Jacob's Wake Play Analysis

In the play jacob’s wake by Michael Cook a major focus is on the kitchen of the house. Culturally in newfoundland the kitchen is the hub of the household. A majority of the time it was the only place in the house where there was heat was thus becoming a congregating ground. The symbol of the newfoundland kitchen ties the newfoundland family together. The kitchen not only ties the family together in a symbolic way, but also in a physical way, being the kitchen is one of the only warm places in the house thus naturally becoming the hub of family happenings. Regardless of what hectic happenings are going on, the kitchen remains a necessary constant in the ever changing lives of newfoundlanders. Historically being a newfoundlander meant always being faced adverse conditions weather having to change professions every season or dealing with death all too frequently, the kitchen remains a familiar constant in Newfoundlanders lives. …show more content…
We see in the play that most of the action in the house erupts near or from the kitchen. The further from the kitchen the less lively the scene, furthering the notion that the kitchen is the heart of the house. A parallel can be seen of skipper, slowly dieing far away from the kitchen, and the rest of the Blackburn family are alive and well living downstairs, close to the kitchen. Even though skipper is bedridden we still do see a slight glimpse of trying to impose the familiarity of the kitchen with having skippers bottle of rum in his room, in the the same way the other men of the house are offered a beer to calm down in the kitchen, the same familiarity is in skippers room. This parallel is even more evident when skipper presumably dies and resurrects downstairs close to the