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?
I agree that I don't think Sylvie is a very good role model (like she stole a freaking BOAT), but I think Sylvie is good for the girls because she allows them to do their own thing while still actually *being there* for them, which i think is important since they've never really had anyone like that before.
ReplyDeleteI really like the description that someone brought up in class for Sylvie which was that she was a friend. This captures how she does fun things with them but is not necessary a perfect role model, as you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteRuth and Lucille's lives and circumstances have really created some big roadblocks for them in their coming of age. One of the critical aspects of their maturity is that they are mindful of and take responsibility for their actions, but how are they able to do that when "bad" behavior (like stealing a boat) is modeled by Sylvie, and no other caretaker or adult in their lives has been responsible enough to take care of Ruth and Lucille?
ReplyDeleteSylvie's "role model" status might be akin to some of her other efforts to at least try and do what she believes might be expected of her (as with housekeeping). She never has thought of herself as a role model before coming back to Fingerbone, and she assumes responsibility for the girls because it seems like there's no other real option. She doesn't seem to actively consider herself a role model--more that she tries to meet the basic requirements of keeping the girls alive. But we do see her *trying* (often with comical results), as when Ruth describes her as trying to pull some kind of "moral" from her stories about meeting crazy people on trains ("You never know when you're going to see someone for the last time"). They're not inappropriate lessons; they just don't really fit the story. And we get the sense that Sylvie would really rather just tell the story, without the moral.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Sylvie sees much importance in "traditional" parenting, and therefore doesn't really care much about doing whats expected of a guardian (sort of like she doesn't care about stealing the boat).
ReplyDeleteIf she's genuinely trying to clean the house when she walks around with a broom, then she has severe ADD or something (cmon, just sweep out the leaves). On the other hand, maybe she just doesn't care/see the point in sweeping out the leaves and is playing around.