The Quest For Identity In A Thousand Acres

Jane Smiley is one of the most outstanding female writers in contemporary America.Smiley has published many works and won several awards.Among her plenty of works,A Thousand Acres published in 1991 which has won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992 is the most typical and well-known one.Smiley is expert in capturing the intricate subtleties of human interaction,especially the change of family members,so Smiley's works mostly share a concern for family and so does A Thousand Acres.Based upon the unsettled economy of early 1980 s and Larry's decision to give his farm to his daughters,the novel depicts the downfall of Cook family and the conflict between female and male characters.Meanwhile,it conveys that female and male characters' quest for identity behind seemingly peaceful farm life.This thesis aims to explore main characters' profound motivation behind the family conflict and struggling behavior from the perspective of identity theory.As the female representative of gender inequality,Ginny is identified as the obedient daughter,the warm elder sister and the virtuous wife.However,facing the fetter of patriarchal family and traditional view and female dilemma,Ginny awakens her self-awareness and reconstructs and realizes her gender identity through struggling with her father,being independent from her sister and separating from her husband.Meanwhile,facing male dilemma in society and family,the male characters struggle to quest for their self-identity: Larry wants to be the dominator again;Tyler endures for being successful farmer;Peter expresses himself for gaining the recognition of his wife and father-in-law;Jess is unsettled for making sense himself.Finally,it concludes that the struggling and anxiety whether between female and male or among family members can be all ascribed to the quest for identity.However,the identity is not a fix entity,only by the way of endless quest for identity and identify oneself,can one makes sense the significance of existence.Smiley's A Thousand Acres reflects the great significance of questing identity for literary works and human being in contemporary society.