Mother Figure

One of the major themes that pops up throughout Housekeeping is family and family as a social construct. We, as readers, see this so many times because first Ruth and Lucille bounce around to different caretakers, and then when they end up with Sylvie semi-permanently, it is obvious that Sylvie is not the typical mother figure we are accustomed to. What intrigues me most, however, is why Ruth (and, for a time, Lucille) have such an attachment to Sylvie.

It was clear from the start that Sylvie is not the most responsible adult. In chapter 4, Ruth and Lucille have to lie to Lilly and Nona about Sylvie telling them to come inside and not play in the snow, when in actuality the roles were reversed and Sylvie was the one outside in the snow without protection from the elements. The fact that Ruth and Lucille lied about this right off the bat after barely knowing Sylvie at all is very significant, because it was as if they knew Sylvie wan't going to become more responsible, and they wouldn't come across any real stories of Sylvie in that take-charge role.

I guess it makes sense, though, that Ruth and Lucille developed such strong feeling towards Sylvie; they had been abandoned by Helen when she committed suicide, they were "abandoned" by Grandma Sylvia when she died, and they were basically straight up abandoned by Lilly and Nona, who couldn't wait to get away. Sylvie was he first person in a while who was actually nice to the girls, even if she wasn't the best role model.

My last blog post was about it isn't inherently bad that Sylvie is a transient (or at least that's what I was trying to say; I hope that the point got across) so I almost just beat myself up for saying that Sylvie isn't a good role model. However, she isn't the best role model. It's not the fact that Sylvie isn't good at keeping put any adjusting to life in a house that makes her bad role model, it's the fact that Sylvie does not know how to act socially. I don't like the way I'm phrasing that, but the only other words that came to my head were about Sylvie not being able to follow the rules of society, and yet that sounds very conformist and I don't mean it to.

The thing is, Sylvie just straight up stole a mans boat in chapter 8 (I think) with Ruth at her side, and she completely ignored the fact that she just stole a dudes boat. I don't think that's okay. There's also the fact the they stole this boat to go visit some ruins when Ruth was supposed to be in school. Sylvie actually persuaded Ruth to skip so they could go on this adventure, and I don't think that's good because I believe people should have at least a basic education, and having your guardian persuade you to skip isn't exactly the best way to guarantee that happens. Additionally, I feel like Sylvie definitely should have called the police after Lucille ran away, no matter how much she didn't want to; something bad could have happened to Lucille and it was irresponsible of Sylvie to not do everything she could to locate her.

Any last thoughts or comments?

More Than One Road

I just commented on Darren's post about how Housekeeping has made me think pretty intensely about life. Why are some ways of life okay and others not?

Housekeeping is a great book because of how simple it is to contrast multiple ways of living; it's one of the major themes in the novel. Sylvie is a transient; staying in one place for a long period of time isn't her cup of tea, and she certainly isn't one to "housekeep". And that's okay.

The thing is, I (and many of you I'm sure) have grown up with my life half-mapped out for me already; graduate high school, go to college, graduate college too, etc. That's always been the plan and what's expected of me. I'm actually somewhat ashamed because, when I started the novel, I was under the bigoted notion that my way is "right". But the more I read, the more I found myself questioning this. Why did I think it was "right" for me to to college and "wrong" for me not too? Ultimately I think people should do whichever best suits their future plans; lot's of people make it big without graduating college (Bill Gates anyone?!). And yet I've been brought up with these societal expectations and ideas about how one way is superior to another way, even though different people thrive in different environments.

I think this is what Lucille struggled with. She didn't fit into the more fluid, boundless lifestyle Sylvie enjoyed and introduced Ruth to; Lucille needed some sort of structure, and she also paid a lot more attention to the societal norms of her time (sew dresses, pay attention to beauty, take home economics, etc.). Lucille wouldn't have been happy living such a transient lifestyle, and that's okay. Sylvie and Ruth do enjoy such way of life, and, while the people of Fingerbone definitely do not agree with it, that's okay too.

I think.

With this post done, I do fully intend to further develop a draft I have about Sylvie's ability to be a parent. I hope I don't contradict myself too much. Be on the lookout!