Chapter Four
After homecoming, Mrs. Lisbon withdrew her daughters from school. They are now permanently confined to their house. Mrs. Lisbon did this to punish Lux for being so late after homecoming. Years later, Mrs. Lisbon said that she did this because the girls needed to be alone to help recover from Cecilia's death. Mr. Lisbon was withdrawn from this decision as he was not aware of really anything that happened in the Lisbon household.
As expected, no one is ever seen leaving the house except for church and when Mr. Lisbon left to go to work. The Sunday after homecoming, Mrs. Lisbon made Lux destroy all of her rock records, further destroying her happiness.
Even though Lux is house-bound, she still manages to sneak men to the rooftop. The narrators were very perplexed as to how she managed it, but she did on several occasions. The men would tell the boys about the Lisbon house, which was full of rotting food and empty cans, which showed that Mrs. Lisbon had totally given up on cooking and cleaning. The men talk about Lux with great admiration, but they say that she often seemed bored with the sex. However, the narrators, all virgins, were not bored with their binoculars.
Three weeks later, an ambulance arrives at the Lisbon house to take Lux to the hospital. She faked stomach pain so she could go to the hospital and get a pregnancy test. The doctor tells her that she's not pregnant and tells her parents that it was just a bad case of indigestion.
Dr. Hornicker visited Lux in the hospital and determined that she was in deep denial of Cecilia's death. He said that all of the sisters were in denial about Cecilia's death and he warned Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon that in situations like this, there is a high chance that the other sisters will kill themselves. Because of what Dr. Hornicker said, the neighborhood started to believe that suicide is a virus and Cecilia spread it to her sisters, but they don't talk about how Cecilia would have gotten it in the first place.
As the weather gets colder, the Lisbon house continues its' decay. No one tries to fix what needs to be fixed. Not even Father Moody, who visited the Lisbons right after Cecilia's death, dared to enter into the solidarity that is the Lisbon household.
Six weeks after homecoming, Mr. Lisbon resigns from his teaching job. It is rumored that the local parents wanted it because he couldn't take care of his own children, let alone theirs. After he resigns, the house is truly silent. It's as if they're on their own little island. Nobody ever leaves, the lights are rarely on, and groceries aren't being delivered anymore. The boys saw Mary on the porch in the mornings. They said she was wasting away, which made the boys worry over whether or not they were eating. They begin to smell a very powerful odor coming from the Lisbon house.
The Lisbons continue in their solitude throughout the winter. They are so removed from society that Mr. Lisbon hangs Christmas lights in the middle of January. The boys see the Lisbons' mailbox fill up with magazines about clothing and vacation spots. The boys ordered the same magazines and pretended that they were on vacations with the girls when they're happy. However, they can't truly understand how the sisters feel and how bad it is at their house, which the boys say will haunt them forever.
The boys talk about what the future newspapers say when all of the sisters have taken their lives. They said that the girls were so shut off and isolated from society that death was not a drastic change for the Lisbon sisters.
Virgin suicide is mentioned when an overeager reporter, Ms. Perl, quoted lyrics from a rock song that Lux liked. The boys are kind of offended by Ms. Perl's article because they feel like sensationalizing and generalizing the girls life and death is inaccurate and not fair.
The boys noticed that even though the girls were in solitude, Lux was still having sex on the roof, Therese was growing seahorses and doing science experiments, Mary was experimenting with makeup, and Bonnie was perfecting her loyalty to God.
When spring comes, the Parks Department has to cut down an elm tree in the Lisbons' front yard, as it was infected with Dutch Elm Disease. The Department cuts off the top of the tree, with no reaction from the sisters. But when they return to take down the rest of the tree, the sisters protect it from being chopped down. The neighborhood believes that the girls did that because Cecilia loved the tree, but years later Mr. Lisbon says that he doesn't remember Cecilia being fond of it.
The boys began to feel disconnected from the Lisbon sisters. They never found out why Cecilia killed herself and how the sisters felt about it. They continued to feel disconnected from the sisters until secret messages started to appear.
The girls send the boys notes for several weeks. Many of them are plastic cards of the Virgin Mary, others nonsensible messages. Finally, the boys call the girls to find out why they are sending them messages and what they mean.
The second time the boys call the girls, they play a song for them and then hang up. The day after that, the girls call the boys and play a song for the. The boys play a song back and this pattern continues for the rest of the night. Years later, the boys describes their songs as an attempt at seduction, as they played love songs to the girls. The last song the girls play is a very intimate, which excites the boys because it might mean that the girls like them back.
The boys call the house again after that, but no one answers. The boys see the girls packing suitcases and a little bit later, a note appears on the boys' mailbox that tells the boys that they have to wait for a signal tomorrow at midnight.
When the boys see the sisters' signal the following night, they go to their house. When they arrive, they see Lux and go into the house to greet her, telling her that they have a full tank of gas and will take them anywhere they need to go. She says that her sisters are not quite done, so the boys will have to wait in the living room while Lux waits in their car.
After about 20 minutes, the boys notice a light in the basement and go down there. When they get down there, they see Bonnie hanging from a beam. They are so startled that they don't try to find Lux in their car or the other girls. They said that they later discovered that Therese died from sleeping pills before they went into the house, Mary stuck her head in the oven, and Lux killed herself by carbon monoxide poisoning shortly after the boys arrived at the Lisbon house.
Personally, this was the saddest chapter. This whole book was about the neighborhood boys connection to the Lisbon sisters, but they start to feel disconnected to them. A little bit before they were about to give up, the girls start teasing them. The sisters and the boys flirt and the girls obviously get the boys hopes up to an unimaginable level. But then they have to see Bonnie hanging from a beam in the basement and they later hear that the other girls have killed themselves. This broke my heart. The boys were so happy that the sisters were taking an interest in them, but then the boys loose them the same night they thought they were going to run away together.
As expected, no one is ever seen leaving the house except for church and when Mr. Lisbon left to go to work. The Sunday after homecoming, Mrs. Lisbon made Lux destroy all of her rock records, further destroying her happiness.
Even though Lux is house-bound, she still manages to sneak men to the rooftop. The narrators were very perplexed as to how she managed it, but she did on several occasions. The men would tell the boys about the Lisbon house, which was full of rotting food and empty cans, which showed that Mrs. Lisbon had totally given up on cooking and cleaning. The men talk about Lux with great admiration, but they say that she often seemed bored with the sex. However, the narrators, all virgins, were not bored with their binoculars.
Three weeks later, an ambulance arrives at the Lisbon house to take Lux to the hospital. She faked stomach pain so she could go to the hospital and get a pregnancy test. The doctor tells her that she's not pregnant and tells her parents that it was just a bad case of indigestion.
Dr. Hornicker visited Lux in the hospital and determined that she was in deep denial of Cecilia's death. He said that all of the sisters were in denial about Cecilia's death and he warned Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon that in situations like this, there is a high chance that the other sisters will kill themselves. Because of what Dr. Hornicker said, the neighborhood started to believe that suicide is a virus and Cecilia spread it to her sisters, but they don't talk about how Cecilia would have gotten it in the first place.
As the weather gets colder, the Lisbon house continues its' decay. No one tries to fix what needs to be fixed. Not even Father Moody, who visited the Lisbons right after Cecilia's death, dared to enter into the solidarity that is the Lisbon household.
Six weeks after homecoming, Mr. Lisbon resigns from his teaching job. It is rumored that the local parents wanted it because he couldn't take care of his own children, let alone theirs. After he resigns, the house is truly silent. It's as if they're on their own little island. Nobody ever leaves, the lights are rarely on, and groceries aren't being delivered anymore. The boys saw Mary on the porch in the mornings. They said she was wasting away, which made the boys worry over whether or not they were eating. They begin to smell a very powerful odor coming from the Lisbon house.
The Lisbons continue in their solitude throughout the winter. They are so removed from society that Mr. Lisbon hangs Christmas lights in the middle of January. The boys see the Lisbons' mailbox fill up with magazines about clothing and vacation spots. The boys ordered the same magazines and pretended that they were on vacations with the girls when they're happy. However, they can't truly understand how the sisters feel and how bad it is at their house, which the boys say will haunt them forever.
The boys talk about what the future newspapers say when all of the sisters have taken their lives. They said that the girls were so shut off and isolated from society that death was not a drastic change for the Lisbon sisters.
Virgin suicide is mentioned when an overeager reporter, Ms. Perl, quoted lyrics from a rock song that Lux liked. The boys are kind of offended by Ms. Perl's article because they feel like sensationalizing and generalizing the girls life and death is inaccurate and not fair.
The boys noticed that even though the girls were in solitude, Lux was still having sex on the roof, Therese was growing seahorses and doing science experiments, Mary was experimenting with makeup, and Bonnie was perfecting her loyalty to God.
When spring comes, the Parks Department has to cut down an elm tree in the Lisbons' front yard, as it was infected with Dutch Elm Disease. The Department cuts off the top of the tree, with no reaction from the sisters. But when they return to take down the rest of the tree, the sisters protect it from being chopped down. The neighborhood believes that the girls did that because Cecilia loved the tree, but years later Mr. Lisbon says that he doesn't remember Cecilia being fond of it.
The boys began to feel disconnected from the Lisbon sisters. They never found out why Cecilia killed herself and how the sisters felt about it. They continued to feel disconnected from the sisters until secret messages started to appear.
The girls send the boys notes for several weeks. Many of them are plastic cards of the Virgin Mary, others nonsensible messages. Finally, the boys call the girls to find out why they are sending them messages and what they mean.
The second time the boys call the girls, they play a song for them and then hang up. The day after that, the girls call the boys and play a song for the. The boys play a song back and this pattern continues for the rest of the night. Years later, the boys describes their songs as an attempt at seduction, as they played love songs to the girls. The last song the girls play is a very intimate, which excites the boys because it might mean that the girls like them back.
The boys call the house again after that, but no one answers. The boys see the girls packing suitcases and a little bit later, a note appears on the boys' mailbox that tells the boys that they have to wait for a signal tomorrow at midnight.
When the boys see the sisters' signal the following night, they go to their house. When they arrive, they see Lux and go into the house to greet her, telling her that they have a full tank of gas and will take them anywhere they need to go. She says that her sisters are not quite done, so the boys will have to wait in the living room while Lux waits in their car.
After about 20 minutes, the boys notice a light in the basement and go down there. When they get down there, they see Bonnie hanging from a beam. They are so startled that they don't try to find Lux in their car or the other girls. They said that they later discovered that Therese died from sleeping pills before they went into the house, Mary stuck her head in the oven, and Lux killed herself by carbon monoxide poisoning shortly after the boys arrived at the Lisbon house.
Personally, this was the saddest chapter. This whole book was about the neighborhood boys connection to the Lisbon sisters, but they start to feel disconnected to them. A little bit before they were about to give up, the girls start teasing them. The sisters and the boys flirt and the girls obviously get the boys hopes up to an unimaginable level. But then they have to see Bonnie hanging from a beam in the basement and they later hear that the other girls have killed themselves. This broke my heart. The boys were so happy that the sisters were taking an interest in them, but then the boys loose them the same night they thought they were going to run away together.