Please describe your impressions of this extraordinary woman. Why does she cook more than her family can possibly eat? Cooking is often a sign of great domesticity--is this so for Ravenna?
Ravenna has a face which is sharply angular. Her black hair is swept into an implacable knot. She has a stiff sudden manner and wears a plain black dress with a white apron. My impression of Ravenna is of a wife who has a lot of anger. Her kitchen is her sanctuary and she powers her venom into endless meals that she cooks. Her vegetables represent her sorrow and despair and she takes her fury out on her pots and pans.
Ravenna’s overcooking and serving her husband endless meals and then discarding them is not her domesticity coming out but her way of expressing their 18 years of grief and regret.
What do you make of her relationship with her daughter? How do you see their relationship changing (if at all)?
Meridia and Ravenna’s relationship is very strained because of the problems with her mother’s marriage. As Meridia moves around her house, Ravenna is not aware of Meridia’s presence and therefore tends to think her mother is not interested in her. There seems to be a wall between them. It’s not until Ravenna notices that her daughter is in love that she finally seems to take an interest in Meridia. She takes Meridia’s side in the discussion with Gabriel in regards to Meridia’s pending marriage. She tells Gabriel that Meridia is a “grown women who knows what she wants and is capable of bearing children and responsible enough to merit her freedom.” She warns Meridia though: “Whatever you do, do not repeat my mistakes.”
What is her relationship with Gabriel like?
The maid revealed to Meridia that at one time that Gabriel and Ravenna did a lot of entertaining and “even a stranger could tell how much they loved each other. It was said that an electric current jolted the room every time their glances met.” But soon after Meridia’s birth: “a cold wind was tearing the house upside down.” The cold seemed to affect Gabriel the most. He became irritable and critical of everything and stopped inviting guests to the house. Ravenna grew agitated and withdrawn, lost her appetite and complained of frequent headaches. It seems to me that Gabriel finds solace with his mistress and Ravenna is left to spend all her time banging her pots and pans in her kitchen.
What is Ravenna's relationship with the house?
Ravenna’s relationship with the house is indicative of her relationship with Gabriel. The house turned very cold the night Gabriel did not come home until the cocks crowed and the mist appeared at the door. The arguments rose to a fever pitch and Ravenna wept around the clock and soon they stopped speaking to each other. Meridia could not understand how Ravenna could sleep in the bedroom which was so cold with a frosty wind fluttering the curtains and rattling the lamps.
Eadie - A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music -- that would be rest. - Eleanor Roosevelt
