A Thousand Acres | Topics for Discussion & Projects

A Thousand Acres Key Questions

The very ordinariness of the people and situation make A Thousand Acres a rich source for discussion. Readers will often recognize similarities in their own lives — what to do with aging parents, how to face childlessness and infertility, how to run a family business, how to deal with betrayal by relatives and neighbors. Moreover, in a period when pundits publicize the necessity of dealing with economic and social change, A Thousand Acres shows the wrenching effect such forces can have on the people affected.

1. When do you first suspect that Ginny may not fully grasp the implications of the situation she experiences?

Is she a naive narrator?

2. What symbolic and characterizing value does the game of Monopoly, which the Smith's, Lewis's, and Jess Clark play, have in predicting later events?

3. In what ways does the novel attack the...
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