What is "house-fit"?
This nervousness had nothing to do with the woman,whom he loved a little bit more every day: her hands among vegetables, her mouth when shelicked a thread end before guiding it through a needle or bit it in two when the seam was done, theblood in her eye when she defended her girls (and Beloved was hers now) or any coloredwoman from a slur. Also in this house-fit there was no anger, no suffocation, no yearning to be elsewhere.He just could not, would not, sleep upstairs or in the rocker or, now, in Baby Suggs' bed. So hewent to the storeroom.

"house-fit"In this sentence:" Also in this house-fit there was no anger, no suffocation, no yearning to be elsewhere."

Question

What is "house-fit"?
This nervousness had nothing to do with the woman,whom he loved a little bit more every day: her hands among vegetables, her mouth when shelicked a thread end before guiding it through a needle or bit it in two when the seam was done, theblood in her eye when she defended her girls (and Beloved was hers now) or any coloredwoman from a slur. Also in this house-fit there was no anger, no suffocation, no yearning to be elsewhere.He just could not, would not, sleep upstairs or in the rocker or, now, in Baby Suggs' bed. So hewent to the storeroom.

"house-fit"In this sentence:" Also in this house-fit there was no anger, no suffocation, no yearning to be elsewhere."

Answer

I just did a google search. It is a term made up by this author that she explains earlier in in the book.

"He believed he was having house-fits, the glassy anger men sometimes feel when a woman's house begins to bind them, when they want to yell and break something or at least run off."

Apparently it describes the feeling some men have when faced with domestic responsibilities they would rather shirk.  Poor lambs.

Answer

Hi, Melanie

According to me without the assistance of anyone or the web, the significance of "house-fit" from your article is an alienation of a male who is tied down inside of a house that apparently he shared with a living or deceased loved one of the opposite gender, and since the memories are so potent, he feels neglected in leaving the house, so therefore he'd take a fit if he did.

Answer

I am mystified as to the meaning of this.  Have never heard of it and can't think of any reasonable explanation.

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