The Death Of The Cemetery Workers Strike - 1747 Words

Another example of there being correlations between death and religion, and even a foreshadowing of future death, is when Mr. Lisbon is discussing the cemetery workers strike. He laments cremation as being a heathen practice, and against the idea of reincarnation. Mary would later attempt suicide by sticking her head in the oven. Whilst it wasn’t an attempt at full cremation, it was still an attack on the father’s religious beliefs. Mary was attempting to make her last action be her rebellion against organized religion. The parents, though the mother, in particular, also use religion as an excuse to legitimize the isolation of the daughters. The imprisonment is not restricted to within the home, but is actually a restriction on their†¦show more content†¦Interestingly, there are studies that have proven some sort of correlation between the spiritual needs of a person and mental illness. Cortes says that â€Å"in some cases of mental illness, the spiritual needs of human nature will be directly frustrated or repressed and the spiritual aspect of those illnesses will be very prominent.† (319) Mrs. Lisbon’s isolation of her daughters due to her religious beliefs contributed to exacerbating the already tenuous situation. It’s extremely possible that Eugenides was drawing on research done by others, which had linked suicide with religion. The first major thinker to draw a correlation, and possible causation, between the two was Emile Durkheim. Durkheim, however, posited that having some sort of religious affiliation actually decreased suicidal thoughts due to the fact that it â€Å"enhances social integration normalizes submission or adherence to regulation.† (Pescosolido and Georgianna) The Virgin Suicides seems markedly different because instead of enhancing social integration, it instead diminished social interaction, by confining the Lisbon girls to the home. Perhaps, Durkheim would agree that in such a case religion would actually serve as a facilitating measure to suicide. When the institutions that are supposed to foster a comforting and open environment are instead stifling someone, it’s easy to see how suicide can be seen as the only option. At the same time, however, ità ¢â‚¬â„¢s not just the Lisbon