The Kitchen House

Consider the narration style. What are the advantages and disadvantages of telling the story from two different points of view? Do you think this story belongs more to Lavinia or Belle, and why? 

In Chapter 47, Lavinia says that she is “just as enslaved as all the others” (300). How is Lavinia’s experience as an indentured servant, and then as Marshall’s wife, like the experience of the slaves on the plantation? How is it different? What commentary is made through this contrast?

Martha and Lavinia’s paths intersect through their laudanum use. How did their feelings of isolation and grief lead to their reliance on the drug? How does this relate to Fanny’s comment that Lavinia’s laudanum use is her “actin’ just like a white woman, just give up, sittin’ in her room”? (308).