MR LISBON

1. MR LISBON English Higher Presentation Characterisation

2. Mr Lisbon • Mr Lisbon is a weak character in contrast to his strict, strong willed wife. • He seems to have become more feminine then masculine due to living with 6 women most of the time. • As time went on, Mr and Mrs Lisbon split up and he deteriorated.

3. Mr Lisbon • Mr Lisbon is a traditional man, but he is also more feminine than masculine. It is as though himself and Mrs Lisbon have swapped roles in the household. Mr Lisbon is a man which obeys rules and even in emergencies he would obey the law. • - ‘Mrs Lisbon rode in the back of the EMS truck, followed in the station wagon, observing the speed limit.’ • This was when Cecilia had first attempted to kill herself and the paramedics had taken her to hospital.

4. Mr Lisbon • Mr Lisbon is also portrayed as being ‘feminine’ through the novel. This is most likely due to the fact he has been living with 6 women for many years. • - ‘Mr Lisbon was still sunk in bushes up to his waist, his back jerking as though were trying to pull Cecilia up and off, or as though he were sobbing.’ • This was during the party Mr and Mrs Lisbon had allowed in an attempt to make Cecilia feel better but after she went up stairs, they heard her throw herself out her bedroom window onto the spiked railings outside.

5. Mr Lisbon after Cecilia’s Suicide. • After Cecilia’s death the whole family suffer and the changes don't become apparent until later on in the novel. The family begin to live in the past, and never mention what happened which in turn may not have helped them. • - ‘his puffy red eyes that hardly opened anymore to see his daughters wasting away; his shoes scuffed from climbing stairs forever threatening to lead to another inert body; his sallow complexion dying in sympathy with them; and his lost look of a man who realized that all this dying was going to be the only life he ever had.’ (P160) • This is how Mr Lisbon appeared to the narrator after Cecilia died.