An Interpretation Of Housekeeping From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

A distinguished contemporary American woman writer, Marilynne Robinson has published three novels and four collections of essays. Although she is not very productive, yet each of her novels receives wide critical attention. Thus, she is acknowledged as one of the best contemporary American writers. Housekeeping (1980), Marilynne Robinson’s debut novel, is set in Robinson’s hometown-Idaho and tells the story of two orphaned sisters growing up in the town of Fingerbone. Housekeeping received the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award for best first novel in1982and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in1982.In Housekeeping, Sylvie’s housekeeping is denied by local residents and authorities in Fingerbone and in the end she is forced to adopt the wandering life with her niece Ruth. Approached from the perspective of Ethical Literary Criticism and based on the concepts of "responsibility" and "justice", the thesis defends Sylvie’s housekeeping by analyzing the aspects of family, school and community. Chapter One compares the two housekeeping styles represented by the grandmother and Sylvie respectively. Chapter Two examines how the school institution rejects Sylvie’s style of educating her nieces. Chapter Three reveals how the community denies and interferes with Sylvie’s housekeeping.Sylvie’s housekeeping differs greatly from the traditional one in that it is characterized by her experience of transience. However, unlike the grandmother who emphasizes material stability, Sylvie provides response to her nieces’inner needs and fulfills her family responsibilities well. However, the community is biased against Sylvie’s difference and intends to split the family. For the school where Ruth and her sister Lucille study and for the community, the so-called justice is to wipe out the differences of the Other. The fact that Sylvie and Ruth are forced to wander from one city to another reveals Robinson’s criticism of the intolerance of those who believe in traditional housekeeping and the so-called justice.Sylvie provides Ruth with warm maternal love and the respect that Ruth deserves demonstrates that Sylvie’s housekeeping is worthy of approval. It is clear that the analysis of the text through the perspectives of "responsibility" and "justice" can be enlightening to the understanding of the non-traditional housekeeping and its effect on the individual, the community and the society. Regarding family responsibilities and social justice, it is indispensable that one should respond to the members’inner needs and that the school and the community should respect and tolerate differences.