A Thousand Acres Stylistic Analysis

Jane Smiley’s novel, A Thousand Acres, is a contemporary interpretation of William Shakespeare’s classical tragedy King Lear. Comparisons are clearly visible in the very beginning of A Thousand Acres when Smiley begins with a vivid description of the landscape. Even the characters are similar and having read King Lear, I already had an impression of them before reading A Thousand Acres. But they are not completely similar as there are some differences due to the perspectives through which the stories are told.
Smiley deliberately begins her novel by going into great detail about the landscape. She describes the landscape as “unquestionably flat” (Smiley 3) and the land that Ginny’s father owned as “six hundred forty acres, a whole section, paid for, no encumbrances, as flat and fertile, black, friable, and exposed as any piece of land on the face of the earth”(Smiley 4). Smiley also goes on to describe the Zebulon River which you can see running in the distance. Her purpose in describing the landscape is to parallel Lear’s description of his land in Act 1 where he says: “Of all these bounds, even from this line to this,/ With

shadowy forests, and with champains riched,/ with plenteous rivers, and wide-skirted meads”(Shakespeare Act 1.65-67). Both quotes describe the beautiful and immense land that is very fertile and valuable.
As previously mentioned, every character in A Thousand Acres represents a character from King Lear. The character that stands out to me is the family patriarch of the Cook’s, Larry Cook. Larry represents King Lear, the King of Britain and family patriarch in Shakespeare’s play. My perception of Lear at the beginning was that he was a prideful man that likes his ego to be stroked. He also was obsessed with power and couldn’t accept the fact that he was the one who let it all go. But as the story progressed, Lear became more sympathetic to me as his great love for Cordelia became evident and he starts to realize his shortcomings. The storm scene was very powerful when he becomes more humble by seeing how the poor live especially his fool.
Larry Cook is similar to King Lear because both have a big ego and a love of wealth and power.

Both are impulsive and easily offended over petty things. Lear is offended that Cornelia won’t take part in his game while Larry is upset that Caroline does not want his land. Both go mad and can’t take their daughters telling them what to do and their loss of power. Larry Cook is also very violent and has abused and molested his daughters in the past. While Lear is a dynamic character, Larry is a static character throughout A Thousand Acres. He shows no compassion or guilt unlike Lear. There may be differences present in how the characters are presented because A Thousand Acres is narrated by Larry’s daughter Ginny who was abused and molested along with Rose. Therefore, she is understandably biased while King Lear is a play with no

narrator.
In summary, Smiley begins by describing the landscape to draw an immediate parallel to King Lear and the value both place on the beautiful land. Although Larry Cook is somewhat similar to King Lear I find Lear far more sympathetic and likeable as the story progresses which is most likely a result of the differing perspectives through which King Lear and A Thousand Acres are told.