Now that I am officially done reading it is time to reflect and do an overall analysis of some important characters such as Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon, Lux, Cecilia and Trip Fontaine.
Trip Fontaine:
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| Trip Fontaine |
Oh the heartthrob! Trip Fontaine is the symbol of masculine and of a heartthrob in the book. Ever since Trip came back from the trip of his to Acapulco he went from baby fat to every woman's dream. He came back as a man who lost his virginity to a 30 plus year old woman. Ever since then, he changed his physical appearance and started wearing better clothes, which helped him, get woman in his bed everyday. Every girl wanted to be with him and every guy wanted to be him. He is the symbol of an American playboy. Trip being a playboy is probably the best reason to understand why he just left Lux Lisbon on the field after they had sex. Trip spent an endless amount of time trying to take her on a date, and tries so hard to convince her dad to take Lux to the dance to which Mr. Lisbon eventually agrees. However, Trip said that after they had sex on the football field, he just left her and did not even care how she got home. His excuse-- "I just got sick of her." Although, before he described her as "The still point of the turning world, man." To him maybe, Lux Lisbon was something that was hard to achieve, a challenge. Trip Fontaine probably wanted to solve the challenge and when he did he saw no reason for sticking around. He left Lux heartbroken and with hatred in her heart. On the contrary, one good thing about Trip is that he does not speak of his one-night stands with anyone else. He hardly revealed anything about his time with Lux to the boys.
Lux Lisbon:
She is probably hands down one of the most important characters in the book. She is rebellious, mischief, bold, sexy and is the narrator's dream. She was the one that went against her parents the most. For instance, the first time when Trip Fontaine came to the Lisbon home to ask Mr. Lisbon if he could take Lux out on a date, the first sign of Lux's boldness was shown. After indirectly being told no and to leave, Trip goes back to his car only to find Lux already there and she gropes him and has a quick make out session with him. So that means, when the girls were told to go upstairs to bed, Lux snuck out of the house, into Trip's car. That right there shows she was willing to disobey her parents for just a taste of the playboy's lips. Her second rebellious act was her smoking. Her parents are strict Catholics and smoking is a huge NO! So the fact that Lux smokes shows she does not care about her parents' rules and will smoke behind their backs continuously. At one point in the end of the book, Lux was smoking in the family room while her parents were asleep upstairs. Another rebellious act of hers was when she drank at the dance and shared many make out sessions with Trip despite the fact that both her dad was chaperoning the dance. At one point she was making out with him right in front of his sister. Then comes the most rebellious act of the night-- sex with Trip Fontaine on the football field. That was a huge risk considering anyone could have seen them and her dad was at the dance. Afterwards, Lux turns into the female version of Trip and has sex every night on the rooftop with faceless men. To add to that, she had sex with them in the middle of the night while her parents were asleep! Talk about guts! Yet she seemed bored of sex because she would pick zits on the back of her sexual partners. Lux Lisbon was a difficult person to read and it was hard to tell what her real emotions were. If she was every boy's dream, then she was every parent’s NIGHTMARE! Out of all the sisters, Lux also wore the boldest clothes. The boys were so infatuated with her that they remembered a yellow halter-top she wore one July but was told to take it off by her mom. "Tied behind her neck in a bow, the halter descended on two thin straps over her pale shoulders and sculpted collarbones, swelling finally into two yellow slings. The halter was slightly askew on the right side, revealing a soft white plumpness as she stretched. '' July, two years ago,'' said Joe Hill Conley, identifying the last time we'd seen the halter" (pg 201). Her choice of clothing represented her personality and coincidently she wore that same halter top that her mom told her to take off when she committed suicide. She was the only one who had the audacity to go against her parents.
Cecilia Lisbon:
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| Cecilia with her cintage 1920 wedding dress |
Cecilia was not in the book too long but yet she left an impact on the reader and her family. Cecilia was known to be the shy girl with low self-esteem and the one who survived her first attempt to kill herself. Cecilia never spoke much. However, one important moment of hers is when she has a conversation with the doctor. The doctor says, "What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." Cecilia responded with saying "Obviously, Doctor, you've never been a 13-year-old girl." That one life basically summed up her character. She was having a hard time and did not like her parents or her environment. Her sisters liked her so much that in order to preserve her memory they stood in front of Cecilia's favorite elm when workers came to chop it down. The sisters stood around it, holding hands and they did that until the workers gave up and left because that tree was their last memory of their deceased sister.
Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon:
Anyone who will read this book will absolutely despise the parents. Their lack of sympathy, love and emotion just makes you want to slap them senseless. The parents do not let their daughters date, wear revealing clothes and socially interact with other or go to parties. The one time they let the girls out, Lux comes back home past curfew and drunk. The parents were so harsh that they pulled the girls out of school and put the girls on house arrest. That is inhuman! Is that a way to treat your children? However, it seemed as if the parents were in denial of their lack of love. Mrs. Lisbon was quoted saying "My girls did not lack of any love. We had plenty of love in our home." You obviously did not have enough love in your home because the neighborhood said so, you put your children on house arrest, pulled them out of school and news flash-- ALL of your girls committed suicide because they were sick and tired of abiding by your senseless rules. Let your girls live a life. Protection is good but overprotection gets you nowhere though. One part I would have to say I was pleased with the parents and that was when the workers came to cut the tree and they tried convincing the Lisbon girls to move aside and let them cut down the tree. However, the girls refused to budge and the workers ended up going to the parents but Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon refused to help them. ''I don't want to call the police'', said the worker. '' The police?'' Mrs. Lisbon asked. ''The girls are just standing in front of their own front yard. Since when is that a crime?'' I loved that! It shows that the parents still care about Cecilia and want to protect and preserve the last memory of hers that they have. That was her favorite tree and the Lisbon’s' do not want to forget that. On the contrary, the award for best parents definitely does not go to them.
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| The parents of the deceased girls |
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