In King Lear, we read a classic Shakespeare tragedy. He presents a story of an old king, who in his later years, but not near death, decides to divide his land amongst his three daughters'. Lear decides to split the land between his two oldest daughters', Goneril and Regan, and his youngest daughter Cordelia, who as his favorite daughter, was to receive the largest piece of land. Lear asked his daughters to express their love to him, or better yet, to express how much they loved him. Goneril and Regan were very quick to lay on extreme flattery, and untrue love. They expressed how their love for him was unmatched, and how they could love nothing or no one as they love him. In return they received their respective share of land and powe

We receive a hint during a bedtime conversation between Ty and Ginny, of the tragedy that is lures over the family, and what the cause will be. They are discussing Ginny's father, and Ty mentions that her father understands himself, he's just secretive. Also that "one of his secrets is that he is afraid of his daughters"(Smiley 111). Ty realizes that although the transfer was a good idea financially, it may not be good for the family. All the years that Larry Cook had absolute power, now he may fear he has none. As we learn eventually, he has taken Caroline on his side because he fears betrayal of Rose and Ginny. Here, through the interaction of Ty, the reader can note what the basis of Larry Cook's mental breakdown is; fear.

Much to the importance of comparisons to King Lear, there are the events that take place after the initial error, which utterly complete the character's destruction. One event in particular, found in both works, is the storm scene. The storm in both works symbolizes unrest and somewhat madness. Lear's presence in the storm completed his cycle of becoming mad, and here too, Larry Cook, as he returns from wandering in the storm to confront his family has here gone mad also. After bombarding Ginny with accusations of being the "slut, whore, and bitch" that she is, he then rants on about how he knows of their plans to deceive him. "Don't make me out to be crazy! I know your game! The next step is the county home, with that game." After attempting to explain that they never asked for the farm, that it was his idea, he says, "It's you girls that make me crazy! I gave you everything and get nothing in return. Just some orders about doing this and being that and points of view."(198) This is the appearance that he sees, because he is mad. The reality of it all is that his daughter's took full care of him everyday; this, in spite of him having sex with and beating them through their childhood. He threatens to get his land back and storms off.

Here the demise has started full cycle not only with Larry Cook, but with the rest of the family. While bombarding Ginny with harsh insults, Ty never stuck up for her. This, would only draw her closer to Jess Clark, who she had relations with already. This opened the door for Harold Clark to totally destroy any semblance of family in the Cooks' as he started the argument at church dinner, which led to his seperation of his son Jess. This would ultimately cause Pete to lose all his sense of mental structure, and after sabotaging Harold Clark's water basin causing his death, Pete eventually would drive himself to his own inevitable drunk driving death, leaving behind his wife and daughters. Yes, tragedy has set in to it's peak.

It was now time for the seperation of Rose and Ginny, who have remained close throughout. With the event of Pete's death more truth comes out. Rose confesses to Ginny about sleeping with Jess. This separates the special feelings Ginny had for him, and gives her a realization about the true relationship with her sister. Throughout the novel she constantly identifies herself with Rose, until she comes to the realization that although she just assumed differences with Rose were on the surface, "After all she wasn't me. Her body wasn't mine."(332) The tension gets a step further when before the court scene, while thinking of the harvest and Rose and Jess, Ginny thinks, "if this harvest had been punctuated with Rose dropping dead at supper. My hatred for her burned steadily in spite of everything that brought us together." (343) Again showing that the appearance of what is or should be is not in the face of tragedy.

After long discussions with Ginny, Caroline realized what was at stake. Her father decided to give his life's work to his children and their families. After long thought she decided to come to the transfer of ownership and the signing of papers. She was greeted with a door b

Some common words found in the essay are:
Larry Cook, Rose Ginny, Goneril Regan, Des Moines, Ginny Rose, King Lear, Coast Ty, Cordelia Caroline, Rose Alzheimer's, Jess Ginny, larry cook, rose ginny, king lear, demise destruction, rose ty jess, goneril regan, demise farmer, family larry, drunk driving, ty jess, ginny rose, answers it's idea, family larry cook,
Approximate Word count = 2849
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)