Blood In The Virgin Suicides

The first menstruation, got “on the same day of the month as the other girls, […] all synchronized in their lunar rhythms” (Eugenides), is Cecilia’s body signal that she is biologically mature and able to bear pregnancy. She approaches womanhood and gets closer to the characteristics of a harlot, consequently further from a young and immaculate virgin. The blood is also inherently connected with defloration, in many cultures an indicator of becoming a sexually active woman, thus becoming a harlot. Blood functions in “The Virgin Suicides” as a symbolic liquid of passage between childhood and womanhood, but not necessarily, as it is commonly assumed, between life and death. The blood that appears during Cecilia’s first suicide attempt, when …show more content…
Lisbon] to send Lux back inside to put on a less revealing top” (Eugenides). Lux’s wish to show off her body and to look feminine and desirable against her mother’s beliefs, shows her unashamed sensuality and rebelliousness. The repression of Lux’s desires is also portrayed by the bleaching of Lux’s underwear by Mrs. Lisbon in order to get rid of boys’ names written on it by the girl. This example of Mrs. Lisbon “exaggerated response to her daughters’ burgeoning sexuality”, leads consequently to “denial or repression of this emergent maturity” (Millard). Lux’s riots against these policies are the loudest, the boldest and the least bashful from all other sisters’ attempts. Her invincible nature, an unrestrained harlotry may be portrayed by her brasserie draped on Cecilia’s crucifix in their room. This artifact spotted by Peter Sissen becomes a symbol of Lux’s sexual desires overshadowing cultural norms that urge girls to maintain virginal and immaculate. In Catholicism, the crucifix is connected with sacrifice, making the “crucified” brasserie a symbol of Lux’s sexuality being given up just as Cecilia’s virginity. Although Lux eventually complied to the rules and wore seemingly asexual “baggy apparel Mrs. Lisbon bought for her”, for boys it “only increased her appeal” and, additionally, even though she was shod in “sensible