Discuss Housekeeping and homelessness. Is Sylvie's housekeeping very different from her life as a transient? Why are transients such a threat to the citizens of Fingerbone?

Housekeeping was published in 1980. Compare and contrast modern day homelessness with the transient lifestyle described in the book. Are things different now for the homeless and transient? Is urban homelessness different from the traveling lifestyle described in the book?

The lure of the road is strong in American fiction. How do the transient characters in Housekeeping differ from literary transients floating down the Mississippi in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn or driving down the highway in Jack Kerouac's On the Road?

Discuss women's role in Housekeeping. How does Ruth and Lucille's grandmother regard cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children? What do the maiden aunts, Lily and Nona, think of it? How does Sylvie approach the same challenge...