Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping Literary Analysis

Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping, published in 1980, challenges the role that women play in society. It tells the story of three young women in a small town, searching for who they are, and a place to call home. This novel possesses many themes, one of which being freedom. Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping conveys the idea that freedom is attained by breaking away from society, through the symbolism of the crossing of the railroad bridge at the end of the novel. The main characters, Ruth and Lucille, are sisters who experience a lot of loss in their lives. Before they were even born, their grandfather dies while working on the railroad that connects the town of Fingerbone, Idaho to the rest of the country. When they are little, their mother takes them to visit their grandmother, who still
According to writer Thomas LeClair, “The elegant, measured prose of Housekeeping transforms a year in the life of two small-town teenage girls into a profound meditation on loss, transiency, and the shelters we use for protection” (389). The three main characters Ruth, Lucille, and Sylvie all discover their sense of self and a place to call home. Artist Rosemary Booth writes:
The two themes are fundamentally inseparable, and “house” here is the self, product of toil and prey for destruction. In the end, both literal and figurative houses are intentionally destroyed, but out of ashes and dissolution a new self and life emerge. (388)
Ruth is completely different by the end of the novel. She is her own person. She is home. She is free. Freedom can be defined as many things, but first and foremost, freedom is a person’s ability to be who they are without being held down or restrained by anything. At the start of the novel, Ruth is held down by society. When Ruth follows Sylvie across the bridge, nothing is forcing her to be anything but