Friday, March 31, 2017

Your Bridges are Burning Down

To say the least, the last two chapters of "Housekeeping" really threw some important events at us, whether they were expected or not. Ruth running away with Sylvie, being presumed dead, leaving all behind and moving on a truly transient lifestyle as well as finally cutting off all ties with Lucille. What really struck me though was in chapter 11 with the burning of possessions and the house before leaving Fingerbone for good. It's mentioned that they do it because the things they would be leaving behind were personal and either weren't good for anything when they were gone (they were sentimental things) or they just couldn't let others have them. Afterwords, they were forced to cross the bridge in order to leave Fingerbone without anyone finding them. Taking the visible parts of both of the acts, you get burning possessions and crossing a bridge, but in my mind, they both come together as one thing: "burning bridges".

They literally didn't burn down the bridge (that would be a plot twist!), but in the metaphorical sense that they are eliminating all ties to something. With the house, they are burning all of their belongings, which included family sentiments and memorabilia. These are all reminders and ties to the past and to their life there, while the house itself is the anchor. By burning it all, they are effectively severing all ties with Fingerbone as a place. The house not actually ending up burning down is besides the point; it's the act that really counts. The second part of "burning the bridges" is the crossing of the bridge. By crossing the bridge, they go to a place where the inhabitants of Fingerbone will never go, leaving them behind. With this, Ruth and Sylvie cut all ties with the people of Fingerbone. Their supposed deaths only solidify this truth; to Fingerbone, Ruth and Sylvie are now ghosts, taken away by the lake never to be found again like many before them. At this point Fingerbone has no more ties with Ruth and Sylvie apart from it being a place where they had once been, all bridges burned down now free to do whatever they want.

 (Side note, couldn't help but think these lyrics fit the post and moment perfectly, so here they are)


"Gather in the ashes (Your bridges are burning down)
Everything thrown away (They're all coming down)
Gather in the ashes(It's all coming round)
Scatter as they blow away" 
- Foo Fighters, "Bridge Burning"      


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3 comments:

  1. Elizabeth SingerApril 3, 2017 at 11:13 AM

    I love those lyrics. Perhaps the chance of lyrics fitting in so perfectly has to do with that bridges are a pretty common metaphor for change and travel. (Portrait...)

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  2. Dale RobbennoltApril 15, 2017 at 2:29 PM

    I think that your description of the end of Housekeeping as burning the bridges is a fitting description. I think that this is also shown later on as Ruth thinks about going back and seeing the house and Lucille and imagining what an interaction would be like. The fact that she and Sylvie are pronounced dead by the town makes any interaction between Ruth and Lucille unlikely but her thoughts about how a meeting would go strengthen the point that after leaving there is no going back.

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  3. Ethan English BlogApril 21, 2017 at 1:27 PM

    I think spiritual meaning is to be found in the house that they burn, in that somehow there is a connection or reminder to the loneliness that has been endured in the past in the house and items itself. By burning it, they put it behind them, and this symbol of loneliness and tragedy is no more.

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