The Winter Room

Content Warning: This section of the guide depicts animal cruelty and death and references death by suicide and child death. 

Eldon hates fall even though all the work is done. His father is more relaxed, and his mother enjoys the season. Uncle David and Nels also ache less. Eldon enjoys going to Jenny’s Lake. Wayne says that the ghost of a woman walks on the water because she died by suicide there after her man was killed in a war. Eldon’s parents have carved their initials in a tree. The family has lunch on the beach; Eldon and Wayne enjoy playing in the water, and Uncle David chats with Nels about the past. 

Eldon does not like the “killing part” of fall. His father goes to the barn with his rifle to shoot steer. Eldon watches his father shooting the steer’s head and the skinning and cutting process that follows. His mother makes blood sausage from it, but Eldon never eats it. 

For Eldon, though, the worst part is killing the pigs. His father does not shoot them but cuts their throats with a knife. Eldon cannot stand the smell of blood and the pigs’ screams.