A Thousand Acres Essay

Jane Smiley’s ‘A Thousand Acres’ is a modern day representation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. The text tales a tragic story of a family of a troubling past, willingly watching each others lives decay as the tragedy unfolds. In spite of it’s similarities to ‘King Lear’, this work of literature is a work of its own. The text constructs a clear distinction of American rural Space, this is through foreground economic and social issues raised throughout the text of the perception that is driven by ones

The tone and themes in Shakespeare’s King Lear and Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres are the same. In fact, the only difference at the heart of the two versions of this story of familial strife is perspective. In Shakespeare’s King Lear the titular character’s youngest daughter, Cordelia, truly loves her father. Her loyalty to him represents truth and compassion in a story rife with deception and betrayal. In A Thousand Acres, farmer Larry Cook’s youngest daughter Caroline loves her father just as deeply

A Thousand Acres as Movie is Melodramatic and Bogus   Perhaps Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "A Thousand Acres" was a bit over-rated. For one thing, the book's "dark secret" seemed utterly implausible. I just didn't believe that the book's protagonist and narrator, a 37-year-old Iowa farm wife named Ginny, could have completely repressed the fact that her father had sex with her when she was 15 years old, night after night, for a year. For True Believers in "Repressed Memory

In King Lear and A Thousand Acres, the characters of Goneril, Regan, Ginny and Rose had the reflection of women in a patriarchal society. The role of Goneril and Regan are recognized as disloyal and selfish towards their father, King Lear. However, from A Thousand Acres, Smiley put stories of Ginny and Rose's childhood life with their father, how Larry have treated them growing up. Smiley had brought and filled up some parts of King Lear, trying to give readers different perspectives of women in

King Lear vs A Thousand Acres While it may appear that Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres is nothing but a modernized interpretation of Shakespeare's King Lear, one can see that below the surface these two tales are anything but alike. Through Smiley's characters Larry, Caroline, Ginny and Rose, it is easy to conclude that they contrast their "parallels," Lear, Cordelia, Goneril and Rose, greatly from Shakespeare's play. Among the multiple themes that make this conclusion possible, the most prominent

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

generation to the next. A Thousand Acres is a modern retelling of King Lear, that is similar to King Lear, but it is not an exact word for word copy. The overall plot has been retained from King Lear, but some of the minor details have been changed to provide an intriguing new take on the same story. One such change is the fact the story goes from a third person view in King Lear, mostly following King Lear, to a first person narrative from the perspective of Ginny in A Thousand Acres. Ginny is the modern

Book of the Month - Calendar Name: Joshua Inman Title of Book: A Thousand Acres Month: December Author: Jane Smiley MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY Day 1 Question of the Week: Why did you choose this book? Explain. I decided to choose A Thousand Acres because the book seemed interesting and could have potential with it being a modern version of Shakespeare’s King Lear, but with the setting and plot around an Iowa farm. And even though the idea might seem strange on paper, it really

fan, in its futile effort to cool the sweltering room, accomplished no purpose other than rustling the shrew pages of “Moroccan National News” and causing the bed linen to shiver. I flung open to the first chapter of my summer reading novel, A Thousand Acres. As I half-heartedly scanned the pages, my gaze drifted over to the servant girl working in the room. Beads of perspiration dipped unnoticed down her temples and the scarf over her head clung wearily to her neck, only adding to the feeling of

There are many issues found within A Thousand Acres that are unique to rural or country life, but one main issue that stand out is running a farm. My family owns many acres of farm land and grows everything from lima beans, peas, and corn to peanuts depending on the season. It is one of their main sources of income. Many factors play into their success, the demand for certain products, the season, and if the area is facing a drought. Running a farm takes a lot of hard work, and takes time to even

A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley, is a story of incest, ignorance, and the imperialistic voice of the almighty man. Ignorance of being lead by a man, particular views of Rose and Ginny, and domesticated to believe that "When we are good girls and accept our circumstances, we're glad about it. . .When we are bad girls, it drives us crazy" (99). The imperialistic voice usually comes from the omnipotent Larry Cook, Rose, Ginny, and Caroline’s father. And the incestuous relations

In Book 1 of A Thousand Acres, Ginny’s contrasting diction in her narration highlights the stark difference in the appearance versus the reality of her character. Ginny is forced by society to act like she wants to be on the farm, and in reality, she feels trapped by the farm and desires to escape. Ginny’s describes the farm with negative diction, with the wind “soughing” and the hogs “clanking,” illustrating the commotion of the farm. However, she describes the farm also as “calm and safe,” showing

However, given the circumstances they are born into, their intentions are actually not very unreasonable when given some thought. Jane Smiley read King Lear and took a different view to the characters than most readers do. In response, she wrote A Thousand Acres and provided a

Lake Crawford Crawford-Parker Engl 105 3 November 2014 A Thousand Acres A Thousand Acres is a brilliant novel that puts a modern twist on Shakespeare’s King Lear. Jane Smiley spends a great amount of time describing the modern labels that society places on the different genders. Females are described as inferior to men; they spend their days cooking, cleaning, and trying to remain anonymous. The men in the story are portrayed as the patriarchal figures; they rule over their family with an iron fist

“Many abused children cling to the hope that growing up will bring escape and freedom but she is still a prisoner of her childhood; attempting to create a new life, she reencounters the trauma” (Herman, Trauma and Recovery). In the novel A Thousand Acres the protagonists, Ginny and Rose, take the responsibility of being the women of the household after their mother passes away. They raise their younger sister and take care of all their father’s needs. Their father, Larry Cook, asserts his position

There is a saying that there are two sides to every story. In the play King Lear by William Shakespeare the story is seen from the perspective of King Lear; The novel A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley is from the perspective of Goneril or Ginny. The difference in narrator’s is the difference between antagonists and it changes the plot, because no one is the antagonists of their own story. In the novel King Lear by William Shakespeare the story is seen through the perspective of Lear, and his daughters

A Thousand Acres, a novel by Jane Smiley, is about a father, named Larry Cook, who divides his farm between his two daughters, the third daughter didn't want to be a part of the deal, and it focuses how this decision changes the lives of everyone in the story. The main theme of the story is the discovery of who and you and the people you are close to are like, and what you can do with this realization. One of the examples of this theme is how Ginny realizes that she is no longer in love with her

Anna Arambulo Talevich Comparative Literature October 23, 2017 Week 13 "A Thousand Acres" Finish reading A Thousand Acres, pages 330-371. ASSIGNMENT: Set up some quiet time with a friend or family member and read your favorite chapter to them out loud. Then discuss the reading; find out what their thoughts and perceptions were. Write down responses in your journal. Also, think about how the language sounded as you spoke it. MAIN ASSIGNMENT: Write a short essay and, if possible, tape yourself reading

and emotions like every other man. Both works portray how women are suppressed in a patriarchal society, but Smiley develops the characters with more depth to furnish rationale for their seemingly motiveless and cruel actions. Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres is a feminist refutation of the wicked roles of Goneril and Regan in King Lear with her reinterpretation of them as

Simmy Shah Quotes | Commentary | “When I think of them now, I think of how they probably seen nearly as little world as I had by that time” (5). | This quote displays the importance of the first person point of view in this novel. The unique perspective from Ginny not only allows the reader to view the events from her own angle, but it also allows the readers to understand her personality. In addition, this quote describes the tragedy of the farmer’s life: no new possibilities of adventure