The End of Adolescence

 Alison and her brothers, John and Christian, grew up playing in the Fun Home, their family's funeral home. They spent time around coffins, open graves, and mourning families, among other things. Alison even recalls spending nights at the Fun Home with her grandmother. As such, Alison and her brothers developed an irregular reaction towards death, and especially towards mourning with death. Having spent hours upon hours with dead people, death comes differently. Thus when their father dies, they don't respond to hearing of his death as most would. They laugh. Alison's laugh shocks many of the characters in the book, and why shouldn't it? Typically you don't expect someone to bend over with laughter while telling you their dad was hit by a truck. And yet, that's how Alison reacts. She has a similar reaction when she meets her brother Christian shortly after her dad's death. They just stare at each other and smile oddly. It's a noticeably off-setting inter...

Buddy Willard plays a key role in Esther's story as a love interest and rival - but does he play a role in her mental health journey? I think that in the beginning, Buddy is partially responsible for Esther's declining mental health. She used to be interested in him, but then realized she didn't actually care for him much. I don't think that that in itself is responsible for Esther's mental status, but I do think it might have affected it. Esther always assumed she would get together with Buddy, lose her virginity to Buddy, start a family with Buddy, and now she's coming to the realization that Buddy isn't the guy for her. Hearing that Buddy had already lost his virginity also hurt Esther and spurred a feeling of competition in her to lose hers as well. That competitive feeling wasn't very healthy for Esther, as it made her worry needlessly about finding the perfect man, discovering someone to lose her virginity to, meeting the person to start a family w...