53 pages • 1 hour read
Kathleen GrissomThe Kitchen House
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 11-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “Lavinia”
Mr. Waters tells James that he’s leaving, but James, ignorant of the man’s predatory behavior, pleads with him to stay. James must leave again for business, and with Martha incapacitated, he wants to make sure that there’s a firm male presence in Marshall’s life. James tells Mr. Waters that if he’s “willing to stay, I give you full authority to use whatever measures you feel necessary to guide him” (78). Mr. Waters accepts and stays.
Lavinia happily falls into the routine of caring for baby Campbell. Although the doctor prescribed a heavy dose of laudanum for Martha, James tells Mama Mae to gradually wean her off them. Once James is gone, Marshall asks his mother if she can send him away for school rather than allowing Mr. Waters to be his tutor. When she begins asking questions, he becomes defensive and swings at her. She falls into a table, and it’s clear that Marshall doesn’t have anyone to turn to for help.
On hog killing day, a celebratory day when the plantation slaughters its hogs and meat is plentiful, Lavinia finds Marshall in the outhouse. Mr. Waters has just sexually and physically abused him, and he is conscious but unresponsive. Mama Mae takes care of him while Ben guards him from Mr. Waters. Later that evening, Mr. Waters tries to rape Dory, so the slaves concoct a plan: Belle will give Rankin liquor laced with laudanum, and Ben will get rid of Mr. Waters.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Belle”
Chapter 13 Summary: “Lavinia”
Martha is getting better. Her “mental and physical health strengthened as her laudanum doses diminished” (103). Martha and Lavinia grow closer; Martha teaches her how to read and write and tells her stories from her past. Martha’s father was Irish, just like Lavinia, and she was very close with her two sisters. It’s clear she has regrets about leaving her tightknit family and moving to James’s isolated plantation. “I was young and foolish […] I was not yet twenty. I thought that this would be an adventure. I had no idea what awaited me here,” she says. (106).
Rankin brazenly comes to Martha’s room, thinking he’s in charge of the plantation, but Martha puts him in his place, saying she is in charge while James is gone. After this encounter, Rankin becomes even more abusive toward the slaves.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Belle”
Belle and the other slaves rehearse what to say about Mr. Waters’s disappearance. She says, “Everybody’s scared of Rankin. Ever since he went up to the big house and Miss Martha talk smart to him, Ida says he’s hitting on them like never before” (109).
Chapter 15 Summary: “Lavinia”
One morning, Rankin and his men tie Jimmy up and beat him, blaming him for Mr. Waters’s disappearance. When Martha hears about it, she grabs her gun and fires a warning shot into the kitchen ceiling, breaking up Rankin’s gang. She says that Rankin has no authority to do this to James’s property. The only man not taking part in the beating is Will Stephens, who at this point in the novel rents a property from James. He is only there because he thought it was a matter of the law. After this incident, Martha gives each house slave a gun, and she tells Rankin about it as a warning.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Belle”
Belle and the other slaves can’t wait for James to return. Everyone is on edge because “Rankin’s just looking for something to get ahold of” (116).
Chapter 17 Summary: “Lavinia”
Everybody thinks that James will return for Christmas, but he doesn’t. Instead, he sends a package of gifts for Martha and Marshall and a letter saying that he’s finishing up business. He’s selling the ship so that he can be home permanently, and he will return in the spring. When he returns, he will take Martha to Philadelphia to visit her father, and Marshall will go away for school.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Belle”
Rankin keeps interrogating the slaves to find out what happened to Mr. Waters, and he’s taken Marshall under his wing. Belle says, “Papa’s saying how Marshall’s spending all his time with Rankin. He’s letting that boy drink liquor and young as he is, Papa says, Marshall’s already got a taste for it” (122).
Chapter 19 Summary: “Lavinia”
On their ninth birthdays, Lavinia, Beattie, and Fanny are making wreaths outside the kitchen house. They get into an argument because Fanny says that one day Lavinia will live in her own big house because she’s white, but Lavinia is adamant that she wants to live in the kitchen house forever. This is the first time they’ve ever had a disagreement involving race.
Marshall is always with Rankin, and Lavinia spends most of her time caring for Campbell and learning from Martha. James returns and sends Marshall off to school.
James, Martha, Dory, and baby Campbell leave to visit Martha’s father in Philadelphia. This leaves Lavinia to care for Dory’s daughter, Sukey, but she misses Campbell terribly. James dismisses Rankin and puts Will in charge, and the plantation flourishes under Will’s guidance: “With Will Stephens in place, life for us that summer was easy” (129).
Chapter 20 Summary: “Belle”
Mama Mae is mourning Dory’s death. Meanwhile, Belle continues to resist the idea of leaving the plantation. James wants her to move to Philadelphia and has already set up an arranged marriage for her so that she can live as a free woman. Belle, mourning Ben’s marriage to a field hand named Lucy, says,
“Everybody’s thinking that when I go to Philadelphia and get with the cap’n’s shoe man, then I’m gonna be happy. But I don’t want no ugly shoe man. I want my Benny. If they just put Lucy back in the quarters and give Benny to me, I won’t say a thing about it. I don’t sleep at night, thinking how to do Lucy” (134).
Chapters 11-20 Analysis
Chapters 11-20 further many of the main plotlines, namely: the end of Marshall’s sexual abuse by Mr. Waters, James’s return to the plantation, Rankin’s dismissal from the plantation, Marshall’s departure for school in town, and Will’s promotion to overseer of the plantation. While these chapters focus more on action and less on character development, many character relationships weaken or strengthen in this section.
Rankin has been a villain for most of the novel. His violence toward the field slaves is a source of terror for them for many years. However, he becomes increasingly brazen once James is away on extended business, going so far as to sexually approach Belle, a house slave who would normally be outside his authority. He even approaches Martha in her bedroom. While things fall apart under Rankin’s rule, the plantation flourishes under Will’s gentle care. This juxtaposition between Rankin and Will demonstrates two sides of the same coin; while both men uphold slavery as field overseers, Rankin demonstrates the effects of corrupted and uncontrolled power, while Will reveals what happens when slaves are treated with respect and dignity.
When James fires Rankin, Marshall goes away to school, and it seems like Rankin’s spell over him might break. With James back on the plantation, Martha’s health and sanity returns, and it seems like things might turn around for the better. There is a growing sense of hope. By Chapter 19, with the news of the yellow fever deaths in Philadelphia, that hope disintegrates; especially for Mama Mae who must now take care of Dory’s daughter. Even Belle feels hopeless, not wanting to leave the plantation but also devastated by Ben’s marriage to Lucy.
Throughout these chapters, Lavinia fully accepts the people around her as family and accepts her role on the plantation. While she loves Mama Mae and Belle and their life in the kitchen house, she also begins to love Martha and cherishes their time together. Martha misses her children, and Lavinia misses her mother; the two find solace in each other. When baby Campbell is born, Lavinia finds a new sense of purpose, eagerly raising the infant as if he is her deceased baby brother. When baby Campbell leaves the plantation with James and Martha, Lavinia is devastated by his absence but looks forward to his return. In the meantime, she and Sukey grow closer.
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By Kathleen Grissom
