It all began with three beautiful daughters tested to the extent of how much they loved their father. Three beautiful daughters in competition with one another. Three beautiful daughters with no real winner. The novel, A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley, is an adaption of the play King Lear by William Shakespeare. These literary works differ greatly from each other. However, both establish a certain type of dynamic within the family. Smiley’s adaptation features a similar patriarchal household to the
runaway slave. It is not the story of the relationship between the ex-slave, Jim, and Huck. Jane Smiley makes major accusations; to the point the novel should be called “The Moral Pilgrimage and Relationship Building Journey of Huck and Jim,” which is not nearly as catchy as the original title. Smiley is wrong to assume Huck’s social maturity should be higher, and that he is responsible for Jim. Smiley apparently does not “hold any grudges against Huck…,” but rather “…Mark Twain, who knew how
is on our own earth and beyond the limits of our universe.. It is through nature that we are able to exist in the first place, and it is through nature that we can continue to live. In “King Lear” by William Shakespeare and “A Thousand Acres” by Jane Smiley, the authors both illustrate just how important nature really is in the world through actions of Goneril and Ginny. Even though “A Thousand Acres” is a modern retelling of the famous “King Lear,” both authors bring out the elements of nature, which
The Corrupt Patriarchal Society of A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres tells a dark tale of a corrupt patriarchal society which operates through concealment. It is a story in which the characters attempt to manipulate one another through the secrets they possess and the subsequent revelation of those secrets. In her novel, Smiley gives us a very simple moral regarding this patriarchal society: women who remain financially and emotionally dependent on men decay; those able to break
King Lear is one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies which involves a common story of three daughters vying for the love of their father. Jane Smiley parallels the story of King Lear in her novel A Thousand Acres. Though this novel is derived from the roots of King Lear and the basic plot is similar, the reader’s reaction to each work of literature varies greatly. One may wonder why the reader’s perspective on the play King Lear changes so drastically after reading the novel A Thousand Acres
Finding One's Self in Jane Smiley’s Moo Finding one's self is not without turmoil. This does not pertain to only the young. It takes some people well into old age before they reach the level of ‘knowing’ who they are. An essential element of this maturation is turbulence. Periodic turbulence gives an individual the opportunity to rise above previous deficiencies of personality and provides levels of self-awareness. There are many ways that people face maturation, and many more ways in which
In the Jane Smiley’s “Ordinary Love”, the narrator is a middle-aged woman named Rachel, who has already divorced with her husband, Pat. Pat made her did not see her five children for a long time after the divorce. The divorce is mainly because Rachel has an extramarital affair with another man, but she seems to get punishment in her later life. Pat remains nothing for Rachel and the harm from both mental and physical has been caused. After divorce with her husband, the house property and her children
Some people look at chores as a bad thing. When in reality they are not all that bad. After reading, The Case Against Chores, by Jane Smiley, I must say that I disagree with her perception of chores. Ms. Smiley states that the reason for chores is for “developing good work habits or, in the absence of good work habits, at least habits of working” (Smiley, 2009, p. 274). However, chores teach us things such as responsibility and how to go above and beyond what might be asked of us. As a child
Women Finding Their Voices in A Thousand Acres "Women, just like nature or the land, have been seen as something to be used,' says Smiley.'Feminists insist that women have intrinsic value, just as environmentalists believe that nature has its own worth, independent of its use to man'" (Duffy 92). Larry Cook, the senile, old power holder and father in Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, is a prime example of a man who believes that women and land are nothing more than objects that exist on this earth
Have you ever wondered how animals felt through the eyes of a human and the animal itself? Well the the two stories The Georges and the Jewels written by Jane Smiley, and Black Beauty: The Autobiography of a Horse written by Anna Sewell. There authors both used first person point of view in the stories. In the story The Georges and the Jewels it's about, a little girl who believes that horses have more feelings than her father says they have. In the other story Black Beauty: The Autobiography of
Body and Visibility in A Thousand Acres The west insists on the discrete identity of objects. To name is to know; to know is to control. (Paglia, p.5) [Woman's beauty] gives the eye the comforting illusion of intellectual control over nature. (Paglia, p.17) If the male gaze is a tool to conceptualize reality, then -like an axe- it can also be used as a weapon. The Paglia quotes above refer not only to matters of epistemology or even ontology ("This is what we see; therefore, this is what exists")
Ginny’s as a Barren Whore in A Thousand Acres Into her womb convey sterility, Dry up in her the organs of increase, And from her derogate body never spring A babe to honor her. (King Lear, I.iv. 285-288) Within the logic of the novel, it is soon established that Ginny understands and feels external reality through her body, and the most important instance of this is her bodily urge to have children. The sight of Rose's daughters, contrasted with her own miscarriages, Ginny says, "affected me
Rose’s Breast Cancer in A Thousand Acres Pete, representing erratic male rage in the novel, has a history of abusing Rose. This climaxes when he breaks her arm. It follows a terrible logic that since male rage hurts her body, so does her own, the impetus of which is provided by the patriarchal system. Ginny's description of Pete fits Rose equally well, with an anger that "would be quiet, but corrosive, erupting at odd times" (31). Rose's breast cancer symbolizes the way she is literally consumed
Body and Nature as Signifying System in A Thousand Acres The fascinating aspect of theories about the bodies, is that our bodies lie somewhere in the grey area between the physical and the intellectual realm (in itself testifying to the falsity of such dichotomies). On the one hand, they are biological; genetically programmed flesh. On the other, they are continuous sites of signification; embodying (no pun intended) the essentially textual quality of a human subject's identity. A Thousand Acres
Covert Control in A Thousand Acres Though there are instances of overt control and destruction performed by the patriarchy upon both women and nature, the most pervasive forms the Apollonian controlling impulse takes, are covert. What Ginny says about Larry, also goes for the system of which he is the ultimate signifier: "I feel like there's treacherous undercurrents all the time. I think I'm standing on solid ground, but then I discover that there's something moving underneath it, shifting from
King Lear by William Shakespeare, and A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley are both fantastic tragedies that follow a similar story arc. Although King Lear was written in 1606, and A Thousand Acres was written in 1999, they contain the same essential elements of a tragedy. Jane Smiley modeled her novel after King Lear, focusing less on Lear’s story, and more on the daughters’ stories. The story-line of both is extremely similar: a father chooses to divide his land amongst his daughters, and everything
Comparing Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres and William Shakespeare's King Lear Jane Smiley's novel A Thousand Acres is a modern version of William Shakespeare's King Lear. The tragic ideas brought out by King Lear are revisited in A Thousand Acres both containing universal themes in which societies from past to present can identify with. Tragedy is a form of drama that depicts the suffering of a heroic individual who is often overcome by the very obstacles he is struggling to remove. The novel
surface of appearances. Tim Keppel has pointed out not only that "Smiley's major departure [...] is her decision to tell the story from the viewpoint of Ginny and explore the inner lives of the so-called 'evil' sisters" (Keppel, p.105), but that "Smiley makes her most dramatic re-vision of Shakespeare" (Keppel, p.109) in the storm scene. This has traditionally been the scene when the audience form a bond of sympathy with King Lear because of his pathetic insanity, while in A Thousand Acres, the focus
He was an inordinate talker; in fact, he wore out three sets of false teeth, and I told about a friend of his one day -- a man that he had known there formerly, and who he had a great admiration for, of one Jim Smiley, and he said it was worth a man's while to know Jim Smiley. Jim Smiley was a man of gift; he was a man of parts; he was a man of learning; he was -- well, he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up that you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the
An Analysis of Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres tells a dark tale of a corrupt patriarchal society which operates through concealment. It is a story in which the characters attempt to manipulate one another through the secrets they possess and the subsequent revelation of those secrets. In her novel, Smiley gives us a very simple moral regarding this patriarchal society: women who remain financially and emotionally dependent on men decay;