Previous
Similes
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Religion:
In a scene saturated with situational irony, the novel satirizes the superficial religious faith of Mr. Lisbon. When a paramedic hands Mr. Lisbon the card bearing the image of the Virgin Mary that Cecilia clutched in the bath during her suicide attempt, Mr. Lisbon responds to Ceclia's apparent faith disdainfully:
Mr. Lisbon thanked the paramedic for saving his daughter’s life. Then he turned the picture over and saw the message printed on the back:
The Virgin Mary has been appearing in our city, bringing her message of peace to a crumbling world. As in Lourdes and Fatima, Our Lady has granted her presence to people just like you. For information call 555-MARY
Mr. Lisbon read the words three times. Then he said in a defeated voice, “We baptized her, we confirmed her, and now she believes this crap.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Too Much Therapy :
In a passage marked with situational irony, the neighborhood boys conclude that the teenagers interviewed on local television for a show "focused on the subject of teenage suicide" had received "too much therapy to know the truth" of their own suicide attempts:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Television crews came by to film the increasingly dreary exterior of the Lisbon house, first Channel 2, then Channel 4, then finally Channel 7. We watched to see the Lisbon house on TV, but they didn’t use the footage until months later [...] Meanwhile, a local television show focused on the subject of teenage suicide, inviting two girls and one boy to explain their reasons for attempting it. We listened to them, but it was clear they’d received too much therapy to know the truth. Their answers sounded rehearsed, relying on concepts of self-esteem and other words clumsy on their tongues.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Day of Grieving :
In a passage saturated with situational irony, Eugenides satirizes the attempts by high schools to address issues surrounding mental health through the "Day of Grieving" held at the Lisbon Sisters school following the death of Cecilia:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The Reverend Pike spoke of the Christian message of death and rebirth, working in a story of his own heartrending loss when his college football team failed to clinch the division title. Mr. Tonover [...] let his students cook peanut brittle over a Bunsen burner. Other classes, dividing into groups, played games [...]The Lisbon girls, stranded in separate homerooms, declined to play, or kept asking to be excused to go to the bathroom. None of the teachers insisted on their participating, with the result that all the healing was done by those of us without wounds.
Related Themes:
