Chapter 5: The Cleaning Lady Summary and Analysis

During his time in the Finch's house, Augusten comes to tolerate their weird habits and lack of cleanliness. He deals with their arguments and lack personal boundaries. He begins to describe the odd habits of the members of the Finch household. Agnes cleans obsessively, though she makes little real progress; the house always remains in a straight of disrepair.

Dr. Finch believes in a fluidity of the rules. His children come and go as they please, in a very real sense. They move in with friends who practice dangerous habits, then move back when the situation becomes more than they can handle. Even the doctor's young grandson, who they call Poo, operates without rules when in the house. He runs naked and plays inappropriately with the family dog.

He also meets Joranne, a patient of...