Part one of term paper
Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres tells a dark tale of a corrupt patriarchal society which operates through concealment. It is a story in which the characters attempt to manipulate one another through the secrets they possess and the subsequent revelation of those secrets. In her novel, Smiley gives us a very simple moral regarding this patri ...

Part two of term paper
... is successful because she fills in so many of the gaps left open in the play. She gives us new an d different perspectives. One of the particular strengths of the novel lies in its depiction of the place of women in a predominantly patriarchal culture. In this male dominated culture, the values privileged in women include silence and subordination. Ginny is acceptable as a woman as long as she remains "oblivious" (121). She is allowed to disagree with men, contingent upon her doing s ...