Caroline in a Thousand Acres the Film

¶ … Caroline in a Thousand Acres

The film a Thousand Acres, based on the Jane Smiley's book of the same name, is a contemporary twist on an old William Shakespeare play: King Lear. Like the Shakespeare play, the film contains an old man who wants to retire and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. And like the play, Larry Cook, played by Jason Robards, ends up giving his kingdom, a farm, to only two, while the third gets nothing. The third daughter, Caroline, played in the film by Jennifer Jason Leigh, similarly is the daughter who loves the father the most. There are great similarities between the film and the famous play, but the film has some interesting differences as well. The character of Caroline, the third daughter, may seem to be very similar to the character in the play, but when examined closely, there are some very interesting modern twists.

When Larry Cook decides to divide his farm up between his three daughters, two tell him it's a great idea, but the third, a lawyer by trade, expresses reservations. For this indignity, Larry cuts her out and only gives his farm to his two other daughters. Despite this treatment, Caroline Cook still loves her father very much and calls to get news of him. It is when the two other daughters argue with their drunken father and he leaves in the middle of a storm, that he re-establishes his connection with Caroline. Caroline takes him in and helps him sue to get the farm back. While Caroline's love for her father is much like Shakespeare's character of Cordelia, Caroline's love is born out of ignorance and jealousy. While she believes her sisters are acting out of greed, they are really acting out of revenge. The two older sisters had been the victims of their father's drunken sexual activities, and Caroline was unaware of her father's dark side.

Caroline, instead, was jealous of her father's attention toward her sisters, unaware of what was actually happening. And when her father came to her for help, it inflated her ego. But sadly, he never really paid her much attention and even when he lived with her, he often confused her with one of her sisters. The scene when the eldest daughter, Ginny, overhears her father reminiscing with Caroline about a brown coat, she realized that he confused Caroline with the other daughter, Rose (the daughter who actually had the coat in question).

So while Caroline takes care of her father, she is unaware of his sexual abuse of her two older sisters. She is also unaware that he thinks she is one of the sisters he abused sexually. Her need for attention from her father is at the heart of her drive to help him. And because she is ignorant of his sexual abuse, her love for her father is unconditional. However, unlike Shakespeare's Cordelia, Caroline remains untouched by the evil that dwell inside her father. Cordelia may have died in the play, but in the film Caroline ultimately receives a share of the farm.