VIRGIN SUICIDES POST 2

"Together we watched Mrs. Lisbon push open her car door with one goot, then climb out, holding her purse over her head to keep dry. Crouching and frowning, she opened the rear door. Rain fell. Mrs. Lisbon's hair fell into her face. At last Cecilia's smal head came into view, hazy in the rain, swimming up with odd thrusting movements because of the double slings that impeded her arms. It took her a while to get up enough steam to roll to her feet. When she finally tumbled out she lifted both slings like canvas wings and Mrs. Lisbon took hold of her left ledbow and hed her into the house. By that time the rain had found total release and we couldn't see across the street"

The author uses a dreary setting and a metaphor to set up the return home of Cecilia. Usually when someone comes home from a hospital it is a good thing; in this case, it is quite the opposite. The darkness, "rain" and "haze" set up her return as dreary. Her attempt at getting out of the car is oddly reminiscent of a baby bird leaving its nest. The diction helps solidfy this comparison: "she lifted both slings like canvas wings". This makes it sound like a small bird getting ready to take flight. When Mrs. Lisbon grabs her elbow, it shows an over-protective mother bird restraining her able-bodied, eager youth from taking flight. With the addition of her movements being described as "odd thrusting", the scene takes on a slightly violent undertone. The significance of the dreariness is that coming home from her suicide attempt is even worse than death for Cecilia. She is now restrained even further, both by her canvas slings and by her overbearing mother. Dying would have let her "take flight" away from her miserable life; now, she is stuck at home in restraining casts with her mother acting as an extra boundary from what would have been happiness to the little girl and her old, worn-out soul