Midwestern Literature and Women Writers - Essay Example

The northwest seems to be dominating the literary space in American literature since this is the region that has produced novels and novelists that have received much attention in the literary world. Even the south seems to be doing well with the likes of Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. However, the Midwest seems to be lagging behind. But this is not to mean that there are no good authors or good literature from the Midwest. For instance, Jane Smiley is one of the iconic authors from the region. Her works have not only been subject for study and debate but they have also helped showcase the Midwest culture to millions of readers worldwide. One of her best novels was the novel titled “A Thousand Acres.” This is a novel that is actually a response to King Leah by Shakespeare. It is interesting to see how the author recreates the plot but in a totally different setting, with a totally different story, using totally different characters, but still maintaining the same plot that Shakespeare used in King Leah. By and Large, Smiley chooses to use the setting of the American Midwest in the late 70s and that makes her novel more readable to the contemporary audience as opposed to Shakespeare’s King Leah. This paper will look at how Jane Smiley shapes conversations about the Midwestern literature. Even though she has written a number of novels, short stories and other types of literature, this paper will concentrate on her novel, A Thousand Acres which won the Pulitzer Prize. About Jane Smiley Jane Smiley is a famous American novelist that was born on the 26th of September 1949 in California, LA. She was however brought up in Webster Groves which is relatively a small city on the suburbs of St. Louis. She also went to school in the same region graduating with a high school diploma from John Burroughs School and later an AB in literature, a Masters degree, and a PHD from Vassar College in 1971, the university of Iowa in 1981 and university of Iowa in 1976 respectively. Her first book to be published was the novel Barn Blind which was published in 1980. However, the novel that put her in the limelight washer best selling novel- A Thousand Acres. This is a story that is centered on William Shakespeare’s King Lear and the book got the Pulitzer fiction award in the year 1992. However, that was not her first award to get thanks to her writing. Her short story “Lily” had already earned the O. Henry Award in the year 1985. A Thousand Acres was her first novel to be made into a film and she in fact wrote the script herself. Later on, her other novel- The Age of Grief- was also made into a film in the year 2002. The influence that Jane Smiley has had on the Midwestern literature can not be bargained. For instance, in the year 2001 she was voted into The American Academy of Arts and Letters. This is an organization that brings together 250 different brains from the arts fields with a main aim of fostering excellence in music, literature, and different forms of art in contemporary America she is also a participant of the yearly LA festival of books. In addition to all these, she also sits on the panel of the renowned Man Booker international prize and she in fact was the chair in 2009. A Thousand Acres All writers get some inspiration from past authors. One of the commonest forms of writings that were witnessed in the last decades in the twentieth century was rewrites of a number of the canonical works. There has been plenty of counter writing of Shakespeare’s works and arguably, Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres is just one of the best (Moraru 201). It is no secret that A Thousand Acres is a response to Shakespeare’s King Lear. Smiley ideally transfers the plot of King Leah into the American Midwest in the 1970s and then changes the narrative position into that of a woman. For her to do this successfully, she had to come up with a form of dialogue with the past meaning that she had to reposition the characters, the plot and the themes into the twentieth century and somehow bridge the gap between the present and the past. The question of what inspired her to do this can best be answered by her. She says that I had an intention in A Thousand Acres that grew out of something less rational, a response to the play. I wanted to communicate the ways in which I found the conventional reading of King Lear frustrating and wrong (Smiley 160). Jane smiley effectively gives the females a voice in literature. In fact, it can be argued that she approaches the King Lear plot from the feminist point of view. By doing this, she in a sense frees the women from the patriarchal mindset that Shakespeare portrays in his writings. Smiley’s novel can there fore be seen as a narrative that takes the risk to question the patriarchal system that was ignored by many of Shakespearean contemporaries. Since the novel (A Thousand Acres) is based on King Leah, it would not make much sense to the reader that is not aware of the plot of King Leah. King Leah is a Shakespearean play that was mainly written to deal with the issue of patriarchal rule as well as highlight the relationship that existed between fathers and daughters during Shakespeare’s time. However, it is worth noting that the play goes beyond just highlighting the father daughter relationship. It also highlights important details about the relationships between parents and children, siblings of sexes, kings and subjects’ husbands and wives. It shows the conflict that arises in the family setup due to the power wrangles and the values of loyalty and obedience are forgotten in the process. This is probably the main reason why Smiley chose to base her writing on this play. A thousand acres is set out in the Midwest, particularly in Iowa, in the 1970s. It is a story of dad called Larry (who can be compared to Shakespeare’s King Leah) and how his relationship with his three daughters affects his farm. Larry is sharing his farm with the tree daughters namely Ginny (who can be compared to Shakespeare’s Goneril), Caroline (who can be compared to Shakespeare’s Cordelia) and Rose (who can be compared to Shakespeare’s Regan). The three daughters are also married to Ty, Frank and Goneril respectively. Caroline, who is the youngest of the three girls, hesitates to the idea of her dad transferring the farm. This results in the father leaving her out of the entire arrangement. When the father goes ahead and transfers the property - and the fact that her youngest daughter was not part of the deal - fuels discord in the family amongst the daughters with their dad, their spouses and ultimately amongst themselves. The rivalry also plays out in the subplot that eventually finds the way into a thousand acres, which is a neighbor’s property. The neighbor is Harold Clark and he lives there with his two sons namely jess and Loren. The conflict in the family brings to surface some of the memories that had been forgotten over the years and it soon becomes apparent that there are many other issues for instance; we soon realize that Ginny and Rose were victims to assault from their dad (Smiley 134). The audience of a Thousand Acres Like we have already established, this novel is feminist view of King Leah. This is the main reason why the novel appeals more to the feminists. It appears that the author wrote the book to speak to the female and to seek to demystify the chauvinistic views that exist in the society. Unlike in the Shakespearean King Leah, a thousand acres changes from the masculine outlook to a feminine outlook. This in effect allows the females to get more powerful positions. Smiley allows the reader to read into Goneril and gets to understand her feelings, her life and ultimately, she is given not only a history worth noting but a voice worth hearing. Smiley chooses to use first person narration when writing a thousand acres. Even though the first person narration is more open to criticism due to bias of the opinion of the narrator, it is evidently a more powerful voice than the third person narration. This in itself sends a statement that Ginny and her siblings have been empowered and they are not just part of the family to accept whatever is shoved their way. A good illustration of this is when one of the girls openly disagrees with their dad’s decision to transfer the land something that generates into a huge conflict. Ginny can be seen to be a very powerful character in the novel. All other characters have to go through her conscience filter before they are consumed by the readers. This is a radical shift from the norm of most novels that use the first person narration since the normal thing to do is to use a male narrator which is thought by experts to give the story more authority since a masculine voice is traditionally accepted as the “omniscient narrator” (Lanser 19). Ginny was brought up by a father that was not too caring and as a result, this affects her ability to be caring towards her husband. Unknowingly, she ends up brining the image of her dad into her relationship. But Ty is portrayed as one that had favor with Larry mainly because he had a total of 162 acres that had no mortgage attached to it. In addition to this, he is portrayed as the loving husband that was ready and willing to be the protection for Ginny against her dad. However, Ginny seems unable to live in faithfulness with the charming husband. This reveals an important truth in parenting since abused persons eventually become abusers and Ginny is probably having issues due to how her dad raised her. How the text is representative of Midwestern literature or culture Almost every American knows that the Midwest is the place of rednecks and vast farmlands. It is therefore no surprise that Smiley opts to use this region as the setting of the book. The theme of the book resonates easily with the place of vast farmlands since the family conflicts in the novel are mainly on land issues. The novel makes the reader aware of how the distribution of property, as well as power, in family can take a toll on the relationships in the family. Property transfer has the potential to wreck havoc in a marriage and resurrect the buried hatchets amongst siblings. The shift of the power as well as the property is the pivot on which the entire plot hangs. When the farm is transferred, it becomes such a serious issue that it overshadows the homecoming party for Jess (Harold Clark’s son). Larry simply announced of his intentions of establishing a corporation among his daughters and their spouses without any prior hint or suggestion that he might do that. Everyone is surprised but both Rose and Ginny admit that it sounds like a splendid idea. Caroline on the other hand refuses to be part of the project. The impact that power and wealth transfer can have on a family and on relationships generally is also revealed in the novel by the game of monopoly that Ginny, Rose, Ty, Jess and Pete usually played from time to time in the evenings. It symbolically brought out not just the sibling rivalry but also the rivalry that exists among spouses. Parent child conflict is one of the main concerns that the present society has. It is not only a Midwestern issue but generally a national issue. It is not uncommon to have children that have totally different goals and views on life from their parents. The picture that Smiley paints is descriptive enough. In a typical family, there are those children that will happily do the will of their parents believing that their parents know best since they have better experience at life and but there is always one or more kids that would readily beg to differ with the opinions that their parents rise. Larry cook is not just a mere farmer but he is portrayed as the “King” of his parcel of land. Like in King Leah, he is attempting to distribute power to his three daughters in order to “rule” with them. Not only is Larry a farmer but he is also an important pubic figure. He is respected not only in his neighborhood but ultimately in the country at large. This is made clear by Ginny’s remarks when she describes him as “one of the biggest landowners in the County” (Smiley 141). This is a replica of the society of Midwest where wealthy is measured mostly in terms of tangible assets. Even though other urban centers in other regions are moving towards the knowledge economy, the Midwestern states are still playing an important role in agriculture. The novel also brings out an important truth about parent child relationships when Ginny had a bad feeling about the entire suggestion of his dad forming a corporation but she decided to agree with him anyway. “In spite of that inner clang, I tried to sound agreeable” (Smiley 19). It shows that deep within, Ginny believed that the decision her dad was making was not a good decision but she never voiced her concerns about it. It was more out of loyalty and perceived allegiance that she decided to agree with her dad. Just like was the case in A Thousand Acres, children will often agree with their parents not necessarily because they agree with the ideologies of the parents but out of a perceived requirement to be obedient to the parents. This was especially the case in the 1970s, which is the setting of the novel, when it was unheard of to question your parent’s decisions even if you were fully grown. The reluctance in Ginny to disagree with her dad is seen in her general view of her dad. Arguably, the dad is almost portrayed as God in her mindset. To her, Larry was her ultimate provider when she was growing up as well as the protection she had against any thing that might want to harm her or her siblings. In fact, there is a time when she was in school as a young girl and they were being asked what their parents did and even though most of the kids said their fathers were farmers, Ginny believed that they were either lying or they had been deceived. To her, her dad was the only farmer and no one could match him when it came to farming (Smiley 19). Ginny was not the only one that evidently revered her dad. Larry was used to receiving praise from fellow farmers and other people in the society including the church minister who preached a yearly sermon on why all riches came from tilling the ground as a way of affirming the work that Larry was doing and encouraging others to follow suit. It is therefore very evident that Larry is portrayed throughout the plot as a powerful figure that is used to being heeded to. This would explain why he lost it when Caroline decided not to agree with him. He was so mad that he decided to leave her out of his inheritance completely. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that Ginny agreed with the dad not out of selfish ambition but more out of dread of the dad coupled with a sense of her daughterly duty to the family at large. Violence is portrayed differently in A Thousand Acres As Walby (3) points out; the generally accepted notion is that violence is usually performed by a neurotic male that behaves abnormally. However, there is the other form of violence, especially against women that is as a result of a patriarchal system. This is usually due to a patriarchal system which typically places women in a lower caste than men with the principal aim of controlling or even manipulating women. Smiley can be said to be narrating a story of a typical patriarchal family in the novel, A Thousand Acres. There are few pointers to this but the most dominant is the fact that when Caroline decided to disagree with the dad on his decision to divide his land, the dad went ahead and decided to leave her out of the new arrangement as way of punishing her for not agreeing with her. Another illustration is when Ginny feels it’s the wrong move to form a corporation but even though she has that feeling deep down, she if afraid to voice her concerns to her dad and just opts to agree with him instead. Sibling rivalry is usually a result of different things but one of the main contributors is when parents play favorites, or if the children just think that their parents favor some of them more even if that is not the case. Smiley’ novel portrays a family that shows inequality in how the children are treated. Caroline seems to have enjoyed more freedom in he lifetime than Rose and Ginny ever had (Brauner 654). Ginny and Rose had to play the role of substitute mother for Caroline since she was the youngest and they therefore supported her to achieve all she wanted and she therefore gets well educated. Ironically, it is actually Ginny and Rose who created a platform for Caroline to have a very independent life. The other pointer to favoritism that the father portrayed towards the girls is the fact that he abused Rose and Ginny sexually but Caroline was not abused. It would seem that Caroline felt more appreciated and loved by their father while Rose and Ginny engaged in concerted efforts to win the approval of their father and this fueled their sibling rivalry even more. Favoritism continues to play out in the plot of A Thousand Acres. For instance, it is apparent that Larry prefers Ty as opposed to Pete. In fact, Pete is described as the one who was always on the wrong side of daddy. Another illustration is when Loren does not take the news of Jess’ (his brother), return to their home very well. The narrator even compares the scene to the biblical prodigal son who on his return home elicited envy from his brother. The novel portrays the society as a very competitive one. Every farmer was always comparing his farm to that of Larry and other adjacent farms. The main reason for the obvious competition was mainly greed and selfishness that was geared towards self acquisition and possession. This external pressure is what eventually informed Larry’s decision to pass down the farm to his daughters. Completion was something that Larry’s daughters had been exposed to in the society. I recognized the justice of Harold Clark's opinion that the Ericson land was on his side of the road, but even so, I thought it should be us. For one thing, Dinah Ericson's bedroom had a window seat in the closet that I coveted. For another, I thought it appropriate and desirable that the great circle of the flat earth spreading out from the intersection of County Road 686 and Cabot Street Road be ours (Smiley 4). It is clear that both Ginny and Rose were aware of the rivalry in the society from an early age and that was enforced in their minds as they grew older. Any other external force that came can therefore bee seen as something that came to feed the already existent rivalry. The competition over Jess can be looked at as the matchstick that lit the flame that eventually resulted into the ultimate rivalry resulting from their father’s transfer of land. Conclusion Jane smiley is viewed as a feminist as a result of the novel, A Thousand Acres which is viewed as a book that seeks to give the female characters a voice. Whether this is true or not is subject to debate. However, if the awards that her literature has received coupled with the national recognition that Smiley Jane has received, then is it is clear that she is one of the best Midwestern authors. A thousand acres is one of her best works and the book brings out how property can affect relationships in the family something that resonates easily with the Midwestern population which is primarily an agricultural region. Works Cited Brauner, David. Speak Again: The Politics of Rewriting in A Thousand Acres. Modern Language Review 96.3 (2001): 654-66. Lanser, Susan. Fictions of Authority: Women Writers and Narrative Voice. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002. Moraru Christian. Rewriting: postmodern Narrative and cultural critique on the age of cloning. Albany : state university of New York Press, 2001. Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991 Smiley Jane. “Shakespeare in Iceland” In Transforming Shakespeare: Contemporary Women s Revisions in Literature and Performance, edited by Marianne Novy. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999. Walby, Sylvia. Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2005. Read More