Housekeeping

After finishing the book, Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson I was not surprised about the ending. From the beginning I could see that Ruth was more of a loner. One can clearly see this through her interaction with people and society. For instance, the way she stars at the ground in public is an obvious sign that she is not comfortable around people. Also there were many signs that Sylvie and Ruth were going to leave after Lucille's departure. The fact Sylvie and Ruth did not want to be separated made a matter of time before they run off together.

I was shocked, however, to find that Ruth was traumatized by the incident at the bridge. Because of that incident, it made her change into a "different" person, where poeople deem her as strange. Her leaving Fingerbone, I thought, would have freed her from the past and make her move on in life. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Ruth ended up thinking about the past even more.

I have no clue on why there were so many negations towards the end of the story. It confused me when Ruth gave us all of these hypothetical scenarios of what happened to Lucille. Although, after some thought, it seems like the negation makes Ruth and Sylvie nonexistent. It seems like Ruth was comparing her and Sylvie to Lucille. Lucille being the "real person who is living her life. Her mentioning of her grandparents and mother not being "there" also makes it sound like Ruth and Sylvie were ghosts to the readers.