Caroline in Jane Smileys A Thousand Acres :: Smiley Thousand Acres Essays

Caroline in A Thousand Acres   It is really striking that a novel in which bodies of people and bodies of land (and, intertextually, bodies of text) be so central, creates a character that is so distinctly unbodied Caroline Cook. Nevertheless, it is in keeping with traditional and patriarchal interpretations of Cordelias character in King Lear a paragon of purity and transcendence.   While her sisters bodies are thoroughly described and, not least, imbued with meaning, Caroline is forever described in terms of her business-like take-me-seriously-or-Ill-sue-you demeanor (13), her expensive apparel and assertive actions. She is in fact described like a earth, a trait first exposed when she as a child says that shes not issue to be a farmwife when she grows up, but a farmer (61), then when Ginny has her moment of insight toward the end, and suddenly sees everybody clearly for what they are her eyes darting from one face to another, calculating, always calculating. ... S he climbs into Daddys lap, and her gaze slithers around the room, looking to see if we have noticed how he prefers her. (306) She is still unbodied here, described in terms of eyes and mind. This is metaphorically a male domain in Western thought, the gaze is traditionally male, categorizing external reality in order to have power over it by utilizing reason. Nor, of course, is it nonessential that Caroline is the educated one, emphasizing further her belonging to the male realm. Whereas Roses man-ness is based on a destructive rage, Carolines is based on cold calculation, therefore she is to a greater extent successful playing by the rules of the patriarchy. It must be remembered, however, that she is able to use the system because she has been shielded from its negative side. Ginny and Rose have always protected her from Larrys anger, incest, and gross(a) suppression of their own identities. While Larry signifies so many things to the elder sisters, not least the horribly intim ate -familiar- memories of incest, Caroline can say about him that he looks as familiar as a father should look, no more, no less. In this, as Ginny replies, she is lucky. (362) Of course, saying that Caroline is like a man signals complicity with gender-stereotypes. She is a positive character in that she is assertive and self-contained, as when she criticizes Larrys idea to divide the farm.