D. Definition of terms
To give more understanding about this thesis, some important terms need to be understood in the analysis.
1. Suicide means the act of intentionally destroying oneself or a violent self-
inflicted destructive action resulting death Smith 1983: 129. The purpose for individual who does suicide is to escape from life when they feel that
“Life is meaningless”. 2.
Psychological means something related to the mind, and the way in which it works or mental action Fisher, 1996: 80. Further, the analysis about
mind and the way it works and its action called as psychoanalysis.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
Some criticisms about this novel help the writer in understanding this novel. The writer life style influenced
The Virgin Suicides’ style writing and content. As what is stated by Jay Mcinerney in his review about The Virgin Suicide.
From the review that has been done by Lisa A. Kirby, Ph. D, the assistant professor of English at North Carolina Wesleyan College, she states that the five
teenage Lisbon sisters are the objects of desire and interest of the neighborhood boys Kirby, 1994:3. Lewis Mumford in the Social Critics also states that the
main cause of the Lisbon’s to commit suicide is external factor. In his review, he states that the family is also a subject of all manner of gossip as the neighbors
speculate who is to blame and what will happen. Among the neighbors, there is an illusion of concern and sympathy for the Lisbon family; however, there is a
darker, more voyeuristic element at works as well Lewis, 1993: 1. Based on Kirby’s and Lewis’s statement about the cause why Lisbon’s daughters commit
suicide, Kirby and Lewis say that the cause why Lisbon’s daughters commit suicide is merely just because of friends, neighbor, and gossip. This thesis tries to
reveal that the factor is not only gossip, friends, and neighbor but the factor also comes from their mother, Mrs. Lisbon, who never lets them out to have an
interaction to the outside world.
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