"The Mother" from Fun Home

     The book Fun Home is mostly centered around Bruce and Alison.  How about the mother?  What is her character like?  What is her role in the whole story?  She seems to be behind the scenes during the whole story.  She is never really in the main scheme of things and seems to be a more minor character.  She seems to be to herself and involved with her studies.  You see her interacting with the family rarely and she seems to have a bit of tension between her and her husband because of his hidden homosexuality and the crimes he is commiting.
     Does this mean that she doesn't have a role?  I think she does.  She maybe put off from the main story or focus but her presence is important.  Firstly, because it is an autobiography and she needs to put all family members into her story who were involved with the authors life.  However, most importantly she is the main figure who opens Alison's eyes in the middle of the book after her father's death. She tells Alison that her father was gay and was preying on little boys and was hiding this fact from society.
     She also throughout the book lets loose about the tension building up between her and her husband.  There are scenes like the one where Bruce comes home late and she is arguing with him, but you can tell where he has really been.  I think she is important for these scenes because it shows what her father was up to and what her mother thought and was keeping to herself.
     I think the mother gets ignored because she seems like such a background character that was into herself but there are some scenes where she is with Alison that shows how Alison developed an understanding for her mother who was married to her father.  For example, the scene where she is rehearsing her mom's lines with her shows how she did spend time with her mom and maybe how she lived her life even living with this secret and how she coped with it.  In a sense her mom seemed very hard working and very courageous after reading the story and seeing what she had to put up with.
     I don't think the mother should be put off as a main character.  She was obviously important in Alison's growing up and understanding of her father.  Without her mother Alison wouldn't be able to understand the full understanding of her parents and her life.