How does mattie set the dinner table and what breaks? also what might it symbolize? please help me.

When Zeena leaves for Bettsbridge, Ethan and Mattie
finally have an opportunity to relax. While Zeena is present, both Ethan and Mattie feel
as if they are under a microscope. Zeena is unduly critical and she makes life difficult
for all. On this night, therefore, Mattie prepares a pleasant meal that includes
doughnuts and pickles. She carefully sets the table, using the best dishes in the house
and she hopes that Ethan will enjoy the food and the ambiance. Fortunately, he does.
Unfortunately, the cat crosses the table and breaks Zeena’s pickle dish. Although Ethan
offers to simply clean up the mess, Mattie panics because she knows that Zeena will be
angered by the loss. Apparently, she kept the pickle dish (a wedding present) in a
particular location and only used it for special
occasions. 

Breaking the pickle dish could possibly suggest
two unfortunate circumstances. The first possibility is that the destruction of the
pickle dish signals the ruin of Ethan’s and Zeena’s pleasant evening. The other option
is that the pickle dish, a wedding present to Ethan and Zeena, could signal the
figurative end of their marriage, which was already damaged and
strained.