History Literature / TheVirginSuicides

** Aformentioned Cecilia.
** Also - Dominic Palazzolo, who jumps off the roof yet fails to die. Unlike Cecilia, he doesn't seem too fazed by his continued existence.

* BathSuicide: Subverted. Cecilia attempts this, but survives.
* BloodSplatteredWeddingDress: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]: [[spoiler: Cecilia dies in her wedding dress, but the spike she jumps on apparently slices her through so cleanly that no blood is visible, and none is shown in the film]].

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: An early speculation about Cecilia's attitude toward Dominic though it later gets rather debunked by her diary entry.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Lux is almost perpetually barefoot. She later abuses this fact to play FootsieUnderTheTable, and to [[spoiler:try to tantalize Trip, whose eyes remain glued to her foot]].

* HasTwoMommies: Trip has two gay dads (his biological father, whose first name is never mentioned, and his boyfriend/partner Donald), both of whom are rather sleazy characters. Must be where he gets it.

* [[spoiler:KillEmAll: The fate of the Lisbon sisters who all killed themselves.]]

* AdultFear: As incompetent parents as they were, it's hard not to sympathize with the Lisbon parents and they are shown to be clearly suffering long after their daughters' death. In the film adaptation, Mrs. Lisbon worriedly almost runs after the ambulance that takes Cecilia away, clutching her daughter's bedrobe, unsure of what to do.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The narrator likens the Lisbons' plight to the life cycle of the fishfly, a ubiquitous insect that is born, mates, lays eggs and dies in under a day. Fishflies do exist and are known for their short lifespans, but in real life they live for around a week as adults and spend several years as larvae beforehand.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:The Lisbons have a lo of traits of this, as they're the most pleasant people by far in their DyingTown and choose the ultimate escape from it]].

-> '''Cecilia Lisbon''': Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl.

->"What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets."\\
"Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl."

* CreepyChild: Slightly averted with Cecilia. She's not creepy, just misunderstood.

* DeathByAdaptation: In the book, [[spoiler: Mary's initial attempt [[BungledSuicide fails]] and she lingers for a month after the rest of her sisters before finally overdosing on sleeping pills]]. The movie makes no mention of this plot point and goes straight to [[spoiler: the Lisbon parents leaving the neighborhood]], leaving us to assume that [[spoiler: Mary died with the others]].

* DwindlingParty: [[spoiler:{{Averted}}; the first line ("On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide...") leads you to expect this, but after Cecilia's death as the inciting incident, no one else dies until the climax, when Theresa, Bonnie and Lux all die at once. Mary survives the incident and finally passes away in the epilogue. Interestingly, Eugenides played the trope straight in his initial draft, [[CoversAlwaysLie and the back jacket of several editions describes the plot this way]].]]

* WomensMysteries

* ShoddyShindig: The Lisbon family throws a chaperoned party for Cecilia in the hopes of cheering her up after her suicide attempt. Being extremely strict Protestants, they don't really have much experience with throwing parties, and thus it's a dreary affair and Cecilia ends up leaving and hurling herself out of her bedroom window.

* DwindlingParty: [[spoiler:{{Averted}}; the first line ("On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide...") leads you to expect this, but after Cecilia's death as the inciting incident, no one else dies until the climax, when Theresa, Bonnie and Lux all die at once. Mary survives the incident and finally passes away in the epilogue. Interestingly, Eugenides played the trope straight in his initial draft.]]

-->'''Doctor''': What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets.\\
'''[[spoiler:Cecilia]]''': Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl.

* FemaleGaze: While much of the film is about the boys trying to sort out the mystery of the girls' deaths, one strong example is Trip's "babe walk" down the hall at school, to [[CrowningMusicofAwesome Heart's "Magic Man."]]