A Study Guide for Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres
()
About this ebook
Read more from Gale
A Study Guide for S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBusiness Plans Handbook: Furniture Businesses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for James Clavell's "Shogun" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA study guide for Frank Herbert's "Dune" Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Business Plans Handbook: Bakery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for George Orwell's Animal Farm Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Louis Sachar's "Holes" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for William Shakespeare's Macbeth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for James Joyce's "James Joyce's Ulysses" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Study Guide for Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for John Rawls's "A Theory of Justice" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Psychologists and Their Theories for Students: JEAN PIAGET Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Lois Lowry's The Giver Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for George Orwell's 1984 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Study Guide for Psychologists and Their Theories for Students: ALBERT BANDURA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Wole Soyinka's "Death and the King's Horsemen" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Shirley Jackson's The Lottery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for "Postmodernism" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's "Othello" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide (New Edition) for F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Study Guide for Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres
Related ebooks
A Study Guide for Joy Williams's "The Girls" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for James Agee's A Death in the Family Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Mary Karr's "The Liar's Club" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Richard Russo's "Empire Falls" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for John Irving's The World According to Garp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAt Home in the World: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome Home: A Memoir with Selected Photographs and Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis is Where I Leave You: A Novel by Jonathan Tropper (Trivia-On-Books) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of My Absolute Darling Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLong Drive Home: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Inventors: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBut Enough About Me: Why We Read Other People's Lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShort Story Masterpieces by American Women Writers Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEyes to the Wind: A Memoir of Love and Death, Hope and Resistance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Welcome to the Neighborhood: An Anthology of American Coexistence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHe Thinks He's Wonderful Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Miss Lonelyhearts: “Numbers constitute the only universal language.” Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Germaine: the life of Germaine Greer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Yellow Wallpaper Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Station Eleven: by Emily St. John Mandel | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStudy Guide: Cat's Cradle (A BookCaps Study Guide) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Gish Jen's "Typical American" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Woman Warrior: Picador Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Criticism For You
Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Reader’s Companion to J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verity: by Colleen Hoover | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/512 Rules For Life: by Jordan Peterson | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Man's Search for Meaning: by Viktor E. Frankl | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killers of the Flower Moon: by David Grann | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Virtues Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Circe: by Madeline Miller | Conversation Starters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain | Conversation Starters Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Art of Seduction: by Robert Greene | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Alone: by Kristin Hannah | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.by Brené Brown | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Court of Thorns and Roses: A Novel by Sarah J. Maas | Conversation Starters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SUMMARY Of The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in Healthy Foods That Cause Disease and Weight Gain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Lincoln Lawyer: A Mysterious Profile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for A Study Guide for Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Study Guide for Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres - Gale
Novels for Students, Volume 32
Project Editor: Sara Constantakis
Rights Acquisition and Management: Beth Beaufore, Leitha Etheridge-Sims, Jackie Jones, Kelly Quin
Composition: Evi Abou-El-Seoud
Manufacturing: Drew Kalasky
Imaging: John Watkins
Product Design: Pamela A. E. Galbreath, Jennifer Wahi
Content Conversion: Katrina Coach
Product Manager: Meggin Condino
© 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Since this page cannot legibly accommodate all copyright notices, the acknowledgments constitute an extension of the copyright notice.
For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Gale Customer Support, 1-800-877-4253.
For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions.
Further permissions questions can be emailed to permissionrequest@cengage.com
While every effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information presented in this publication, Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, does not guarantee the accuracy of the data contained herein. Gale accepts no payment for listing; and inclusion in the publication of any organization, agency, institution, publication, service, or individual does not imply endorsement of the editors or publisher. Errors brought to the attention of the publisher and verified to the satisfaction of the publisher will be corrected in future editions.
Gale
27500 Drake Rd.
Farmington Hills, MI, 48331-3535
ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-4170-2
ISBN-10: 1-4144-4170-3
ISSN 1094-3552
This title is also available as an e-book.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4144-4948-7
ISBN-10: 1-4144-4948-8
Contact your Gale, a part of Cengage Learning sales representative for ordering information.
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 14 13 12 11 10
A Thousand Acres
Jane Smiley
1991
Introduction
Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres was published in New York in 1991 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year. Primarily set in rural Iowa in 1979, the story revolves around a dysfunctional farm family headed by patriarch Larry Cook. With the realization that he is aging, Cook decides to incorporate his thousand-acre farm and divide it among his three daughters. When the youngest daughter expresses doubt about the wisdom of her father's plan, she is excluded from the contract. This sets in motion a series of life-altering events that leads to the physical and psychological breakdown of the Cook family.
A Thousand Acres is a contemporary retelling of William Shakespeare's seventeenth-century drama King Lear. Both stories focus on the relationships between a father and his daughters and explore themes of gender roles, the dynamics of family relationships, and sibling rivalry. But whereas the daughters in King Lear behave badly out of their own sense of greed and selfishness, those in Smiley's novel are responding to their current situation after surviving a lifetime of emotional and sexual abuse