The repeated detail that I noticed was the frequent framing of various characters within doorways. A scene that I found this to be interesting was when Ethan's brothers wife, Martha was folding the blankets in the house and was being watched by Ethan. This was one of the scenes that made it fairly obvious that he was in love with her or that something had happened with them in the past. This secret love affair that is never vocalized is one of the many elements of the film that cause us to dislike Ethan but also sympathize with the humanity of his character. The implication that Debbie may actually be his daughter, really drives home the Homeric theme in this movie, causing the viewer to cheer for his quest to find her.
Your points concerning Ethan's and Martha's relationship (and its link to the story's subtending investments in Homeric structure) are very apt. As you suggest, Ethan's relentless drive (as well as his racist rage) must ultimately be seen to relate to the question of Ethan's (probable) fatherhood. My one wish here is that you'd pressed your selected element of mise-en-scene a bit further. The instance of "doorway" you point to is a nice addition to the twin images from the film's beginning and end--and it would be interesting to consider how meanings associated with this recurrent image might resonate with the structures we're touching on here. (One thing that comes to mind: Ethan's relationship with Martha would of course entail a crossing of forbidden thresholds; and another thing that comes to mind is the nature/culture binary that all Hollywood Westerns play with (with "culture" here reduced largely to the cabin interior).
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CS