Something that really struck me were the parallels between Sylvie in Housekeeping, and Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series (If you've read Harry Potter previously, you may be already drawing connections between the two). Although the chance that J.K. Rowling actually based Luna on Sylvie is near impossible, the two characters are remarkably alike.
If I tried to write about their numerous similarities it would get awfully repetitive, so I made a table:
Sylvie Fisher
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Luna Lovegood
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Likes to spend time amongst nature. For example, she doesn't sweep the leaves into the corner of her house because she doesn't want to disturb nature. She doesn’t mind the rodents, birds and insects that later inhabit the dilapidated house.
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In the 5th movie, Luna is seen bringing apples to the thestrals in the Forbidden Forest, all while barefoot. In fact, Luna goes on in her adult career to become the wizarding equivalent of a naturalist, called a magizoologist.
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Sylvie doesn’t mind the rain seeping through her shoes. In fact, she kind of enjoys it. She buys garish jeweled slippers for Ruth and Lucille. One Lucille realizes that the slippers aren’t particularly stylish by society standards, she rips the sequins off.
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Luna owns a pink-strawberry printed pair of sneakers, which her classmates hid from her. Thus, for most of the year, she walks barefoot through the halls and outside. In the movie, she doesn’t seem very upset about it.
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Expanding on Sylvie’s style, she arrives in Fingerbone wearing a green dress made of silk, complete with an ornate brooch of lilies.
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Luna is well known for her odd sense of style. At a wedding, she shows up in bold yellow dress robes, complete with a sunflower in her hair. Luna also regularly wears radish earrings, a beetle ring, pink glasses with one red and one blue lens, and a necklace made of a Butterbeer cork.
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Sylvie is a non-conformist by definition. Her idea friends are people who she has just met for mere hours. She does not eating with the lights on. She doesn’t keep the house tidy and often snacks on crackers stored in her coat pockets. Nearly everything about Sylvie’s lifestyle is the opposite of “normal”.
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Ravenclaw prizes originality, creativity and individualism. Luna embodies these characteristics. She is well known for reading the Quibbler, her dad’s magazine, upside down. She also keeps onions in her purse, to ward off vampires. Luna’s often described as “bizarre” in the series by other characters.
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Standing out in the crowd doesn’t come without judgement, however. In Housekeeping, almost all of Fingerbone whispers about the weird woman who is Sylvie. She is stared at nearly everywhere she goes. Soon, Lucille finds herself unable to live with such a non-conformist. The residents start to question Sylvie’s parenting abilities and turn their noses at the condition of her house. Sylvie doesn’t really mind all the attention until the close of chapter 9.
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Luna is often referred to as “Loony Lovegood” for her eccentric appearance and behavior. As mentioned above, she was the frequent victim of stealing and hiding. For the most part, she was unfazed by all the rumors about her and instead chose to be non judgemental and quite accepting of the people around her.
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Probably the hardest but most important characteristic to describe is the lofty, carefree manner in which Sylvie conducts herself. She remains calm under all circumstances, including the flooding. She doesn’t mind walking in damp clothes. Sometimes Sylvie, known for being remote, becomes lost in her own thoughts and doesn’t reply when her name is called.
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Luna is also characterized by her dreamy and distant demeanor. When faced with an uninteresting conversation, she often drifts away. Luna has no trouble spending time alone with her thoughts. Although Harry, Ron and Hermione find her bizarre, they eventually become quite fond of her, just as Ruth becomes fond of Sylvie and her mannerisms.
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Personally, I think Sylvie comes across as intelligent, in her own unique way. Although she does seem detached, I feel as if all her actions and words are very deliberate.
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Luna is also smart (Ravenclaw), but not in the same way as say, Hermione is. She loves learning about odd things, and doesn’t care if it had a logical, practical application or not. She doesn’t care if people things she’s nuts or wasting her time. Instead, she wants to know things simply because they are there to know: she values knowledge for its own sake.
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Imagining Sylvie as Luna had actually made the book come to life for me. Although there are lots of similarities between the two, there are also differences, which I didn't really address. As we come to the end of the book, I'm looking forward to see how Sylvie deals with some serious judgement coming her way.
