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.