A Thousand Acres Chapters 32–34 Summary & Analysis

Chapters 32–34

Summary: Chapter 32

Ginny feels feverish after the news of the lawsuit, and she wants to swim. She can’t bring herself to go into town to the pool, so she goes to an old quarry instead. Ginny runs into Pete and tells him about the lawsuit. They agree that it’s not safe to swim in the quarry’s murky waters that hide trash and tossed metal. Pete asks what Ginny wants and she says for this all to be over. Pete admits that he sometimes wants to hurt someone, even if it’s for no reason. Ginny says that Jess would say that everything will work out fine, and Pete reacts as if he doesn’t trust Jess. Ginny wonders if he knows about her affair with Jess. As they leave the quarry, Ginny sees a snake. Pete bumps into her when she hesitates at the sight.

Summary: Chapter 33

Ty and the crew work hard on the hog operation expansion. When they take down the old dairy barn, Ty finds the bloody clothes Ginny buried there after her fifth miscarriage. He returns to work upset. As Ginny reads a magazine in bed, Ty comes in and showers, and the couple begins to argue. Rose told Ty about miscarriage number four. Ginny accuses Ty of being too patient and too private about everything. When she mentions Jess’s theory about the water causing miscarriages, Ty answers that the ground filters out all the toxins. Ty accuses Ginny of lying to him and defends Larry’s actions. After Ty falls asleep angry, Ginny slips out and goes to her father’s house, where Jess is staying, feeling like a three-legged woman carrying desire, shame, and fear. Ginny calls up to Jess’s window and tells him that she loves him. When she hears his reply, she hears only remorse, so she leaves. Early the next morning, Marv Carson and Ken LaSalle arrive to halt the building process because of the legal action. Watching Ty, Ginny feels like they have failed.

Summary: Chapter 34

Two days later, Henry Dodge, the minister, visits Ginny to talk about what happened at the church supper. He tells her that families belong together, that their way of life is precious and needs to be protected. Ginny asks Dodge what people in town are saying about them, but he refuses to gossip. Ty comes in, and the two men make small talk. That afternoon, Ginny goes to Cabot to an antique store. The owner talks about the old things people give up and asks about Ginny’s father. She offers to come over and look at his things since she’s heard that he’s moving to Des Moines. Ginny buys a piece of lace and leaves flustered.

At a café, the waitress serves her without comment. Ginny feels judged. She goes to a clothing store. When Ginny sees Caroline and Larry, she ducks into a changing room and listens to their conversation. They talk about buying socks, memories of a velveteen coat, and how they don’t need Ginny and Rose. Jess’s brother Loren appears, and they leave. Ginny drives home, shaken, and goes to Rose. She asks what color Rose’s coat had been, and Rose describes the brown velveteen coat that Larry was remembering with Caroline. The tone of voice he used triggers another memory in Ginny, and she confesses to Rose that she remembers the abuse and that Rose was right all along.

Analysis: Chapters 32–34

In these chapters, the family loses its ability to hold its secrets and private disagreements in check. They are seeping out into the community. When the minister visits, Ginny feels challenged by him. When she shops in town, she feels as if people are talking behind her back and judging her. In Chapter 34, at Roberta’s dress shop, she hides in the dressing room and eavesdrops on Caroline and her father. What she hears is chilling, not because of the content but because of the tone in Larry’s voice. It is soft and affectionate yet also sinister and manipulative. As their family issues and the lawsuit become public knowledge, Ginny is giving up her privacy, too, and the secrets that she’s held for so long. What was dark and hidden is becoming illuminated, within the family and the community. However, as Book Four concludes, only Rose and Ginny have all the information.

The quarry is a new setting and a metaphorical one. It’s hidden by weeds and fenced in. The quarry contains half-submerged farm implements peeking from muddy water. These represent the truths about the family just beginning to be exposed. Being at the quarry with Pete prompts Ginny to think about how her family cannot tolerate it when buried truths are revealed. Just as Ginny had tried to contain her desire for Jess, she’s also tried to contain the family secrets, but she feels like she’s becoming transparent, that people can see right through her. At this point in the novel, Ginny is on the fence about transparency. She thinks perhaps it might be a relief to have her history exposed, but it’s so contrary to her nature and her family’s norms that it feels wrong. Seeing the snake is a harbinger of an evil to come, one that she does not yet understand, but it will involve Pete and the quarry.

Ty’s suspicions of his wife grow when he finds the bloody clothing and realizes that she’s kept something from him. Unlike early in the novel, their argument becomes personal and sometimes mean. Their marriage is breaking apart, crumbling in their hands. The halting of the building project might be the last straw for Ty. His dreams have been thwarted, and he blames Ginny and Rose. He thinks they should have treated their father with more deference. Ty seems to ignore all the insults that Larry has heaped upon Rose and Ginny. He makes excuses. They have not made love for some time, and nothing that is happening is likely to change that. Ty believes that Larry is mostly harmless, but Ginny (and readers) know better.

Ginny stands up to Henry Dodge. She’s practicing. She does not let him outwit her, and she does not go along with his suggestions to forgive and move on. He puts on his best pastor voice and tone, but she’s stronger than he is and does not give in. Ginny is growing in power and stature. It won’t be long before she comes into her own as Rose has. At the end of Book Four, the two sisters are truly united for the first time in the novel. As Rose assembles pieces of fabric to make a pair of tan slacks, she’s also methodically assembling the pieces of their lives to make sense of them all, to at last sew the past to the present so that their futures might be happier. Once again, Rose makes Ginny feel calmer and reassured. She’s the fan that blows cool air.

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