The Virgin Suicides

In the book The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Libson family, a mother and father and their five daughters, loses their youngest daughter Cecilia to a tragic suicide. The Libson family doesn’t communicate often with the rest of the neighborhood, and nobody seems to know him or her. Mr. and Ms. Libson have isolated their daughters from other kids throughout the years and have not socialized much themselves. When Cecelia jumped out the window of her house, the community felt obligated to help them pull through the tragedy. But it felt like the neighbors went to far in their assistance. This raises some ethical issues and questions to consider: Is it right to intervene with someone’s life without permission? And are the neighbors obligated to help in the first place?

In addition to sending cards and flowers, the community decides to take huge action that involves going onto the Libson’s property and making major changes. The Libson family rarely made contact with their neighbors before the death, and after, it seemed like nobody ever left the house. So without ever asking, the members of the community came in and decided to take out the fence that Cecilia had jumped on to kill herself. They considered the fence a safety hazard because of its sharp tips. Unfortunately for the neighbors, they don’t know if the work they’re doing is being appreciated, or is possibly making the Libsons uncomfortable. Is what they’re doing the right thing to do? To determine this, we must think about the possible outcomes. Say the community pulls out the fence; the Libsons with either not care, be bothered, or maybe make a better relationship with the community. If the community doesn’t pull out the fence, there is no chance anything will improve, and it is possible their neighborly relationships will worsen. I think the neighbors are making a good decision. After Cecilia’s death, the Libsons will only grow into worse and worse condition unless they receive help. Whether or not they appreciate the effort, something needs to be done.

We can also ask, if the neighbors are really obligated to help the Libsons. Members of a community always help each other out and interact. But because of the lack of interaction from the Libson family, it changes the neighborly rules. For example, people that live on farms are very far away from the nearest neighbors because of the vast fields in which they grow food. If a farmer 50 miles away had a disease kill some of his/her crop, the next farmer doesn’t feel the need to help them out, because they are too far away to be neighbors. This is similar to the Libson family. Although their physical location is close, because they never take a part in their community, they are just like those farmers who live 50 miles apart. Of course, this doesn’t mean the community shouldn’t help them as I described earlier. It just happens to be a nice community where the people are concerned for each other.

I think its very nice of the neighbor to try to help the Libsons, especially since I don’t feel there are obligated too. The Libsons are going through a very rough time, and could definitely use the assistance. To connect to the real world, I think this expresses a good example of how you should act as a member of a community or as a neighbor. Not knowing somebody is not an excuse to not helping them out, and could helping could bring you closer together. It is almost like one of the unwritten ethical rules that comes with being a neighbor.