Gender roles, suburbs, and conformity: What lies in the Virgin Suicides
In the book The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides, gender roles of the characters were in the form of stereotypes within suburbia and the added stress of conforming to those stereotypes led them to breakdown.
Gender roles was a reoccurring theme within the Virgin Suicides. This theme was shown through the perceptions of the Lisbon sisters, and Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon, by the neighborhood boys. Gender roles are nevertheless stereotypes for a certain gender, and stereotypes help us to make quick inferences of people to give us a sense of how they are in reality. Stereotypes often help us classify groups of people. Stereotypes are usually based on sexuality, race, gender, or may …show more content…
The typical notion that the father would be the head of the household and the mother would be the second in command especially within a suburb is something most would believe to be true. Although, in this case it was not true in the Lisbon family. Mrs. Lisbon has rule over the house while Mr. Lisbon sits back and allows her to do what she wants. From the boys’ perspective, Mr. Lisbon is not even looked at as a manly figure within that community. When describing Mr. Lisbon the boys said, “Mr. Lisbon taught high-school math. He was thin, boyish, stunned by his own gray hair. He had a high voice, and when Joe Larson told us how Mr. Lisbon had cried when Lux was later rushed to the hospital during her own suicide scare, we could easily imagine the sound of his girlish weeping” (Eugenides 8). Mr. Lisbon is not well revered from the neighborhood boys, and more surprisingly his own family. From the portrayal in the book and movie, I noticed the distance between the father and his daughters. There was just nothing for him to connect with them on. I felt as if it was because he is an adult man and probably had absolutely no clue
In the book The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides, gender roles of the characters were in the form of stereotypes within suburbia and the added stress of conforming to those stereotypes led them to breakdown.
Gender roles was a reoccurring theme within the Virgin Suicides. This theme was shown through the perceptions of the Lisbon sisters, and Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon, by the neighborhood boys. Gender roles are nevertheless stereotypes for a certain gender, and stereotypes help us to make quick inferences of people to give us a sense of how they are in reality. Stereotypes often help us classify groups of people. Stereotypes are usually based on sexuality, race, gender, or may …show more content…
The typical notion that the father would be the head of the household and the mother would be the second in command especially within a suburb is something most would believe to be true. Although, in this case it was not true in the Lisbon family. Mrs. Lisbon has rule over the house while Mr. Lisbon sits back and allows her to do what she wants. From the boys’ perspective, Mr. Lisbon is not even looked at as a manly figure within that community. When describing Mr. Lisbon the boys said, “Mr. Lisbon taught high-school math. He was thin, boyish, stunned by his own gray hair. He had a high voice, and when Joe Larson told us how Mr. Lisbon had cried when Lux was later rushed to the hospital during her own suicide scare, we could easily imagine the sound of his girlish weeping” (Eugenides 8). Mr. Lisbon is not well revered from the neighborhood boys, and more surprisingly his own family. From the portrayal in the book and movie, I noticed the distance between the father and his daughters. There was just nothing for him to connect with them on. I felt as if it was because he is an adult man and probably had absolutely no clue