Good Will By Jane Smiley Is Disappointment

This paper will be a unique interpretation coupled with an analysis of rhetoric in A Thousand Acre’s by Jane Smiley. This non-fiction novel is told in third person omniscient and is focused on the point of view of one of the main characters, Ginny Cook. A Thousand Acres was a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear; set on a large farm and small town in Iowa. This setting is important to the plot because it is more realistic compared to a far away mystical land that is detached from its audience. Smiley uses various rhetorical and literary techniques within her book to engage readers while still keeping to the basic storyline previously written by Shakespeare. Smiley’s use of language positively aids the imagery and emotions seen

Since the story uses a certain object, the Jacket, as the meaning of several issues, it primarily focuses on the narrator's poverty-stricken family. First of all, an example of the poverty is demonstrated when the narrator complains that the jacket "was so ugly and big that I knew I'd have to wear it a long time"(paragraph 3). It is clear that his lack of money was a problem in which he

The author uses a seemingly endless cycle of poverty to emphasize the cage in which the characters are trapped. As Lizabeth muses over her childhood, she recalls the daily cycle of how “each morning our mother and father trudged wearily down the dirt road and around the bend, she to her domestic job, he to his daily unsuccessful quest for work.” (1). Every morning began the same way, passed the same way, and ended the same way. Lizabeth feels trapped, forced to go through the same series of events for what seems to be the rest of her life, with the same people, in the same place. When the author pairs this with the “dusty” setting of the town and the time placement of the Great Depression, it creates an effect of hopelessness for the first part of the story. This is only furthered by Lizabeth continually returning to the idea that “Poverty was the cage in which we were all trapped.” (1). Lizabeth opens the story by first giving a description of her hometown as “dusty”, remembering the poverty and hopelessness. She then continues by referring to the cage of not having enough money, and the cycle that it put them through, and ends by alluding to her future being limited to her poverty.

To give some context to the story, what is currently happening is the Dad and mom have no real stable way of living income wise which has left them with dirty clothes, no food, and depression. How this theme was introduced here was on page 69 in this quote: “...her face was swollen red ‘It’s not my fault if you’re hungry’ she shouted. ‘Do you think I like living like this? Do you?’”. This has shown how the family is paying for the choices that the parents have made and this continues on in the rest of the story with the family still struggling to live free without any from of constraint. The event results in a vicious cycle of depression as demonstrated in Welch when they had to move because of low income and the kids had to go through neglect or abuse from the mother of Rex and when they moved into a broken down house with no heating to try and fend for themselves for winter. This was due to the parents refusal of jobs and wanting easy money, and judging by the context where the mom’s eyes are “swollen and red” she is crying.

Between the 1929 and 1939, The Great Depression struck the lives of many families, “living under cardboard, poverty, homelessness, jobless” and much more. However, Joe’s early childhood was just more than that. His early experiences set him to learn many lessons for a life time. There was very minimal support from who he called his family, a his cowardly father, sick mother, his devastated brother, and now his heartless stepmother. Just as things seemed to be settling and normal for the disadvantaged young man, things began to fall apart again as a never ending tragedy to him. At their new home, Thula grew frustrated with anxiety about her limited practice to become a future violinist as well as her barbaric character in raising her stepson whom she didn’t have an ounce of respect, sympathy, or care for. The hardworking and self-determined Joe grew up to always being interested in learning and actively working. He had a passion for gardening which the family used in need of their hunger and use of scarce food. As tension boiled over summery days and nights, Thula grew harsher and harsher towards Joe to a point where she informed Harry about his habits and threatened to leave him if he hadn’t let Joe go. Harry, being the coward and forlorn father he was, chose to arrange Joe with a schoolteacher and schoolhouse to make Thula’s life at home easier. From the passages in Chapter 2, the reader is able to understand how depressing, miserable, and hard Joe’s childhood was. It

Crane was giving the abysmal family life because again he was trying to give readers a background as well as a peak into the life of these people. He was explaining and analyzing the level of literacy buy writing passages how they would sound if you said it out loud. He was also showing how hard it was for people growing up in that lifestyle.

A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.

Poverty is a prevailing aspect in the novel because it shows the hardships of the characters and attracts the readers. It also gives more harsh detail into what life was like for migrant farm workers. George and Lennie, the two main characters in the novel, are very impoverished and struggle wi getting o bas necessities s such as food, water, and clothing. Instead of

Men were expected to be the breadwinners while women were expected to take their place at home as housewives. The Wheelers kept true to that so that they could be happy and successful. Frank has an office job in New York while April is a housewife; They have two children and a home in Connecticut. Frank and April are aware of the standards that one needs to follow to be happy but somehow after they have had to follow those norms they are not. They both begin to feel trapped and feel like this is what the rest of their lives would be like. They began to think of ways to escape their lives and thought of ways to bring back excitement or meaning into their lives.

Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the

Money plays a huge part in this story. Hester, the mother, is obsessed with having more and more money. She lives the life of a woman with money, never allowing anyone to see past the family's small income, "The mother had a small income, and the father had a

Throughout this story the reader is encouraged to pull for the underdog. Mr. Haskins and his family represent a family met with hardship, an underdog, potentially pulling themselves up from the bottom and ascending towards success. This subject matter would be unknown to a middle class, well to do family, and as Dr. doCarmo explains: “Naturalist works often deal with subjects most comfortable middle-class readers wouldn’t consider part of their ordinary lives” (doCarmo). Most middle class readers have never faced losing everything such as livelihood, money, and home. This automatically captivates them in the beginning of the story. Garland holds the attention of the middle class by reminding the reader of this unknown throughout the story: “It was the memory of this homelessness, and the fear of its coming again, that spurred Timothy Haskins and Nettie, his wife, to such ferocious labor

Life in the Iron Mills is a tragic yet poignant story of the effects of a man’s socioeconomic status. Although set in the nineteenth century, the story is all too familiar. The short story begins with a reflective narrator begging the audience to read the story with an open mind not tainted by the ideals of high society (Davis). The narrator suggests the story be read from the perspective of the protagonist, Hugh Wolfe, a lowly puddler at the iron mill (Davis). Hugh works long, hard hours at the mill for little to no pay in attempts to provide not only for himself but also for his cousin, Deborah, and a young girl, Janey (Davis). In Hugh’s spare time at the mill, he carves sculptures out of korl (Davis). Hugh leads a typical life of a working class citizen.

Tommy feels he is letting his father down, and wants to make him proud. The hunting is a big thing in his life, because when you hunt and hit a buck you are allowed to go the Hut and drink liquor.

Throughout the introduction of the story there is a rather positive vibe, given the setting that the family lives in. For example, the family lives in a tiny shack with a clay floor. They cannot afford substantial food, so they eat whatever