Thousand Acres

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 only entangle this



dysfunctional family. The eldest daughter, Ginny, is the most loyal and idolizes her



father. The second eldest daughter, Rose, is linked to her father through Ginny, who keeps



her from losing faith in him. Rose questions whether the loyalty that Ginny shows her



father makes her obedient or if her reluctance to judge him proves her ignorance. Rose has



two daughters, Pammy and Linda, who are also first hand witnesses to the episodes of the



Cook family trauma, but remain dormant to what goes on around them. Caroline, the youngest



daughter has left the one thousand acres of land they grew up on to become a lawyer.  



Caroline is married to Frank Ras, whom also is a lawyer and they do not have any children.



The book is narrated from Ginny's viewpoint. Ginny is married to Ty and they don't have



any children, but Ginny secretively keeps trying. Ginny also has an extramarital affair



with Jess Clark, son of Harold Clark the neighbor and best friend of Larry Cook. Jess has



just returned to Zebulon County from the food corp. Given the basic character summary, one



of the themes or recurrent ideas that was present throughout the whole book was



domination. This domination concept was usually brought to life through the character,



Larry Cook, over issues like farming, food, appearance or anything else that didn't sit



well with his expectations in life. Being that domination is not something tangible,... [continues]

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