I love you. I love you not. I bet most people think of a young girl plucking petals off a flower while murmuring these two sentences, trying to sort through her feelings for her man. However, "I love you, I love you not" can also be applied to siblings. Some siblings are the best of friends. Some siblings can be horrible rivals. In A Thousand Acres, Ginny and Rose are both – they are sometimes best friends, yet other times, they are bitter opponents. Their relationship in Jane Smiley's poignant but twisted novel demonstrates the theme of the fine line between love and hate.
             To understand the relationship of the two women, one must know something about their different personalities first. Ginny is only two years older than Rose, but it often seems that Rose is older than Ginny. Rose's battles with her abusive husband Pete, especially times when she openly defies him, demonstrate her strong-will. She knows that Pete beating her up is wrong, and she isn't afraid of letting him know how she feels. Ginny would ask, " 'What kind of life do you have now?' And she would reply, 'One with self-respect, at least.'" (141) However, Rose also has a deceptive appearance. She is actually more conniving and envious than she seems, and she herself knows that.
             Ginny, on the other hand, can be described as a spineless woman who accepts everything the men around her (her father and her husband) say. She "was afraid to talk about it because [she] hated friction with Ty" (154). Ginny runs away from any conflict with men – not just her husband, but also with her father. After going to the chiropractic office, she and Larry go out for dinner, and he gets mad at her for having a "point of view". She "reddens to the hairline... 'I just want to get along, Daddy. I don't want to fight. Don't fight with me?'" (175) Larry ...