The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

 

Pulitzer Prize Winner of 1938

I have been in many American Literature classes in my time between AP English in high school and my undergrad degree. The Good Earth has never been chosen as course material in any of my classes. This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, and Pearl S. Buck was the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, mostly based on this work, so why is it not being taught?

Pearl S. Buck was brought to China when she was 5 months old with her missionary family. Unlike many of the other missionary and foreign children, her parents taught her to respect the land and its people. They did not view the Chinese people as “savages” but as equals. She was taught by English teachers but also learned the Chinese language with a Chinese teacher. She also was educated by the children in the village. 

When she became an adult, she decided to write about her experiences and the Chinese people. This was what led to the writing of The Good Earth. Buck’s well-meaning attempt to expose the West to Eastern culture. 

Buck on the set of The Big Wave in 1960

The Good Earth synopsis

The book opens on our main character, Wang Lung’s, wedding day. Wang Lung is a poor farmer who is now of marrying age. He is caring for an aging father who can no longer work. His father has negotiated a wife for Wang Lung with the lord's house. He will marry a kitchen slave named O-Lan. 

Before he leaves to pick up his wife, Wang Lung serves his father tea and bathes his whole body in hot water. His father lectures him on the excess of wasting tea and hot water, but Wang Lung dismisses him, as this is his wedding day, which is special. He speculated if she will deformed in some way. His father deems this unimportant, as he needs a partner and fellow worker, not a beauty.

Wang Lung goes to the lord’s home and collects his wife. He indulges in buying them a treat on the way home. That night they have a small feast to celebrate their union. The next day Wang Lung is pleased to find O-Lan is a hard worker and takes care of them well. It is soon after that O-Lan is pregnant with their first child.

The child is a boy. After the child is born, there is a bountiful harvest, and the boy is seen as good luck. The family's luck continues when she gives birth to another boy. The luck continues in the harvest as well. During this time, Wang Lung is slowly purchasing more plots of land for his farm. 

O-Lan is expecting again quickly. Their third child is a girl, who is later found to have intellectual disabilities. Soon after the birth of their daughter, there is blight on the crops. Famine spreads through the village. The girl child is seen as the bad luck that brought the tragedy. When O-lan has a fourth child and it is a girl, she strangles her to remove the extra mouth to feed. A girl child is seen as a burden. 

During this time, Wang Lung’s uncle has spread a rumor that he is hoarding food. A mob enters their house looking for this food, which is not there. Next, he brings men to the house in an attempt to get Wang Lung to sell the land. O-Lan steps in and stops any sale of land. She negotiates the sale of the furniture in their house instead to fund their trip to the North, where there are rumors of survival in the big city of Nanking.

The family starts walking North and soon catches a train to Nanking. A stranger on the train explains to Wang Lung how to survive when they arrive. Between Wang Lung pulling a rickshaw during the day and the rest of the family begging, they get enough money to eat, but not enough to return home. The city starts to erupt in violence. Wang Lung and O-Lan seriously begin to discuss selling their daughter into slavery to return home. 

This does not happen, because a riot erupts in the city and the peasants invade the rich people's homes and steal. Wang Lang steals enough for them to return home comfortably. After this they return home to the South and find the lands fertile again. 

The Good Earth Peking by Elizabeth Keith

The family experiences seven years of unprecedented prosperity. Wang Lung adds more and more property, as the lord and lady are declining and need the money. He has people working his lands for him and does not need to toil incessantly. During this time, Wang Lung is smart. He saves his money and stores enough food for rough times. He even purchases the old lord's house and fancies himself a lord now. 

Floods strike, but Wang Lung’s family is safe. His house is above the flood line, and he has enough stores to survive and money to go on. During the downtime the flood causes, Wang Lung starts to feel restless and looks at this life. For the first time, he is judgmental of O-Lan. Her appearance is ugly, her unbound feet are too big, and Wang Lung feels he deserves better. 

The Good Earth illustration by Barron Storey

He starts taking trips to the city and visiting a “tea shop” and frequenting the company of a prostitute named Lotus Flower. He becomes enamored with her beauty and her bound feet. He soon adds her as his second wife. His family is not happy about the addition of a second wife. Lotus is selfish, lazy, and rude, but Wang Lung cannot see her flaws. 

It is soon found that she is carrying on with Wang Lung’s second son, and she leaves the home. O-Lan, who has been ill for years, passes away. It is only then that Wang Lung appreciates her dedication to him and the family. It is only then he sees her worth. O-Lan suffered in silence and gave everything to her family, only to be appreciated in death for her absence. 

Wang Lung lives the rest of his life, takes on another female, but never truly feels his life was fully worth it and accomplished. 

My impressions of The Good Earth

This will be difficult for me, as I truly believe all books have value, and I do not like to say this, but I hated this book. In a way, I have not hated a book in years. While I am aware this was written in 1937 and times are vastly different, I should not get so violently angry at a book. My disconnect comes from the descriptions of the book and what it supposedly accomplished. There are numerous quotes from authors and critics praising how well it describes peasant life in China and how it bridged a gap between the East and the West. If this book made Westerners feel like they could finally understand China, I am concerned. 

As I stated before, this book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, and I am shocked by that. It is not a requirement that you write likeable characters in your novel; however, it is preferable. There is only one redeeming character in the book.  It is the long-suffering O-Lan. Her parents sold her into slavery. Her “owners” married her off to a peasant family who depend on her for everything. 

She works in the house and the field. She bears Wang Lung's sons. Furthermore, she does everything expected of her. What does she get in return? A lifetime of servitude to a man who replaces her as soon as he deems himself too good for her and insults her appearance while she is dying.

Wang Lung is a fool, who will take advice from anyone if it suits his view of himself. The father and uncle come off as entitled, and Wang Lung feels obsequious in his kowtowing to them. What is supposed to show Westerners the strength of family bonds in China comes off as a weak man being taken advantage of time and again. 

This book feels like a well-meaning Westerner trying to explain to other Westerners what it's like in the “mystical Orient.” I do not believe that a non-Asian person cannot write a story about Asian culture. It has been done well in books like Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard, but I do not think this book accomplished the author’s set goal. .

In my reading about Pearl S. Buck, I saw she was a feminist and a human rights activist. I hope that she was able to portray these ideals better in other novels, because The Good Earth felt misogynistic in its portrayal of women in Chinese culture. I am not naive; I realize the social hierarchies in China at this time subjugate women. I just wish this novel did not speak of it so matter-of-factly that it feels like tacit approval from the author. 

Last year, I read Daughters of Shandong by Eve E. Chung. The book takes place during the Cultural Revolution, and a lot of the same topics are dealt with. Famine, poverty, and a woman's place in Chinese society. Not once did I seethe with anger while reading this. I think that an author who is in the culture and has 87 years of experience on what not to do truly makes the difference. I wanted to like this book; I just couldn’t.