英文文學與文化教學資料庫

Housekeeping

作者Author / Marilynne Robinson 瑪麗蓮．羅賓森

Study Questions

I. Mothers, (Fathers,) and Daughters
	1. What roles do men play in this novel? 2. How is grandmother's housekeeping presented? How is she related to her daughters? 3. Ruth and Lucille's "mothers:" Who take the role of "mothers" to her and Lucille? How are each of them characterized? 4. Ruth's and Lucille's growth: The story is narrated from Ruth's point of view. How do they grow apart from each other and why?

II. Feminine writing and Women's stories
	5. Cixous sees in women's writing "the potential to circumvent and reformulate existing structures through the inclusion of other experience." How is this done in Housekeeping? Consider both its narrative style, main focus and "the other women" in it. (What are the other women's stories that get told in this novel? Why?)


III. Symbolic meaning
	6 What are the different houses we see in this novel? How are they "kept" differently by different characters? 7 The setting itself is symbolic: Fingerbone, the lake and the train that goes through the bridge.