Until the very end of Housekeeping I was quite defensive of how Sylvie was raising Lucille and Ruth, and later just Ruth. She had no idea what she was supposed to be doing and dropped everything to take of some unfortunate kids which I respect a great deal. Sylvie seemed to be bringing her transience into the home--as opposed to forcing the kids to acclimate to her chosen lifestyle, she conformed to theirs'. I lost my respect for her at the end. She made many decisions I can find no ways to agree with. When raising a teenager, never telling them no is not an option. The girls were able to skip school, but that wasn't my gripe.
Ruth becomes a transient, but not solely of her own accord, in my opinion. The only mother figure Ruth ever really attached to was Sylvie and for a long time Sylvie was a fabulous companion for this lost little girl; but, as Ruth aged she became too attached to Sylvie as she was the only person she steadily socialized with. Under this influence she was easily coerced into crossing the bridge into transience. I am quite sure she wouldn't have chosen this on her own so early because of her trip to the island with Sylvie. Ruth didn't like being ditched and alone with her thoughts and she didn't talk the entire time. If she felt that way for a day, how would she feel being that way the rest of her life.
Also, just another tidbit as to Sylvie actually taking care of Ruth at the end: what's going to happen to Ruth when Sylvie dies? Because Ruth has become another part of Sylvie and has attached herself to her. She'll be utterly lost and have nowhere to go without Sylvie. To not consider that before running off, or worse, to consider it and disregard it, is truly cruel and irresponsible. Ruth will be a child no matter how old she gets because she's never had to grow up.
It's interesting how you thought of what is going to happen to Ruth in the aftermath of this book. I guess I never thought of that because the way the end of Housekeeping is written makes it seem as if time in Ruth and Sylvie's lives is frozen. While the novel ends at a point where Ruth is still learning the ropes of being a transient from Sylvie, I don't think it is impossible for Ruth to eventually live on her own. After all, Ruth did manage to more or less take care of herself in all the years before Sylvie came into the picture. Also, by the time Sylvie dies or gets too old to take care of Ruth, Ruth will have had enough time to grow into the world of transience. WHile she may never "grow up" in our sense of the phrase, she'll be ok. I think Ruth in the future would probably resemble the Sylvie we didn't know, the one who hopped on and off trains and neer settled down until she had to care for the girls. This Sylvie never really grew up either, but still managed to lead a well off life.
ReplyDeleteYour qualms here are all perfectly reasonable, and they especially fit the picture we have of the younger Ruth. The trick of this novel is that the Ruth telling the story--who in many ways seems so different from the shy, awkward girl she depicts her younger self as--seems so fully okay with the course her life took. In fact, we get the strong sense that her authoritative, "wise" narrative voice is to a significant extent *forged* through her experiences as a transient. She seems to have no regrets about the decision she made, and she takes on the philosophical views that Sylvie embodies as her own.
ReplyDeleteAs for what will happen to Ruth when Sylvie dies, hasn't she already been defined by a parent suddenly disappearing without warning (as Sylvie herself was)? How is their situation as transients any different? Her adult/confident narrative voice would state that this is simply the way of the world, whether she's living in her grandmother's house or in a month-by-month apartment with Sylvie. Again, I go to the narrative voice itself as evidence: the adult Ruth doesn't seem "childlike," as Sylvie is, and she doesn't seem like the child Ruth either. She seems perfectly self-possessed and self-sufficient in the way she frames her sentences. The voice we encounter in the first paragraph and through to the end of the novel itself represents the "end" of Ruth's story. Somehow, the little girl becomes a grown woman who can write with such stunning sensitivity and insight, who accepts the facts of life with clear-eyed courage.