Literature - The Virgin Suicides Summary

MY PAGES ARE DIFFERENT FROM SOME BOOKS!!! CHARACTERS: ● Cecilia- wears an antique wedding dress, tarot cards, zodiac, 555-MARY, people have treated her as if she’s been dead since her first attempt; aware of the dying land, searching for a physical connection (death by jumping from a window on to a fence spike- no care for her body in death, most violent) ● Lux- has an established sexuality, been smoking since age 12; searching for spiritual connection, uses sex to cope with her emotions--fill a void (death by carbon monoxide poisoning- represents youthfulness, dies in a car) ● Bonnie- music, religion-rosary beads; understands the union of the physical and spiritual, but wants to focus more on the physical (death by hanging- literally cutting off her voice) ● Mary- hair and cosmetics; far from spiritual (death from sleeping pills- still looks beautiful in death) ○ Failed attempt at suicide- “easy” way out, no clear “why” on suicide ○ Follows sisters in suicide because she has lost community without them ○ The most surface level- no clear development in novel ■ would have the easiest time living in a dying world because she doesn't care about spirituality or physical connections ● Therese- science; secular with physical parts, searching for the spiritual connectionuses communication with radio p162-163 (death by sleeping pills mixes with gin- uses chemistry to die) ● Mr. Lisbon- high voice, emasculated; dying Sky God ● Mrs. Lisbon- steel wool hair, unfeminine; dying Earth Mother ● narrator/ boys ○ Tim Winer ○ Peter Sissen- first boy to go in to the Lisbon home...looked through the girls’ things (.6-8) ○ Paul Baldino- “I’m going to watch those girls taking their showers” p8...apparently found Cecilia with slit wrists ○ Curt Van Osdol- “I would have felt Cecilia up in her coffin...to impress [narrators].” p36 ○ ○ ○ ○ Trip Fontaine Dominic Palazzolo- dramatic jumping off a roof to prove his love of Diana Porter, “Palazzolo jumped off the roof today over that rich bitch, Porter. How stupid can you be?” Cecilia p30 Joe Hill Conley Parkie Denton NOTES: 1. Lux using sex to fill a hole (no pun intended) a. Not feeling love at home b. Using empty sex as a coping mechanism 2. Day of Grieving a. “Overcoming is a matter of choice.” p100 3. Mr. Lisbon and the retainer p57 a. A continuation of his sorrows and possible mental health issues b. Retainer continues to not flush...showing that he cannot drown his sadness or depression bc it always comes back 4. Mary not eating p55 a. Boys watch her debate over whether or not she wants to make a box of mac n cheese b. Possibly how she’s dealing with her grief...inability to eat bc of sadness 5. Homecoming Dance a. “Cecilia was weird, but we’re not...We just want to live. If anyone would let us.” Therese p128 b. “I think it stopped raining.” Lux p133 c. “Lux looking in the mirror for the instant it took to reconfirm her beauty, Therese avoiding it all together.” p122 i. Therese is insecure about her appearance...or doesn’t care 6. Mr. Lisbon not participating in neighborhood activities a. Not attending leaf burning (tradition-- ritual) i. Not even raking the leaves b. Neighborhood activities ceasing when all the Lisbon girls die 7. I Want To Make it with You song a. Empty desire of boys wanting to be with girls who they’ve created an image of in their head i. Don’t really know the girls Lisbon girls are object not subject ii. b. Trying to find a paradise that you cannot just daydream about i. Boys’ paradise= being with girls ii. Girls paradise= ? 8. Canine teeth a. Mr. Lisbon’s is rotting i. Signifies: impotence, emasculation b. Daughters have extra canines i. Hyper-fertility 9. Old Mrs. Karafilis a. Saggy breasts b. Seer i. Blind, must use glasses c. Greek 10. DEATH a. Immediate media coverage i. Reporting false facts about the girls (219-220) 1. Disrespecting the dead b. suicide= “unnatural” “The girls took into their own hands decisions better left to God” i. (242) c. Impersonally eliminating girls’ things i. Typically, loved ones go through the belongings of the dead and sort it 1. Lisbons allowed everything to be thrown away 221-224 11. Elm trees a. Girls attempt to save the tree from being cut down p175-178 i. Parents are okay with it ii. Cecilia’s favorite tree