The title Housekeeping is ironic, since the novel specifically deals with girls who are essentially homeless. The title indicates the central issue of the novel: Aunt Sylvie doesn't keep a clean house, and Lucille, who prefers an orderly environment, feels uninvited at the house, whereas her sister doesn't mind the mess, and in a way, it seems that Ruthie is being shaped by Aunt Sylvie. The novel ends with Ruthie following Aunt Sylvie into a hard, adventurous life as a drifter, where Lucille prefers her normal life as a day-worker in Boston.
That doesn't mean that Ruthie and Lucille are happy, just because they each find an environment that feels right. Rather, the girls spend the entire novel looking for solace, and the deaths of their mother and grandmother still loom over them, waiting to be properly grieved. But, Ruthie has been severely traumatized and develops a fairly serious case of agoraphobia, and Lucille becomes panicky and frantic in Aunt Sylvie's crazy apartment, so she finds a path to a normal life and pursues it. But at the end of the day, they're just making the best of a horrible situation—both girls really want to be together in the house of their mother.
In that way, the novel is not about Aunt Sylvie at all, but rather, Aunt Sylvie is a symbolic representation of the chaotic world where their mother left them by committing suicide. The novel is a symbol pilgrimage toward independence, in light of undeniable instability, isolation, disappointment, and depression.
