Gender Consciousness in Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres

Abstract

Jane Smiley'sA Thousand Acresattempts to explore the rebellious consciousness of subaltern people. Ginny, the central character of this novel is the representative of subaltern people. From the beginning of this novel she is dominated and exploited in a very inhuman manner from her own father and her own husband as well. But when she became conscious about the sense of domination, she starts to explore her rebellious nature. Larry Cook, who is the father of Ginny, represents the bourgeois power holder and tries to dominate over the rest of the members of that family. Ginny, Rose and Caroline (based on Shakespeare's Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia fromKing Lear) are the three daughters of Larry, who are physically and mentally exploited by her own father. It is because of that exploitation, the daughters are compelled to raise their voice against their own father. The unbearable and inhuman nature of Larry leads his own daughters to resist to their own dominating father. The cooking and eating habits of Mid-westerner also shows the subaltern nature. Larry represents the role of oppressor, whereas Ginny represents the role of oppressed. The power holder always dominates the subaltern but the subaltern people resist against them.