attitudes of the time period may have influenced perceptions of women already struggling with any types of mental illness. In addition, fiction which explores mental illness has basically made a genre of itself; although some young adult novels can be romanticized to suit some younger generation’s taste for romance. In retrospect, familiar classics too show the tenderness and vulnerability of the issue. “And it was then Cecilia gave orally what was to be her only form of suicide note, and a useless one at that, because she was going to live: “Obviously, Doctor,” she said, “you’ve never been a thirteen-year-old girl.” In some ways, The Virgin Suicides is kind of an anti-coming-of-age novel. Its protagonists are in a transition stage ranging in age from thirteen to seventeen, from being a kid to an adolescent. Ironically, they don’t even make it past adolescence seeing that the imagery of Lux’s bra hanging on Cecilia’s crucifix shows that even religion and sex show the juxtaposition of the bra which is symbolizing sexual awakening, and the crucifix symbolizing sacrifice—maybe even death. A reason why reading and mental illness are both combined, is when the two are put together, they both become very personal—like how readers acquire vulnerability because they may relate to it in their personal lives. What’s most important though, that even in fiction, writing about mental health should be in a way, responsible and true, not something backtracking progress in combating the stigma it pertains. Since mental illness is so widely misunderstood, it may not be readily apparent to authors why depicting it accurately is so important and compels others to give their full attention.
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