Mack, J.E. & Hickler, H. (1981). Vivienne: The life and suicide of an adolescent girl. Boston: Little, Brown & Co.

OVERVIEW

A Harvard professor of psychiatry and the girl’s English teacher collaborate with family and friends to explain this suicide.

On the evening of December 21, 1973, an attractive, intelligent and gifted white girl hung herself in her mother’s study of their New England suburban home. She was fourteen years old.

A special child in many ways, Vivienne Toomies was the daughter of intelligent parents: a serious, withdrawn father, a Unitarian chaplain; and an energetic, extraverted mother, a gifted craft artist and part-time librarian. Her older brother patterned his behavior after the father; her eighteen-year-old sister was more like their mother. Vivienne seemed caught between a tension of "pushing ahead and holding back."

A sixth- and seventh-grade teacher became Vivienne’s idol and confidant. During her eighth-grade year, the teacher left for the West Coast. She was also experiencing other significant losses. At the time of her suicide, the family was preparing to move from Melrose to Gloucester, Massachusetts. Vivienne’s best friend and family did not seem to be enough for her.

According to the book, "Children in early adolescence rarely talk about their deepest feelings and conflicts." Instead, diaries and letters contain some of adolescents’ deepest insights—the first half of this book is Vivienne’s story, much in her own words as collected by her English teacher. One example is cited below:

April, 1973
I am worthless. I am of no use to anyone...A person who has committed suicide has had at least something to end...I have known nothing. I wonder if love would change anything. I don’t know anymore...I need people and there aren’t any who care. It takes tolerance not to give in to death.

The second half of this book explores the meaning of Vivienne’s life and suicide. The book states, "The suicide is a direct outgrowth of Vivienne’s depression, while the depression in turn derives from the structure of her personality...Low self-esteem was at the heart of Vivienne’s depression...Vivienne chose to die to relieve unbearable pain."

Prior to her suicide, Vivienne was sexually active. She was denied protection from sexual assaults which a permissive society and family allowed. Notes the book, "She was denied the delay in dealing with sexuality that she needed." Additionally, "Her precocious sensitivity, her excessive idealism, her abnormal idealization...made her vulnerable to the impact of...social problems...If the media are helping to educate some, they are perhaps also contributing to the destruction of others."

This book sensitively examines a life and family; it also analyzes self-esteem, depression and suicide. It was written to provide help "to anyone close to adolescents: therapists and counselors, teachers...family," leaders and friends.

The authors suggest that readers should "regard suicide as the final act in an extensive set of determining forces—biological, psychological, interpersonal, familial and social—that build, not necessarily in a regular sequential or orderly fashion, toward the final outcome."

IMPLICATIONS

Here we have an honest evaluation and documentation of events leading up to a suicide. We need to have the confidence in what this book shares to take the information and act in situations that are similar. Even if we are quick in our conclusions, the loss is only in ourselves and not the loss of a life due to our inaction.

Dean Borgman cCYS