Embrace your Sylvie

After going through class discussion this week, I have decided to delve into my relation to the two sisters for this blog post. In initially reading Housekeeping, I easily related to Sylvie and Ruth and hated Lucille once she moved out. It wasn’t until class discussion where the general agreement seemed to be on the idea that Sylvie and Ruth are somewhat alien and Lucille is the relatable sister that I realized perhaps my point of view isn’t so common, and I found this incredibly interesting.

Robinson refers to Lucille as belonging to “the common persuasion” and it makes sense that, especially in a place like Uni, Lucille’s way of thinking is shared. The main difference between Lucille and Ruth is that Ruth doesn’t care about what other people think and lives entirely in the present, giving little to thought to the future, while Lucille plans for her future and cares very much about appearing respectable. At Uni, students tend to be very concerned for their future. They want to get into a good college, find a stable career, and make a ton of money. Students also tend to act very respectable, to refer to Mr. Sutton’s “Wheel of Respectability”, in order to set the stage for their ideal future. This dedication to the future and respectability is very much like Lucille, so it makes a lot of sense that most people in our class identify with her.

On the other hand, personally I’ve never even questioned who I relate the most to. That’s not to say that I’m exactly like Sylvie and Ruth—in fact, there are a ton of huge differences between them and me. While they lack emotion and are incredibly passive, I am an incredibly emotional person. Hell, I want to go into psychology. In addition I’m growing into a less passive and more assertive person, and I care more about people’s opinions of me and my future than Ruth and Sylvie do. In these ways, I am significantly different from the niece/aunt duo. However, I still can relate to them in many important factors. I have been raised by the emotional, less dreamy version of Sylvie through my mother, a free spirit who I could totally picture letting birds and leaves and nature into her house. As a result, my sisters and I have grown up as essentially less extreme versions of Lucille and Ruth. I have become a transient, barely caring what people think of me, living in the present and not worrying too much about the future, and kind of just doing what I want and living for experiences. I could very easily picture my mother and me going on the somewhat dangerous boat trip that Ruth and Sylvie did, simply for the adventure and on a whim.

Personally, I think that being a “millennial present” like Sylvie and eventually Ruth is the best way to go. Maybe not quite as far as they have, letting nature into their house and giving up emotions, but I can say that embracing their lack of caring about what other people think and simply living makes me happier. I’m far happier embracing my Sylvie than my Lucille, that’s for sure. I think everyone should give the transient way of life some consideration. After all, aren’t we just a blip in the timeline of the world?