Suburban Norms In The Virgin Suicides

The Armory museum displays an exhibit by Julian Rosefeldt called Manifesto where one actor Cate Blanchett, playing twelve roles. She plays roles ranging from a homeless person to a broker. Each character has a different age and job, explaining how their careers differ greatly but all display the same viewpoint of society making every individual conform. These different people have the same feelings/views on the impact society has on people. Many elements in the Armory are portrayed in The Virgin Suicides such as boundaries, environment and obsession with happiness. In The Virgin Suicides physical boundaries are used to reflect its concern with the limits of knowledge, memory, and vision. The boys failure to see/enter into the interior

Rather than indicating one's personal feelings, suburban happiness is instead a matter of social ritual/norms, which the community continuously and collectively reaffirms itself. For example, Old Mrs. Karafilis, this hypocrisy is embodied by Mr. Lisbon stringing Christmas lights despite his daughter's recent suicide, “christmas lights went up...he covered the front bushes, but when he plugged in the lights he wasn't pleased with the result” (162). The examination of suburban norms supports Old Mrs. Karafilis' theory. The high school holds a day of grieving in response to Cecilia's death, which the school considers to be a great success despite the fact that the suicide was never mentioned and that the Lisbon sisters wait out the day in the bathroom afraid to come out. The neighborhood fathers remove the particular fence on which Cecilia jumped, giving no thought to the other fences in the neighborhood. The Parks Department systematically removes all the neighborhood trees in the name of ‘saving’ them. These examples describe a suburban emphasis ritual and what is proper is infinitely better than what is morally appropriate. In this foundation of self- destruction, the fakeness of happiness is another necessary