Psychological Anaylsis of the Virgin Suicides

Novels suck in more(prenominal)(prenominal) to them than meet the eye. Past the masking piece and the first read, there is yet an extra element involved in vivid books. Jeffery Eugenides clean- sustentationly had an finding of this. Written in 1991, The Virgin Suicides is not skillful a story. Bizarre, abnormal, and tragic is how Jeruen Dery describes the book in his reappraisal of it. As more than pages in a cover, The Virgin Suicides has some magic to uncover. To in full lowstand a novel, sensation m oldishiness recognize a precritical response to chief(prenominal)stay element that amount to a write get going of art. The rectifyting of the novel is wholeness that is familiar to many Ameri ignores.In essence, it is a new-made suburbia, complete with youth, adults, and the elderly, along with the old, and the new. This directly contributes to the plot, which involves a man versus society struggle with more than unitary set of characters. Two main(prenominal) s ets of characters ar prevalent and neither conclave show purely protagonist or antagonist characteristics. Both the Lisbon girls and the approach boys sh be the two roles throughout the continuation of the novel. When reacting to the construction of the novel, superstar notices the straightforwardness of the piece.After a glance at the end tied(p)ts, the abide of the book goes through the progression of a grade in chronological regularize while also following a typical rising action-climax-falling action format. The look of the book keeps a continuous give throughout the piece. The words be sophisticated, as well as the normal structure of the convictions and the way they flow together. The words and sentence structure contribute to the atmosphere of the earn as a whole. In his freshen of the piece, Dery says, Every aspect of the novel is nevertheless dark, and contributes to the overall macabre mood of the piece. The general theme of the novel looks to be how sui cide doesnt only affect those who argon directly involved, such as family, teachers, and pen up friends. It shows how suicide affects the entire alliance. While development the novel, a particular set of characters caught my eye. The narrators realise what would be a textbook exposition of obsession with the Lisbon girls. They are more than salutary teenage boys being haunt with teenage girls. In their gaffe, this is not just a normal obsession homogeneous society thinks of today, but something much more psychological than that. This obsession is more of a disorder.By the words of Alex Lickerman obsession is a freak tidal wave that crashes through our minds and washes extraneous all other concerns. In an hold from Psych Central symptoms of an obsession disorder allow preoccupations with organization, lists, or rules, un suitable(p) to discard old or worn out items, and has a consciousness of specific levels. The neighborhood boys scupper all of these things. Their pr eoccupations with organization are trim throughout the novel when looking at how they kept track of the girls things through a numbering system similar to that of guard evidence.They are also nabmingly unable to discard the things they collected from the girls. A triad symptom appears through the entire work as a whole, because the boys are intercommunicate as though all of these horizontalts took indicate many years ago, yet they front to remember al almost every detail of the year of the suicides. Just through these symptoms, it is clear that the boys move over an obsession with the Lisbon girls, even into their adulthoods. The American Psychiatric Association characterizes obsessions as, stupid thoughts which keep reoccurring. In the conclusion of the book, the boys are going over a abbreviation of the year and they admit to this kind of behavior. They even kind of blame the behavior on the girls by saying, They made us participate in their own madness, because we could nt serve but retrace their steps, rethink their thoughts, and see that none of them lead to us, (Eugenides 248). This statement shows an manifest obsession with the Lisbon girls. Therefore, one can see that the neighbor hood boys hold back an obsession that goes unless than just a stereotypical teenage obsession. The other set of characters also have a psychological disorder of sorts.With the exception of Cecilia, the other tetrad Lisbon girls appear to have piazza Traumatic Stress ail (PTSD). community acquire PTSD by living through a traumatic force in their life. In the consequence of Lux, Mary, Bonnie, and Therese, the eccentric that sparked the disorder was not a maven event, but two with one jet source. The first being Cecilias radiocarpal joint cutting and hospital stay. The second is the actual event of her goal. Characteristics of PTSD include staying past from places and things that remind one of what happened, feeling totally, and outbursts of acts which are normally out of character.The girls all displayed these in the time between Cecilias death and theirs. The narrators have told us through a number of different ways that the girls matt-up alone as a group. They are pictured as being alone together, meaning that the four of them feel as though they are the only ones that understand themselves. The girls also engage in activities that seem out of character compared to who the rest of the community thought they were. In Luxs case this is the high amount of sexual activity. For the group as a whole, it is clinging together, not having other friends, and staying in the house and complying with their parents.For the most part the girls seem so indifferent in the activities of their peers it seems as though they died with Cecilia. other characteristic of PTSD is having suicidal tendencies consort to the national Center for PTSD. In conclusion, one can see how the Lisbon girls actual Post Traumatic Stress sickness after the death of Cecilia. When looking at the evidence presented, it is clear that the two main groups of characters have psychological disorders. In the case of the neighborhood boys, their obsession with the Lisbon girls goes further than just being interested.This becomes apparent when one compares the boys with textbook symptoms of obsession disorders. Lux, Mary, Bonnie, and Therese also have a psychological disorder. In their case it is PTSD. This can be proven when examining the year leading up to their death under a lens filtered with the characteristics of PTSD. Because of these facts we are able to see how The Virgin Suicides is more than just a story about five girls deaths told by the boys they grew up with. As one can see, the novel is more than meets the eye. whole shebang Cited American Psychiatric Association. Anxiety Disorders. Www. Psychiatry. rg. American Psychiatric Association, 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Dery, Jeruen. Book round The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. Blo gcritics Books. Technorati Inc. , 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Virgin Suicides. New York Farrar Straus Giroux, 1993. Print. Lickerman, Alex, M. D. Obsession. Www. psychologytoday. com. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 26 Apr. 2010. Web. 30 May 2013. PsychCentral Staff. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder PsychCentral. Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder PsychCentral. PyschCentral, 1 June 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Suicide and PTSD. NATIONAL have-to doe with for PTSD. United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. The theme Institute of psychical Health, and national Institutes of Health. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Easy-to-Read). NIMH RSS. National Institutes of Health, 15 June 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. U. S. National depository library of Medicine, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, and National Institutes of Health. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder MedlinePlus. U. S National Library of Medicine. U. S. Na tional Library of Medicine, 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.