Another Victim of the Culture of Teenage Tragedy: The Virgin Suicides and the Gross Misinterpretation of Their Deaths
Source: PopMatters
By Natasia Shivers
The Virgin Suicides, a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, gained critical and commercial success at its initial publication in 1993. As Eugenides’ debut, the book was so well-received that only six years later, the now renowned director Sofia Coppola made it a movie as her breakout film. Animating Eugenide’s disturbing world, Copolla contrasts kitschy nostalgia pastels with an overwhelmingly dark and gory subject: teen suicide. Amidst the post-Tumblr era of Petra Collin's dreamscapes and the glamorization of mental illness, the novel has, unsurprisingly, regained cultural relevance. Of course, female suffering has been a recurring theme in art for centuries- simply consult Shakespeare’s Ophelia or Juliet for confirmation. However, it is undeniable that our cultural lens has shifted obsessing instead on adolescence and the uglier aspects of teendom: mental illness, suicide, and abuse.
These themes - in titles like Thirteen Reasons Why and Euphoria- make a sickening spectacle of our cultural crisis and climbing teen suicide rate. Today, one reading The Virgin Suicides, perhaps under the recommendation of a fellow teenage girl (or a TikTok edit of heartthrob antagonistTrip Fontaine), may expect a novel more akin to Speak or The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which laments the teenage mental health crisis (Richtel).
And yet, lamenting mental health this is decidedly not what the novel is about. The two previously mentioned novels, similar and yet so different from this one, both zoom the focus onto a single teenage character, presenting a nuanced view of the effect culture has on individuals. Meanwhile, Eugenides widens the lens. There is no main character- we get a more 3D portrayal of the situation around the characters, of the carefully crafted world, than we do of any person. There are absolutely no fully fledged-out characters, and ironically we know Cecilia, who dies first, the best of all. Nevertheless, this is intentional, and does not take away from the merit of the writing. Eugenides focuses on condemning the culture, the society, which creates such unlivable conditions for its adolescents. The Virgin Suicides is not a glamorization, but rather a statement: the seemingly idyllic suburbia backdrop, a perfect stage for growing up, harms rather than protects teenagedom. The girls’ suffocation comes from all sides- from their overbearing mother, who demands their purity, and from the neighborhood boys, who expect and exploit the girls’ sexuality. These two oppressive entities - the mother and boys - present womens contradictory societal roles: being untouched, pure, pink and lacey but also willing, sexual beings. The girls are unable to grow and develop because of these expectations- they become figures, not individuals, without control of their own person, their own image. The girls are then literally trapped in adolescence with their deaths. Meanwhile, the boys are left stunted as teenagers, losing themselves in adulthood, unable to get over the Lisbons or to live fulfilling lives.
Those wary of our culture of romanticized mental illness may believe this novel is just another example of our obsession with tragically beautiful, depressed girls. However, it serves as a powerful critique of the misogyny underlying American, suburban, youth culture.
Natasia Shivers is a high school student from New York. She can be contacted at natasiashivers@gmail.com.
Sources Used:
Cline, Emma. “‘The Virgin Suicides’ Still Holds the Mysteries of Adolescence.” The New Yorker, Oct. 2018, www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-virgin-suicides-still-holds-the-mysteries-of-adolescence.
Dunn, E. R. (2017). Blue is the new black: How popular culture is romanticizing mental illness (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.
Richtel, Matt. “‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis among U.S. Teens.” The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/health/mental-health-crisis-teens.html.
Shostak, Debra. ""A story we could live with": Narrative Voice, the Reader, and Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides." MFS Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 55 no. 4, 2009, p. 808-832. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mfs.0.1642.