Ending

Seeing as the ending was revealed on the first page, the novel proved to be incredibly anticlimactic, with the only real suspense lying in whether or not the boys would discover a purpose for the suicides of the five Lisbon sisters. Yet, ultimately they are left, just as the reader is, making their own conclusions as to why the girls chose death. These men, formerly the young adolescent boys that lusted for the Lisbon girls, eventually draw the conclusion that they killed themselves out of “selfishness. The girls took into their own hands decisions better left to God. They became too powerful to live among us, too self-concerned, too visionary, too blind.” Although we agree with the boys general assumption that the girls assumed they knew better than the world they lived in and opted out of it, we do not feel the suicides were an act of selfishness. We feel it was a combination of the many rumors that swirled amongst the community, each of which claimed to be the cause. The novel takes place in a time when little was understood about depression and suicide. The doctors of the novel believed it to be an illness caused by bad genes or elevated hormone levels and could be spread like germs. They viewed Cecelia as the catalyst that infected her sisters. Therapists felt the Lisbons were too strict on the girls and they saw no other escape than death. While we acknowledge the pressures of their parents as a contributing factor to the death, we feel that like the doctors, the Lisbon sisters did not fully understand depression. Because they could not pinpoint an exact cause for their suicidal thoughts, they felt the only way to cope would be death. Additionally, because the neighborhood, the school, and even the Lisbon parents refused to acknowledge or discuss the topic of Cecelia’s death, this must have contributed to the four Lisbon sisters lack of understanding and closure as they dealt with the emotional consequences of losing a family member. 

Image Study

Tree – The neighborhood where the Lisbon family resides has incredibly strict guidelines concerning overall outer appearance of residences’ houses, and the neighborhood committee is very proactive in keeping each house looking uniform and nearly identical. Each yard has an elm tree planted in it, but the trees in the neighborhood suffer from an illness that can be spread from tree to tree. To prevent the death of multiple trees, the Parks Department routinely comes through to cut down any sick trees.  The year following Cecelia’s death, the Parks Department comes to cut the elm in the Lisbon’s yard. Since the neighbors have never objected to the removal of the sick elms, everyone is surprised to see the four remaining Lisbon sisters rush outside to form a circle around their doomed tree. In their minds, the tree represents the memory of Cecelia. As their neighbor, Mrs. Scheer, recalled, “That particular elm had been Cecelia’s favorite. Its tarred knothole still retained her small handprint. Cecelia often stood under it in the springtime, trying to catch the whirling propellers of its seeds. The girls weren’t saving it. They were saving her memory.” Though the image of the elm to the Lisbon sisters represents the joy and memory of Cecelia, to the audience, it stands for something much more powerful. Although the tree appeared healthy to the girls on the outside, it was the inside that was sick with no hope for returning to a healthy state; just as the sisters appeared to be thriving on the outside, it was on the inside that they were consumed with depression and grief over the inexplicable loss of their sister that ultimately led to their suicides. The girls fought a losing battle to save the dying tree, and in the end, the image of the tree stump that was formerly Cecelia’s favorite elm represents the losing battle the girl’s fought for themselves to overcome the loss of their sister, when in the end they knew they saw no other way out but death. In addition, the image of this one elm, Cecelia’s elm, spreading a sickness to the surrounding elms can be linked to Cecelia’s depression and suicidal thoughts being spread to her sisters, as it was literally believed in the novel and can be figuratively perceived by reader.

Light – Both the presence and absence of light provide a strong image throughout the novel. Following the death of Cecelia, the boys frequently comment on the darkness that has overcome the Lisbon household. The image of the blackened house represents the figurative death of the rest of the Lisbon family in the wake of her suicide. It was as if they ceased functioning after Cecelia killed herself. Mrs. Lisbon secluded herself in the home refusing to do any sort of household chore or even care for her remaining daughters. Mr. Lisbon became a shell of his former self, carrying out his job at the school with the monotony of a robot. The remaining Lisbon sisters, however, provide the image of the presence of light. Their light represents the fight to overcome the depression they suffer from and the longing they have to escape the pressures of their mother. One scene in the novel describes the girls flickering on their lanterns at the boys across the street in some sort of pattern to convey a message for help. In between flashes the boys detect a much dimmer, flickering light coming from Cecelia’s former room. Only upon later investigation do they learn it was the candle set up in the vigil the girls had made in memory of their sister. The image of the bright lights emitted from the rooms shows the girl’s desire to overcome the grief and break free from the inescapable pressures of their mother, while the image of the flickering candle conveys the dwindling of said desire. Ultimately the girl’s will to live fades just as the flame of Cecelia’s candle does. The boys explain the struggling image of the candle one night as they watch Bonnie tend to its flame by saying, “Most often she watched the candle as if the outcome held her own, the flames almost extinguishing themselves, but, by some greed of oxygen, persisting.” Eventually, the lack of light comes to represent the figurative death of the Lisbon parents and the literal death of their five daughters.

Virgin Mary cards – From the very first pages of the novel, when Cecelia is found lying in the bathtub with slit wrists, clutching a laminated image of the Virgin Mary, the image of the cards holds strong meaning. The back has been printed with the statement that, “The Virgin Mary has been appearing in our city, bringing her message of peace to a crumbling world.” After discovering the card, Mr. Lisbon explains, “We baptized her, we confirmed her, and now she believes this crap.” By the end of the novel, however, this “crap” is believed by all five Lisbon sisters. The notes delivered to the boys are inscribed on the back of these cards, and the neighborhood often awakes to find the images scattered upon lawns, stuck in bushes, and left in mailboxes. The significance of the image of the Virgin Mary conveys the idea that the girls likened themselves to the Virgin. They too saw the world as crumbling; their idea of peace and escape was death.

Makeup – Under the very strict guidelines of Mrs. Lisbon, the girls are forbidden to wear any sort of makeup; however, their use of it throughout the novel, specifically lipstick, represents their unified rebellion against the rules imparted upon them. The boys discover in the bathroom one night while having dinner with the family, a “secret cache of cosmetics tied up in a sock under the sink: tubes of red lipstick and the second skin of blush and base. [They] didn’t know whose makeup Peter Sissen had found until [they] saw Mary Lisbon two weeks later on the pier with a crimson mouth.” Later in the novel, as an ambulance arrives to take Lux to the hospital for alleged appendicitis, she appears from the house, writhing in pain, yet she took the time to apply “the forbidden pink lipstick that tasted of strawberries”.  Finally, when Mary’s body, the last of the five sisters, is discovered “with so much makeup that the paramedics had the odd feeling she had already been prepared for viewing by an undertaker.” It seems that the image of the makeup allowed the girls to represent their individuality and separate themselves from the unified grouping of all five sisters they were so often subjected too. The makeup allowed each sister to express herself, whether it was Lux’s daring choice of lipstick on the ambulance ride to the hospital where she would await the answer to her pregnancy test, or Mary’s message that she intended to die and therefore left her body in a state that expressed just that. 

The Book vs. The Movie

             Having read the book and the watched to movie, I personally enjoyed them both. Unlike many movies based off of a novel, this movie actually follows the exact story line of the book. However, there were many characters that I could say were different throughout the movie and particular scenes that were different than the book. For example, the movie does not do a good job of characterizing each sister, but this may have been on purpose to more clearly show how the boys clumped the sisters together and never truly knew the details of each sister. The book better explains the girls. I found this take on characterization more intriguing because it made you feel like you were part of the sisterhood and allowed you to sympathize with each girl on a personal level.

            Trip Fontaine was quite the same in both the movie and the book. His attitude, his look was exactly the way I envisioned it to be. He was the ultimate heartthrob and in the movie you could see how easily his charms worked on the girls. For instance, there was one scene when Trip was late coming to school and he had to go to the office to get a slip. A young girl was sitting at the chair and he basically proved why every girl in the school drooled over him. All he did was go up to her and say "Hey beautiful. I'm late again." Then he pushed a strand of her hair back and she blushed. That's all it took for him to get a slip for being excused for being late.  The one scene which I found was the most different compared to the movie was the scene when Trip and Lux have sex on the football field. In the book Trip said "I just left her. I didn't care how she got home." In the movie Trip says "I don't know why I left. I just got up and left, not caring how she got home." Trip Fontaine regrets leaving Lux a lot more in the movie than in the book. When I read this exact scene in the book I was so mad at Trip for doing that but when I saw the exact same scene in the movie I wasn't mad because this time I could understand his emotions. It seemed as if Trip was scared about how hard he fell for her and leaving her was the only solution he could think of at the time. In the movie I felt bad for Trip because it seemed he was confused about his feelings for Lux.  

Another difference between the book and the movie was the romance of Trip and Lux. In the book there romance happened in the span of 30 pages, but in the movie it seemed as though it was the central event. The book shows that this romance led to the eventual downfall of Lux. After committing her “virgin suicide” she was isolated from society because of her parents’ loss in trust, but this did not stop her from being sexually involved. In the book she the romance between Lux and Trip did not seem like love. It seemed as though Lux used him for her own pleasure. This compares to the movie because the director of the movie showed this as not only a sexual interaction but a love. It made it seem as though Lux became depressed not because of the isolation from society following this event, but because of the heart break she experienced when Trip left. There was one significant scene about Lux and Trip that was different than in the book. There was one phrase that Trip said to Lux and that was "Your a stone fox". After the both of them have sex, they do not speak to each other again. That was the same in both the movie and the book. What was different was when all the girls were taken out of school and were in their rooms, that Lux replayed that sentence in her head while sitting on the window seat. For me, that changed the relationship dynamic between them. The repeat of that phrase proved that Lux still cared about Trip but more importantly still thought about him. That dialogue was never repeated in the book and therefore I was sad that Lux and Trip never got together or never thought about each other.

Also Mr. Lisbon was one I really despised in the book. However, my interpretation of him changed in the movie. In the book Mr. Lisbon seemed as equally if not more responsible for the girls' suicides. He seemed rude and strict in the book but his character in the movie was different. In the movie it seemed as if Mrs. Lisbon wore the pants in the house and in their relationship. For instance, when Trip asked Mr. Lisbon if he could take Lux to the Homecoming dance, Mr. Lisbon said "Oh I don't know. I'll have to run it by my wife first." There were a couple examples in the movie of when Mr. Lisbon seemed to connect or show love toward his daughters, which weren’t shown in the book. For example, when Lux Lisbon won the award for Homecoming Queen at the dance Mr. Lisbon seemed very proud. Also when the girls were getting ready for the dance Mr. Lisbon came in and took a photo but all Mrs. Lisbon did was say "Drive carefully" and "We normally don't allow this." Mr. Lisbon just seemed more caring and loving in the movie than in the book. Mr. Lisbon emotions shown through his body language and facial expressions in the movie gave me a new perspective of him.

Overall, the book and the movie went along with each other well. The casting and the uses of color to portray mood in the movie really went along well with the book. There were just a few character and scene differences, but the underlying point and themes were still intact throughout the movie.

The Trees

“After denuding the trunk, the men left to denude others, and for a time the tree stood blighted, trying to raise its stunted arms, a creature clubbed mute, only its sudden voicelessness making us realize it had been speaking all along.”

This passage, from the middle of Chapter Four, describes the Parks Department's standard procedure for dealing with a tree that has caught Dutch Elm Disease. Throughout Chapter Four, the boys hear saws, as the officials cut down infected trees in an attempt to prevent the disease from spreading. Nonetheless, by novel's end, this process resulted in the loss of all the neighborhood's trees. This destruction of the suburb's physical environment mirrors its less tangible disintegration, which the boys feel began with the Lisbon deaths. Furthermore, the rapid spread of the elm epidemic symbolizes the neighborhood's fears about suicide.  Dr. Hornicker publically discusses and states that suicide is an infectious disease, just like the Ditch Elm Disease. The boys, who narrate the story, don’t realize what they have until it is taken away from them. After the removal of the trees the neighborhood seems bleak and empty. They experience a similar feeling when the kills are taken away from them. Both the girls, and the trees, are taken for granted by the boys until they are suddenly removed by forces beyond the boys' control.

In my opinion, the “denuding of the trunk” symbolizes the effects of society and the Lisbon parents had on the five girls. After the first suicide, the remaining girls were forever more linked with suicide in the eyes of society. They were isolated because of their neighbors fear that they had caught the “suicide disease” and would pass it on. Also the girls were further isolated from society at the fault of their parents. After the failed attempt at allowing the girls to be normal and attend homecoming with boys, the Lisbon parents cut off all communication for the girls and confined them to the house. They were taken out of school and were very rarely seen outside of the house. They had no way of seeking help. Lux had to fake an illness in order to see the doctor about a personal matter. Just like the trees the girls were “clubbed mute” and could not “raise their stunted arms” for help. Even the boys who studied there every move could not understand or help them. The boys were too entranced in their idea of the girls, and in return they didn’t realize the girl’s attempt at communication. The boys were continually blind to the present as it happened and had to reconstruct the girls past by means of the unseen, the invisible, and the forgotten, signs which—like the tree's silence in this passage—serve to convey the immensity of what has been lost. The novel continually focuses on what is missing by emphasizing unknown details, lost time, and the inaccessible girls.

Themes From American Literature

In this novel one of the prominent themes is how Americans are obsessed with happiness, even if it is artificial. This theme is mainly shown through the character of “Old” Mrs. Karafilis. The narrators of the novel describe her as being old, cranky, Greek woman. She stays in the basement and rarely come upstairs or socializes. This is mainly because she bowed by the weight of tragedy. In the novel it is said that she had hidden in a cave to escape being killed by Turks, and she had lost the on love of her life, her husband. The young narrators never understand what made her so mean they just said, “Old Mrs. Karafilis had been shaped and saddened by a history we knew nothing about”.  Throughout the novel it is shown that Old Mrs. Karafilis does not understand why Americans pretend to be happy all the time. To her, the suburbs are a place where artificially made surroundings and lives culminate in the tyranny of an enforced happiness. Suburban life does not acknowledge one's personal feeling; instead suburban happiness is a matter of social ritual, where the community continuously proves itself. For Old Mrs. Karafilis, the idea of continual fake happiness is shown through the image of Mr. Lisbon stringing Christmas lights recently after his daughter's suicide. Mrs. Karafilis is entranced by the Lisbon family, because of their way of ignoring death and trying to mask their sadness. It is said that, “She couldn’t understand how the Lisbon’s kept so quiet, why they didn’t wail to heaven or go mad”. Usually it is expected that a family would show their sadness and grief when phased with death, but the Lisbon and the rest of the American culture at this time were obsessed with being happy and not showing their struggle in life. For many Americans the American dream is being happy and better off than your neighbors. Therefore sadness is masked with an artificial happiness in hopes of retaining their social status.

The novel shows other examples suburban ritual to support Old Mrs. Karafilis' theory. For example, the high school holds a day of grieving in response to Cecilia's death, which the school considers to be a great success despite the fact that the suicide was never mentioned and that the Lisbon sisters wait out the day in the bathroom. Also the neighborhood fathers remove the particular fence on which Cecilia jumped, in order to remove the grief and sadness it gave off into the neighborhood. These examples describe a widespread suburban emphasis on the idea that what is proper is infinitely better than what is morally or humanly appropriate.

This theme is also supported by the irony of American happiness is suggested by the characters of Lux Lisbon and Trip Fontaine. After living his youth at the pinnacle of the American dream, Trip spends his middle age in detox recovering. Likewise, Lux's decadent sexuality leads to her premature death. Trip and Lux's search for love and happiness eventually hurts their bodies; similarly, the suburban attempts at American happiness prove to be false and fatal.