The Virgin Suicides - Blog #4

"By this time autumn had turned grim, locking the sky in steel. In Mr. Lisbon's classroom, the planets shifted a few inches each day, and it was clear, if you looked up, that the earth had turned its blue face away from the sun, that it was sweeping down its own dark alley in space, over where cobwebs collected in the ceiling corner, out of reach of the janitor's broom. As summer's humidity became a memory, the summer itself began to seem unreal, until we lost sight of it. Poor Cecilia appeared in our consciousness at odd moments, most often as we were just waking up, or staring out a car-pool window streaked with rain--she rose up in her wedding dress, muddy with the afterlife, but then a horn would honk, or our radio alarms would unleash a popular song, and we snapped back to reality" (111-112).

This passage marks a small turning point in the novel because up to this point, all anybody could think about was Cecilia's suicide. Everyone in the town was acting weirdly because they didn't know how to handle the situation, but they ended up further alienating the Lisbon family from suburban society. Though it should be a good thing that people are finally beginning to move on, this passage is marked by a dreary mood which is created through its grim diction and description of the changing seasons. Furthermore, just mentioning Mr. Lisbon and his planets add to the mood because he's such a dismal person. One phrase that really stood out to me was "locking the sky in steel." The cacophony and imagery created by this phrase gives the passage a very industrial feel (the harsh sounds and mention of steel makes me think of machines in factories). Later on the passage talks about "reality" being the honk of a horn or a radio alarm, which further paints this picture of an industrial, gloomy subrubia. This novel seems to portray suburban life as being very monotonous, ritualistic, and kind of weird, which makes me think that the author might be trying to subtly express disapproval for modern suburban life through his novel.