Thousand Acres Essay
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley is a powerful novel, which gives the reader insight into midwestern farming life. ... As Shiff states when discussing Smiley’s novel, “A Thousand Acres makes contributions to and elaborates on the Lear story other than its primary value…Smiley gives the land a much greater and more control role than ever before…in essence, Smiley has Americanized the Lear story by setting it not only on an Iowa farm…” Analyzing this novel through an ecofeminist lens as well as a retelling of King Lear is important and therefore it is my opinion that both of these methods of criticisms have failed to acknowledge Smiley’s A Thousand Acres as an insight into key events of this time period, which enable the reader to gain a better understanding of the novel and its characters. ... ” There are many points in A Thousand Acres where ecofeminists can base their argument such as the contamination of the water, Rose and her encounter with breast cancer, as well as Ginny’s miscarriages, which all correlate to pesticides which were put into the water by the men in order to keep the farm prosperous. ... A Thousand Acres is said to be a modern retelling of King Lear. ... ” Similarities include the three daughters in A Thousand Acres- Ginny, Rose, and Caroline, who all want a portion of the family fortune. ... Other similarities of King Lear and A Thousand Acres include the honoring if the patriarchal figure, madness, and the storm. These themes are both widely seen in A Thousand Acres and Ling Lear. ... When analyzing A Thousand Acres through this historical lens, one can see that not only is an ecofeminist and King Lear reading of the text applicable as previously stated, but Smiley also incorporates specific elements of the time period in which she was writing that only a historical literary criticisms could explore ineptly. ... In order to better understand the importance repressed memory has in A Thousand Acres, one must understand what was happening during the time Smiley was writing this novel.