... readers of today. Jane Smiley puts Shakespeare's "King Lear" into a perspective that today's youth can better relate to, in "A Thousand Acres". The general plot of both stories revolves around the father dividing his assets among his three daughters. In "King Lear" the king is dividing his kingdom between Goneril, the ... daughter, and Cordelia, the youngest. Jane Smiley introduces us to Larry Cook who is the father of an Iowa farming family. He is dividing his farm property among Ginny Cook Smith, his eldest daughter, Rose Cook Lewis, his second daughter, and Caroline Cook, his youngest...

• Word Count: 1104
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

THE GRAPES OF WRATH Plot: This is the story of the Joads, a family of Oklahoma sharecroppers. Unless you've spent a good deal of time in the rural South and Southwest, you've probably never met ... you see all they have to endure, you end up admiring them. As the story begins, Tom Joad, a young man of about thirty, is hitch-hiking home to his parents" farm in Oklahoma. He is dressed in cheap new clothes, for he has just been released from prison, on parole, after serving four yeas of a seven years" sentence for homicide. ... been thinking things over, he has become convinced that all men hav...

• Word Count: 825
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Henry, is killed instantly when the tractor he is riding on falls in a ditch and lands on top of him. This event greatly influences the novel's plot development but also how the characters evolve throughout the rest of the novel. While the entire Dunn family is adversely affected by Henry's death, it is Arthur who ... how much Arthur cares for Henry. Arthur is affected by his father's death because he feels that Henry would have wanted him to keep running the farm. This relationship continues to influence Arthur throughout his life because we see that he is frequently wondering how his ...

• Word Count: 666
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Saratoga Springs, New York, for several months. After an illness in 1950, O"Connor returned to Milledgeville and was diagnosed with lupus, an incurable disease. She lived on her family's dairy farm for the rest of her life. In 1955 "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and Other Stories received critical praise. In 1962-1963 O"Connor received an honorary doctorate from Saint ... , and round. The dynamic characters are the grandma, John Wesley, The Misfit, June Star, and Bobby Lee. I chose them as dynamic characters because they tend to change because of the plot of the story. The grandma is consi...

• Word Count: 820
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... , and Tiny Soderball were very independent women for the 1900s. Antonia Shimerda became independent at an early age due to her father committing suicide. She had to help work the farm. When she was a couple years older she moved to the city of Black Hawk to be a servant girl. She fell in love and planned to marry, but her fiancé ... house. She soon heard of people striking gold in Alaska and set out to find herself some gold. There she set up a hotel/store for the miners. She later inherited a plot of land and struck gold. Ten years later she moved to San Francisco. Each of these w...

• Word Count: 458
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School