A Thousand Acres: The Monopoly Game Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres, encompasses the farm life and hardships of a wealthy retiring Iowa farmer, Larry Cook and his family. For his daughters Ginny and Rose, the farm and life on the farm was all they ever knew. The youngest daughter, Caroline, broke away from life on the farm and became a Des Moines lawyer. Throughout the novel Smiley persuades you to believe that life other than the farm ceases to exist. Smiley, however, utilizes one particular scene in order to open up the characters and to paint a picture of life other than the farm. It is another life that Ginny and Rose would not get to ex