I really like drawing things back to the struggle between safety and freedom--two opposing ideals that must be chosen between. I talked about this dynamic in regards to The Bell Jar, and was also quite struck by it towards the beginning of Housekeeping. Sylvia and Sylvie seem to embody the two ideals of safety and freedom (Sylvia is safety and Sylvie is freedom). I think the beauty of their lives is that they are both very happy, but neither would be at all happy living how the other lived.
Sylvia and Sylvie are both similar in many ways. They are both happy because they know what makes them happy and they do it. They both seem to be obeying the law of inertia. And they both seem to force their lifestyle upon the kids they are in charge of. I wrote the last similarity earlier in the novel, but just now I realized that while they are also teaching their kids to do what they love. Just because Sylvia lives a sedentary lifestyle does not stop Sylvie from being transient, and Sylvie's transience does not stop Lucille from being sedentary. It seems that either finding your niche (coming of age) is inevitable, or having a parent that does what they love is good guidance and helps kids find what they love, even if it is different.
Sylvia embodies safety, and she does this though having a rigid routine, one which hardly alters even at the death of her husband. She is able to fall into this routine and it makes time appear to stop (she can imagine living with her kids forever). This does make it harder for her when her kids leave, but I think that if she had worried about that possibility it would have eroded the safety that she feels. Her life works for her because she always does the same thing, and she knows that one thing (housekeeping) fits what she wants to do. She is able to get over her husband's death because she can continue with the routine of her life, and act like nothing has changed. By following this safe routine, Sylvia does not have to ever think.
Sylvia embodies freedom by having no routine. She ever worries, but merely takes everything she encounters in stride. Her life seems to be difficult, especially given our traditional values, but it always works out for her. She becomes very resourceful, and is able to tackle all tasks that present themselves. Although she has no routine, she has gotten so used to dealing with new situations that overcoming the unexpected almost becomes a routine for her.
Sylvie's lifestyle appeals more to me personally, but for I do not think that neither safety or freedom is better than the other in an absolute sense. I think Sylvie realizes this (shown in her interaction with Lucille). I am not so sure that Ruth does at the end of the book, although she appears to for most of it (I discussed this in my last blog post if you are interested).
Do y'all understand what I am trying to get at with the whole safety versus freedom dynamic, and do you think that Sylvia and Sylvie are good personifications of it?
I think I understand your safety and freedom dynamic, but I think there might be a slight problem associating Sylvia with safety--although she is comfortabtle, she is not immune to either the loss of her family gradually or the sudden surprise of two grandchildren. Perjaps it would be better to talk of comfort vs. freedom?
ReplyDeleteYeah I get what you are talking about. Sylvia also seems to take things in stride, but in a very different way. Rather that reacting and changing her life based on this she just rather puts something in its place and moving on. An example of this is when her husband died and she just treated it as an extended trip. Sylvie like you says has to be very resourceful and quick thinking although she might not always come off that way.
ReplyDelete"They both seem to be obeying the law of inertia"
ReplyDeleteI really like this concept/sentence. Sylvia is steadfast in her lifestyle... a rock that refuses to move, whereas Sylvie is steadfast in her mobility, impossible to slow down.
By Sylvia do you mean Esther? Esther and Ruth are kind of similar in that they seem to be kind of lacking the kind of very distinctive personalities/character traits that set other protagonists apart. They both seem to be kind of going through the motions with their lives, but I think Ruth is a little more self-aware and notices the fact that she's not really making a mark on society.
ReplyDeleteOf course (and this is partly a response to Even's comment above), Sylvia's "safety" isn't really any more "safe" than any other life philosophy--one unrelenting theme of this novel is that *nothing* is ever safe from the erosion of time. Even houses eventually crumble (reflected in part in Lily and Nona's comical fears of the roof caving in any moment, but also in the ruined house Sylvie and Ruth visit on the lake). What comforts Sylvia is the illusion of stability, but Ruth never lets us forget that this is an illusion. It's a very comforting and even sustaining one, though, and one that I am fully susceptible to myself, even as, on some level I don't fully want to face, I'm aware it's an illusion. (I wrote on exactly this subject in my own first blog post on this novel.)
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