The Good Earth Essay, Research Paper
Peter Cao 5/17/000
Period 8 H.R.10
The Good Earth
The Good Earth, a book written by an American author; but is about the life of an
ordinary Chinese farmer during the early 1900s. Is an extremely well-written novel. The
many realistic details the author Pearl S. Buck used, to bring about the daily hardships of
the main character are quite fascinating. And its very rare that a foreign writer can know
so much about China. Also the fact that Pearl S. Buck chose to write about the life of a
common farmer is quite interesting, because in the Chinese society farmers are great
contributors; however, at most times is regarded as the lower class of the Chinese social
structure.
Foremost, the Good Earth begins with Wang Lung going to the Great House of
Hwang (P.49) to bring home the wife that was betrothed to him by his father. From that
moment on the wife, O-lan completely changed the rest of Wang lung s life. Not only
that O-lan was diligent and street-smart, she also helped Wang Lung gain the very wealth
that will turn him away from her.
Wang Lung lived with his father, wife, and five children, one whom is mentally
retarded. Although Wang Lung supplied all the physical needs for his family and kept all
the family traditions. Just like the ancestors which inherited the land before him, Wang
Lung worked the earth that provided food, prosperity, and all he ever need. However, the
earth also brought him sorrow through natural disasters, but the earth remained his sole
source of inner-peace.
Wang Lung was a caring and compassionate man with a strong sense of family
and adaptation to simple life. For example, Wang Lung showed extreme respect and
appreciation for his wife in a time when women were considered to be no more then
slaves. In the early chapters of the novel when Wang Lung was poor, he gave O-lan four
silver pieces so she may return to the House of Hwang in grand style. He also offered to
pay five thousand silver pieces for her recovery after he discovered she had a “fire in her
vitals”(P.170). He then spent the rest of her days by her death bed and bought her the best
quality coffin.
Furthermore, Wang Lung had a special relationship with his first daughter, Poor
Fool, his mentally retarded offspring. Poor Fool did not speak and did nothing more then
twiddle a piece of cloth in the sun. Although Wang Lung had servants and slaves, he
personally took care of his daughter after O-lan died. He also yelled at his love Lotus
when she called Poor Fool an idiot Now I will not hear my children cursed, no and not
by any
call her idiot, and a load of fresh pain for the girl fell upon his heart, so that for a day and
two days he would not go near Lotus, but he played with the children and he went into
the town and he bought a circle of barley candy for his poor fool and he comforted
himself with her baby pleasure in the sweet sticky stuff. (P. 212) His love for Poor Fool
was immeasurable and he was comforted when she was happy; “Well, and that poor fool
of mine brings me more comfort then all the others put together” (P. 234).
Wang Lung’s caring nature was the foundation for a stable family. Although it
was rarely displayed, Wang Lung’s heartlessness and sheer cruelty deeply scarred the
most beloved members in his family. For instance, Wang Lung’s infatuation with Lotus
temporarily blinds his true love for O-lan. Instead of the caring husband O-lan grew to
love he was mean and he assaulted her with insults about her lack of beauty and
highlighted her extremely large features: He saw for the first time that her hair was rough
and brown and uncoiled and that her face was flat and coarse-skinned, and her features
too large altogether and without any sort of beauty or light. Her eyebrows were scattered
and her hairs too few, and her lips too wide and her hands and feet were large and
spreading…I would have my wife look less like a hind. And those feet of yours-.(169,
170).This continuous battery of insults convinced O-lan that they lost the love they once
shared. Furthermore, Wang Lung confiscated the two pearls O-lan saved from the south.
O-lan wanted to have the pearls set in earrings to give their youngest daughter on her
wedding day, but Wang Lung did not agree: Why should that one wear have need of
them.(188)
Although he learned the pearls would be for his daughters wedding day, he
decided to give them as gifts to his mistress. Furthermore, he lashes his eldest son and his
mistress with a bamboo stick, because he saw them conversing by the pool and
immediately assumed they were having an affair. He said to Lotus “So must you ever be a
whore and go a-whoring around after my own sons!”(P.247). Wang Lung then send his
oldest son to the south for two years the next day. Wang Lung’s jealous and
condescending behavior hurts his loved ones the most.
. Therefore, not only The Good Earth can be praised for its realism, the
demonstration of life-like human weakness through Wang Lung is also quite intriguing.
Also, as mentioned above the fact that an American author, Pearl S. Buck can write so
well about Chinese culture is extremely fascinating.