Quotes From The Virgin Suicide About Feminism

Your Name Your Subject and Section Your Professor’s Name April 9, 2018 The Virgin Suicide “Mrs. Lisbon tight-lipped and grim in a chair opposite; and the four penitents, heads lowered, fingering knickknacks and porcelain figurines. There is no discussion of how they feel or what they want out of life; there is only the descending order—grandmother, mother, daughters, with the back yard outside under rain, and the dead vegetable garden.” (4.8) This quote, taken from the fourth chapter of the book shows the expectations that perpetrate the kind of social roles and status that are expected between boys or girls (or men and women) in our society. On one hand, this scene portrays like a tradition where the elderly (Mrs. Lisbon) gives advice to the girls on how should they act when they grow up. On the other hand, this event also sediments the ideas in the boys’ minds that girls should be treated like a flower. All in all, this repeats the cycle where the children are caught between what the society expects of them and prevents any progress towards equality. As stated in the last part of the quote, “There is no discussion of how they feel or what they want out of life; there is only the descending order—grandmother, mother, daughters”. But our disappointment was forgotten in the next second when Sissen told us of a discovery that went beyond our wildest imaginings. In the trash can was one Tampax, spotted, still fresh from the insides of one of the Lisbon girls. Sissen said that he wanted to bring it to us, that it wasn't gross but a beautiful thing, you had to see it, like a modern painting or something, and then he told us he had counted twelve boxes of Tampax in the cupboard” (1.12). While this quote seems to be ‘unbiased’, a closer examination would suggest that the very fact that the boys in the class got interested and aroused to the freshly ...