How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The next Sunday, arriving home after a spirited church sermon, she had commanded Lux to destroy her rock records. (4.6)
Mrs. Lisbon believes that rock music is sinful and, to protect her daughters from its effects, takes drastic action. It's just another way that she stifles her daughters.
Quote #8
Mr. Lisbon continued to go to work in the mornings and the family continued to attend church on Sundays, but that was it. (4.9)
After Cecilia's death the family goes on lockdown. They strip down their activities to the bare necessities. Mr. Lisbon has to go to work because they have to pay the bills, so that's not negotiable. Mrs. Lisbon does pull the girls out of school, but she doesn't cut church. It must be extremely important to her, a requirement for life and maybe at this point a way of coping with Cecilia's death.
Quote #9
[M]ore laminated pictures of the Virgin began showing up. Mr. Hutch found one tucked into the windshield wiper of his car and, not recognizing its significance, crumpled it up and threw it into the ashtray. [. . .] Still, we could see right away that it was identical to the picture of the Virgin Cecilia had clutched in the bathtub, and when we wiped off the soot, the 555-MARY telephone number emerged on the back. (4.129)
So what's with those Virgin Mary cards anyway? They're certainly a reference to Cecilia, who tried to die with one of them in her hands. And they're a surefire way to let the recipients know who was distributing them. Were they an accusation against the neighbors who were ignoring the family? A veiled threat of more suicides? A cry for help? Like with Cecilia's Mary card, the novel never answers the question.