Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, encompasses the farm life and hardships of a wealthy retiring Iowa farmer, Larry Cook and his family. For his daughters Ginny and Rose, the farm and life on the farm was all they ever knew. The youngest daughter, Caroline, broke away from life on the farm and became a Des Moines lawyer. Throughout the novel Smiley persuades you to believe that life other than the farm ceases to exist. Smiley, however, utilizes one particular scene in order to open up the characters and to paint a picture of life other than the farm. It is another life that Ginny and Rose would not get to experience otherwise. Without this setting, one would interpret that their lives revolve solely around the farm and that they have no other …show more content…
Likewise, a shoe also depicts movement. Given her personality, she could have strayed from the farm and gone to college or went anywhere she wanted. Ironically, Rose remained on the farm until her death in which the future of the farm was her dying thought. Ty chose the dog. As most dogs would run free at the first chance, Ty did not. He always went out into the fields and returned home to Ginny. Ginny chose the thimble for her piece. Although a thimble does not represent movement, it was her protection from the outside world and from the secrets within her. However, in the end she was the first to leave the farm and start a new life. Lastly, Pete could not decide between the wheelbarrow and the mounted horseman. He decided on the wheelbarrow, which displays his devotion to the farm. Another aspect of the monopoly game that is significant to the novel is that of the conversations. For Ginny and Rose, their life is the farm. Through the eyes of Ty, Pete and Jess they experience a life off of the farm for the first time. It is through these conversations that Smiley explores this …show more content…
It could be that he didn't have any interesting adventures to recount and didn't want to appear dull to Ginny and Rose who found him to be so mysterious. No one knew where Jess was or what he was actually doing when he was gone for all of those years, and throughout the book it is not discussed. Finally, the conversation about Larry and Harold is significant to the novel because at this point their real feelings about them come out in the open and they attempted to justify their actions. One night Jess told of Harold's plan to rip out the linoleum in the kitchen and replace it with sloping concrete to the drain. This way he can hose it down whenever it gets dirty (84). Harold also bought the new modern tractor that was more valuable than Larry's. For both of them, everything is a
A Fine Balance, written by Rohinton Mistry’s, illustrates the path to wisdom and humility before a calamitous end. The novel, A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley parallels a lot of similar themes and ideas depicted in A Fine Balance. As the story develops, a connection forms between the improbable household in both books and they generate an unbelievably uneven dysfunctional family, to either protect or torment one another through the experiences they encounter. Both novels develop the themes of, concern and compromise through the use of characters, conflict through appearance versus reality, and the position of a woman in a male-controlled society.
...ce jumps intothe Monopoly game without ever explaining where the narrator is or howhe got there, but the opening scenes in Atlantic City are long descriptivescenes telling all about the "sidewalks of St. Charles Place" and the street,which "sparkles with shattered glass". When McPhee steps back to tell exactlywhere he is playing Monopoly and alittle about the situation, he counterbalancesthis by taking a closer lookat the scene in his other setting. A changein one section therefore requiresa change in the other section to keepit flowing smoothly.
In a country like the United States of America, with a history of every individual having an equal opportunity to reach their dreams, it becomes harder and harder to grasp the reality that equal opportunity is diminishing as the years go on. The book Our Kids by Robert Putnam illustrates this reality and compares life during the 1950’s and today’s society and how it has gradually gotten to a point of inequality. In particular, he goes into two touching stories, one that shows the changes in the communities we live in and another that illustrates the change of family structure. In the end he shows how both stories contribute to the American dream slipping away from our hands.
“Often fear of one evil leads us into a worse”(Despreaux). Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux is saying that fear consumes oneself and often times results in a worse fate. William Golding shares a similar viewpoint in his novel Lord of the Flies. A group of boys devastatingly land on a deserted island. Ralph and his friend Piggy form a group. Slowly, they become increasingly fearful. Then a boy named Jack rebels and forms his own tribe with a few boys such as Roger and Bill. Many things such as their environment, personalities and their own minds contribute to their change. Eventually, many of the boys revert to their inherently evil nature and become savage and only two boys remain civilized. The boys deal with many trials, including each other, and true colors show. In the end they are being rescued, but too much is lost. Their innocence is forever lost along with the lives Simon, a peaceful boy, and an intelligent boy, Piggy. Throughout the novel, Golding uses symbolism and characterization to show that savagery and evil are a direct effect of fear.
The farm is a very important symbol in the novella it is important because it is repeated throughout the novella it is reminding the reader of the comforting dream that Lennie and George have created. It is a symbol of brotherly love. The dream in some ways is like the whole “Depression era” it reminds the reader of freedom and homely pleasure.
In The Way to Rainy Mountain, the author Scott Momaday uses the theme of a journey to drive this story. He begins his journey after the passing of his grandmother, the journey to reconnect and rediscover his own culture. He shares this moment on page 10, “I remember her most often in prayer. She made long, rambling prayers out of suffering and hope, having seen many things…the last time I saw her she prayed standing by the side of her bed at night, naked to the waist, the light of a kerosene lamp moving upon her dark skin…I do not speak Kiowa, and I never understood her prayers, but there was something inherently sad in the sound, some merest hesitation upon the syllables of sorrow”. The passing brought a realization upon him to have to keep the culture going. He can barely speak Kiowa, while his grandmother was one of the few members who were completely fluent. I believe this book is a call out to his tribe to take the same journey Momaday took.
Poverty and homelessness are often, intertwined with the idea of gross mentality. illness and innate evil. In urban areas all across the United States, just like that of Seattle. in Sherman Alexie’s New Yorker piece, What You Pawn I Will Redeem, the downtrodden. are stereotyped as vicious addicts who would rob a child of its last penny if it meant a bottle of whiskey.
Analysis of Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway In “Hills Like White Elephants” Ernest Hemingway relies on symbolism to convey the theme of abortion. The symbolic material objects, as well as the strong symbolic characters, aid the reader’s understanding of the underlying theme. The material objects that Hemingway uses to convey the theme are beer, the good and bad hillsides, and a railroad station between two tracks. The beer represents the couple’s, “the American” and “the girl’s”, routine activities they do together.
The story is taking place in a prairie. The first line of pg. 47 declares that. The same page is talking about a storm might be coming. I guess, there is a ocean near the prairie. On pg. 48, I found that the prairie landscape is discomforting due to the fact that it seems alive. It also talks about the farmsteads are there to intensify the situation. That same page talking about putting fire. It is taking place during winter, and may be somewhere during December. I think, the time is during the Great Depression of 1930's. In pg. 51 we found that John's farm is under mortgage. The same page tells, He works hard too much to earn some dollars. From pg. 52, I also found, he does not appoint any helper. In pg. 52, Ann remembers about their good time as well. Now, they are not having that of a easy life. They are tired by the labour. These all quotations proves that, the setting of the story is in a hill during the great depression of 1930's.
Im his essay In Search of Marvin Gardens, John McPhee examines Atlantic City, New Jersey, the city upon which the board game of Monopoly was based. In his writing, he touches upon both the board game and the physical city equally which begs the reader to ponder the purpose of McPhee’s essay. Did he write his essay to provide for the reader the physical basis for the game of Monopoly? Or did McPhee wish to expose the once glamorous AtlanticCity as a city in its present near-squalor state? As nothing is withoutpurpose, so to must this essay strive to convey something to its readers. It is the purpose of this critique to analyze McPhee’s In Search of MarvinGardens in order to uncover the true purpose behind his writing.Through narrative analysis processes, the true meaning of McPhee’s will be uncovered.
The significance of the memoir Jessica Hemauer's article "Farm Girl" was about a shocking young lady that lives on a homestead. I felt like life was most likely hard for her growing up. Being a young girl and getting up so right on time to do a lot of errands, she had a more considerable number of obligations to do than live as a youngster. Kids her age don't comprehend what obligation is until they need to face genuine circumstance. She clarifies her circumstance well with enough subtle elements, which helped me identify with her situation. The things that she experienced made me feel like I needed to help her with the farm animals.
In “The Farmer’s Children,” Elizabeth Bishop uses different literary techniques to portray her theme. “The Farmer’s Children” tells the story of two young brothers, Cato and Emerson, who have to sleep in the cold in their father’s barn in order to protect the tools inside. These brothers also have to endure parental neglect from their stepmother and father which causes them to freeze to death in the barn. One technique that is used by Bishop is the characterization of the parents. In addition, Bishop uses an allusion, which is a reference to a work of art in another work of art, and symbolism to further show how the characterization of the parents affected the two brothers. In “The Farmer’s Children,” Bishop uses the characterization of the parents of Cato and Emerson, the allusion to “Hansel and Grethel,” and the symbolism of the stepmother’s snowflake quilt to portray the theme of how parental neglect can lead to negative consequences.
Therefore, within her novel, Windward Heights, Conde consciously inserts an allegory examining the progress of the national literary voice of the French Antilles, but more importantly within this, she asserts that said literature is only being produced by women authors. Inspired by the Victorian novel, Withering Heights, Conde inserts Emily Brontë ’s plot into the Caribbean but makes some notable changes. One that is most apparent is in the uncertain paternity of the daughter of Cathy (I). Although married to Aymeric de Linnseuil, Cathy had always loved Razye, a boy with whom she was raised.
With so many basic plot similarities, Smiley manages to convey a new take on an old-fashioned story. At the end of King Lear, Lear traditionally is believed to be a changed man. Smiley doesn't buy into this common belief; therefore Larry Cook remains a static character throughout the novel. He never changes his attitude towards his possessions, his daughters and his land. Another difference that contributes to Smiley's new interpretation is the point of view from which the story is told. King Lear is told from a strictly male point of view. A Thousand Acres is told through the viewpoint of Ginny, Smiley's parallel to Goneril. Through Ginny's self-revelation, the reader is made aware of many circumstances that would cause a daughter to hate her father. Smiley believes that Lear's daughters must have had some reason for hating him. This is why, in her novel, she includes a childhood of incest.
In Kew Gardens, Virginia Woolf takes advantage of the liminal quality of the short story in order to highlight the suspended world that she creates in the garden. For Woolf, the lyrical short story’s subversion of traditional narrative structure allows her to focus on creating a world rather than a plot. Further, the short story creates a liminal space by the very nature of its form. Caught in a space where it is not considered a poem or a novel, the short story exists as undefined. The liminality of the short story, however, is both liberating and restricting. Woolf explores this feature in order to suggest the unsustainable nature of Kew Gardens. While Woolf utilizes the form of the short story to create a liminal, impressionistic space that eradicates the boundaries between human and nature, she also uses the transitory quality of the short story to suggest that such a space can only exist for a short duration due to the restrictions of the imposing outside world.