison even states that the line he drew between the two was blurry as well.