The Virgin Suicides Themes

The Virgin Suicides examines the ways in which neighborhood gossip is often fueled by a morbid fascination with scandal. In the year between Cecilia Lisbon’s suicide and her sisters’ suicides, the neighbors watch the Lisbon family closely. At first, this attention seems kind and caring, as neighborhood parents reach out to Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon to lend support. Soon, though, the community’s interest in the Lisbons begins to morph into something else, becoming more…

Although the plot of The Virgin Suicides centers around the Lisbon sisters’ suicides, the novel is, in many ways, a celebration of the joys and difficulties of growing up. Because it’s narrated by a group of neighborhood friends who are now middle-aged, a strong sense of nostalgia runs throughout the novel—a nostalgia for the excitement and discovery of adolescence. Although the boys obsess over the Lisbon girls, this obsession seems almost pleasurable for them. After…

The Virgin Suicides illustrates how difficult it can be to process and mourn a tragic loss when the circumstances surrounding that loss are shrouded in uncertainty. Of course, this is partially why the neighborhood boys become so obsessed with the Lisbon girls, wanting desperately to know why they decide to die by suicide. But it’s also the case for the Lisbon girls themselves, or at least the four sisters left to deal with the aftermath…