How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Other than to school or church the Lisbon girls never went anywhere. Once a week a Kroger's truck delivered groceries. (3.62)
Not only does Mrs. Lisbon isolate the girls, she does it to herself, even having the groceries delivered. Is she avoiding having to see people and the pity in their eyes about Cecilia? Does she think the girls will run wild if she leaves the house? Is she just too depressed to go out? This is our first sign that Mrs. Lisbon is losing it. Eventually, even the grocery deliveries stop.
Quote #5
Day by day, the girls ostracized themselves. Because they stayed in a group, other girls found it difficult to talk or walk with them, and many assumed they wanted to be left alone. And the more the Lisbon girls were left alone, the more they retreated. (3.79)
Even when they do go to school, the girls continue the isolation they experience at home, keeping to themselves. As often happens, the rest of the girls don't know how to handle the fact that Cecilia's killed herself. They'd rather say nothing than say the wrong thing, leaving the Lisbon sisters to cope on their own. They assume the girls want to be left alone together, but that might be their own fears talking.
Quote #6
"It hit me in the pit of my stomach that those girls weren't going on any more dates," Kevin Head told us years later. "The old b**** had locked them up again. Don't ask me how I knew. I just did." The window shades had closed like eyelids and the shaggy flower beds made the house look abandoned. (3.224)
Here the narrators interview a friend to find out more about what was happening with the girls, what it must have seemed like from the outside. Kevin Head was one of the lucky guys who got to take the sisters to Homecoming, and his description of their dear mum lets us know exactly what he thinks about the whole situation. The house itself looks all closed up and isolated.