For the group of boy-narrators in The Virgin Suicides, anything having to do with girls or women is both an absolute mystery and a source of utter fascination. They're obsessed with learning the ways of young women, so they do lots of crazy scouting and investigating and come up with some pretty wacky ideas of what they think womanhood means. It's actually pretty funny, and provides the novel with some much-needed comic relief. But while the boys are entertaining their fantasies about Tampax, douching, and bras, the sisters are struggling through the real deal, trying to come to terms with their emerging femininity in a home where sex talk is totally taboo, dresses have to be baggy and unflattering, and one sister has opted out of life. It's a recipe for trouble.
Questions About Women and Femininity
- Why are the narrators so fascinated with the Lisbon girls, when there are so many other girls at school?
- How would the novel be different if it were about the suicides of five brothers?
- How do Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon protect their daughters from boys? Does it work?
Chew on This
In The Virgin Suicides, women are presented as the unknowable other.
The author believes it's harder to be a teenage girl than a teenage boy.