The Virging Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Jeffery Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides illustrates the life of the Lisbon girls through the eyes of the neighborhood boys who are obsessed with them. All their lives, the Lisbon girls where known as a single entity to those around them—they were never given a chance to express their individuality. Being known as the “Lisbon girls” by those around them, most people could not differentiate between the sisters. After Cecilia succeeded in committing suicide, the Lisbon group image was broken and the girls were seen and treated differently. They could not escape the stigma that came from their sister’s suicide, resulting in their inability to fit into their society as individuals. Living with a very protective mother also did not help the Lisbon girls grow into the women they wanted to become.

The psychiatrist that helped Cecilia told Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon that “Cecilia should be allowed to wear the sort of makeup popular among girls her age, in order to bond with them. The aping of shared customs is an indispensable step in the process of individuation” (19). This quote does not only apply to Cecilia, but also to Mary, Lux, Bonnie, and Therese as they are all in their teens, where finding themselves and being accepted by society seem like the most important things in the world. In this novel, Cecilia, Mary, Lux, Bonnie, and Therese are grouped together and hold a mysterious and magical appearance as “the Lisbon girls” to their classmates and the neighborhood boys. However, the girls all have different personalities and interests that are shown throughout the story. Cecilia, the youngest sister, was interested in the zodiac, tarot cards, amethysts, and dying her underwear black. She hardly spoke to people but recorded her thou...

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...ed the Lisbon girls into seeing themselves as a single entity, Mary did not see a reason to be alive without her sisters. A month after her sisters’ deaths, Mary successfully killed herself to join her sisters’ freedom.

Finding your individuality is a crucial part in growing up. However, the Lisbon girls were never given the opportunity to branch out from each other. The people around them and their parents treated them as a group, forcing the girls see themselves as a single unit as well. With the repression of their personal interests at home, the Lisbon girls were never able to do something they each truly enjoy. They were never able to do things normal teenager girls do. Restricted from growing individually and socially, the Lisbon girls were unable to find their purposes in society. They felt that the only way to escape their sad lives was by ending them.