Lucille’s “Familiar” in “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson (post 2, cont.): In using this term, was the author erudite, sneaky, or truthful?

Erudite

Many educated people are familiar with the term “familiar” as it is used in Housekeeping and Jane Eyre. It is so well known that it has its own entry in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spirit

Sneaky

But the term’s most common use is in stories about witches. And when something is out of its usual context, it is often ignored; for example, few readers notice its use in Jane Eyre.

So Marilynne Robinson may have assumed, correctly, that few if any readers of Housekeeping would know what was meant by Lucille’s having a “familiar.”

Truthful

Marilynne Robinson would probably say that her characters are the way they are, and that in saying Lucille had a familiar, Ruth was simply telling the truth.