Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama

While writing Fun Home, Alison reads Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams and dreams of her girlfriend at the time, Amy, asleep on a lawn and wrapped underneath a blanket. She tries to warn Amy about a spider on her blanket. The blanket turns into a quilt with a perfect spiderweb on top. As Amy begins to speak, Alison interrupts her by stating that irrational behavior proves that humans are rational beings.

Alison’s interest in Freud arises from a session with Carol about a Catholic mass she visits with Amy on a lark only to experience an anxiety attack and leave while avoiding a sick woman. A row of costumed children in the pew in front of her remind Alison of a newspaper clipping of her childhood Christmas pageant. Alison remarks to Carol about feeling different from the other kids. After the session, she reads Freud’s Psychopathy of Everyday Life, highlighting an example where Freud accidentally breaks an inkwell cover shortly after his sister criticizes it. Later, she walks into a plank of wood that is secured to the roof of her car. The injury between her eyes reminds her of her early self-editing habits.