Virgin Suicides 2

Passage:

"And then Mr. Lisbon replied: 'They'll grow out. Fingernails keep growing. She can't bite them now, dear.'

Our own knowledge of Cecilia kept growing after her death, too, with the same unnatural persistence. Though she had spoken only rarely and had had no real friends, everybody possessed his own vivd memories of Cecilia."

-This passage allows you to understand Cecilia's character and connect more with her. This passage and the rest of the paragraph show how Cecilia is more alive to those around her after she is dead. It takes her death to get them all to really take interest in their moments with her. The fact that her parents are wondering about her nails when she threw herself out a window, and the fact that the boys never payed this much attention to her when she was alive, allows the reader to see why she was so unhappy with her life. 

-In this passage, again, the author places death next to a casual issue such as nail biting. Eugenides then carries this disturbing idea about her nails continuing to grow over to the next paragraph about the boys' knowledge of Cecilia. The way which their knowledge of Cecilia continues to grow after she is dead also mirrors the way the readers are learning about Cecilia through her death/absence.  This forces the reader to realize the significance of the suicides and encourages him to look harder for the meaning and connections within them.