Caroline

One of the more dynamic characters in Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres would have to be Caroline because she is different from the norm around the area and besides Jess appears to be the only one to have left the farm life. I think Smiley portrayal is very important of caroline because she uses her as a character to compare to Ginny, Rose, and others on the farm to highlight certain differences that occur in people when you spend your whole life in an area as opposed to branching out and experencing life off a farm. I beleive a lot of Caroline's characteristics appear this way because Ginny mentions that herself and Rose were raised in a introverted manner by their parents but once their mother died it was up to the two girls to raise Caroline. When approached at the pool by the family friend Mary and confronted about her mother's wish for Ginny to leave the farm she comes to a realization about caroline. It is revealed through Ginny her stark contrast to caroline by stating " Rose went to college. She has the choices Mom wanted and she chose the farm. Caroline chose the city and she is everywhere now". I believe Caroline is used as an example to Ginny of how she could have ended up had she learned or been raised to think freely and branch out to what she wanted. Without their mother however it was up to the two girls to grow up under their stubborn father who injected a desire to stay on the farm, in contrast the upbringing of Caroline is much different and this is represented in her current life and her relationship with her father. When Ginny is confronted with the news that her mother wished her to leave the farm it is a huge realization point because rather than living the life she wanted to live she has closed her mind to the farm and channeled her own desire to get away through the upbringing of Caroline. Overall I think this type of contrast between upbringings is Caroline's role in the story and it is used so the reader gets an idea of how two different ways of thinking can clash.

Lear and Gloucester

King Lear and Gloucester have quite similar stories that eventually intertwine because the one of the overriding themes of the play is to show how the balance of power and ego always tends to clash with the power of love. The two men are in remarkably similar situations where the direction of their fortunes is left up to their own prerogative. This quite a tough situation and Shakespeare uses the characters like Goneril, Regan, and Edmond to highlight the types of faulty or dishonest influences that can shape ones decision when dividing up spoils amongst family. Lear and Gloucester have paralleling stories because Shakespeare wants to highlight that the balance between love and ego is a fateful decision for most powerful people. Both men choose their ego and in turn their children who love them the most genuinely are out casted and the men are left to the mistreatment of their divisive children who no longer have much need for their powerless fathers. I think this careful balance between genuine love and deceptive flattery is the key in the relationship between the two powerful men and in the end it is both of their choices for flattery and egotism over love that leads to their demise