The ironic mother
Ruthie and Lucille's mother commits suicide, making her an ironic mother image, since typically mothers are responsible for nourishment, assistance, and love. Instead, these girls inherit their mother's agony and frustration, and her suicide becomes the main drama of their young lives. In other words, they inherited a curse instead of a blessing, because they must sort through the aftermath without any stability.
The irony of opposites
In this novel, the opposites of chaos and order are highlighted, as the title indicates (housekeeping is the process of bringing order to a chaotic house, and Aunt Sylvie's house is a mess). This is ironic, because regardless of their temperament, both girls are undeniably chaotic. Their lives don't have a fixed sense of "home," and neither sister knows what to do to become happy. They merely deal with this confusion in opposite ways.
Another irony here is that the sisters seem like opposites, but in most ways, they are similar. Lucille goes to Boston for the same reason her sister stays behind—to find peace.
The ironic aunties
Instead of getting sent directly to Aunt Sylvie after the death of their grandmother, the girls get sent to Nona and Lily. These two are situationally ironic, because they are united, whereas the girls end up going separate ways. But they are even more ironic because they can't handle the winter.
This is ironic, because their job is to help the girls survive the deadly winter of depression that comes after severe trauma, but they chicken out just because of the weather. Here is another instance of the girls being disappointed by their family.
The irony of gender
Gender is ironic in this novel for an unusual reason: There are no men in the plot. The plot follows two sisters, raised by three aunts (all without husbands) after their mother (without husband) commits suicide, and after their grandmother (without husband) dies.
The irony of pursuing peace
Ruthie picks her Aunt Sylvie's example, but that comes with some serious issues to consider. Namely, Aunt Sylvie is not a responsible person. She is a wandering soul. In other words, Ruthie is brooding in the chaos of her situation and becoming a fairly chaotic person. Lucille goes the other way and tries to find peace within an orderly, straightforward life. The irony is that nothing works. Ruthie is on a crash course to homelessness, and Lucille is on a crash course to existential crisis. It seems that peace is tricky.
