The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides illustrates the lives of girls in Lisbon through the eyes of the neighborhood boys who are obsessed with them. All their lives, the Lisbon girls were known as a single entity by those around them: they were never given the chance to express their individuality. Being known as the "Lisbon girls" by those around them, most people could not distinguish between the sisters. After Cecilia managed to commit suicide, the image of the Lisbon group was broken and the girls were seen and treated differently. They could not escape the stigma resulting from their sister's suicide, which made them unable to adapt to society as individuals. Furthermore, living with a very protective mother did not help the Lisbon girls become the women they wanted to become. The psychiatrist who helped Cecilia told the Lisbon couple that “Cecilia should be allowed to wear the kind of makeup popular with the girls in her life.” age, to bond with them. The mimicking of shared customs is an indispensable stage in the process of identification” (19). This quote not only applies to Cecilia, but also to Mary, Lux, Bonnie and Therese since they are all teenagers, where finding themselves and being accepted by society seem like the most important thing in the world. In this novel, Cecilia, Mary, Lux, Bonnie, and Therese are grouped together and have a mysterious and magical appearance as "the Lisbon girls" to their classmates and neighborhood kids. However, the girls all have different personalities and interests that are shown throughout the story. Cecilia, the youngest sister, was interested in the zodiac, tarot cards, amethysts and dyeing underwear black. She barely spoke to people but she recorded her...... middle of paper ......caused the girls of Lisbon to see themselves as one entity, Mary saw no point in living without her sisters. A month after her sisters' deaths, Mary successfully killed herself to join her sisters' freedom. Finding your individuality is a crucial part of growing up. However, the girls of Lisbon were never given the opportunity to differentiate themselves from each other. The people around them and their parents treated them as a group, forcing the girls to also see themselves as a single unit. With the repression of their personal interests at home, the girls of Lisbon have never been able to do something that each of them truly enjoys. They were never able to do the things normal teenagers do. Limited from individual and social growth, the girls of Lisbon were unable to find their purpose in society. They felt that the only way to escape their sad lives was to end them.