Pearl S. Buck - A Modern Day Hero
Introduction
A friend of mine gave me a copy of The Good Earth as a birthday gift. Until then, I had never heard of the literary masterpiece or the author, Pearl S. Buck. The story captivated me. I found myself engrossed in the story of the poor farmer Wang Lung whose love for his land allowed him to overcome many odds including famine, flood and a revolution. Through hard work and dedication, Wang Lung became one of the wealthiest landowners in the Anweih province of China. Sadly, Wang Lung’s two sons did not share his passion for “the good earth” and cared only for their bequest. Wang Lung was still on his death bed when the two sons decided that as soon as their father died, they would sell the land and split their inheritance (Buck, P.S., 1931).
The Good Earth instantly became one of my favorite books and Pearl S. Buck, one of my favorite authors. Peter Conn wrote the introduction of the book in the form of a short biography of the author. I usually do not read the introductions until after I read the story because I never want other people’s review to influence my own opinion of the book. So, I saved the introductory pages for last. It wasn’t until I read of Pearl S. Buck’s memoirs that I began to truly admire her, not only for her writing but for her humanitarian and altruistic contributions.
Who is Pearl S. Buck?
Pearl Sydenstricker was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia in 1892. Her missionary parents, Absalom and Carrie Sydenstricker brought her to China when she was three months old. By the time she was four, she spoke and wrote Chinese as well as English (Conn, NDA). She was at first educated by her mother and tutored by a Chinese Confucian Scholar (Author’s Calendar, 2002). While her parents carried out their Christian mission all over the Chinkiang province of China, Pearl was left under the care of her “amah” or governess. It was her amah that fascinated her with Chinese folklores and mythical tales of ancient magic, fairies and dragons (Conn, NDA).
Growing up, Pearl spent hours wandering the streets of Chinkiang observing how the people lived. She became familiar with their rituals, practices, and traditions. Her first hand experience with the Chinese culture led her to write many novels, including her most critically acclaimed book, The Good Earth. Her intimate knowledge of the Chinese culture was evident in ...
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Buck, Pearl S. (1931), The Good Earth, NY: The John Day Company
Conn, Peter (NDA), Pearl S. Buck (Introduction: The Good Earth), NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Doyle, Paul. A (2000), American National Biography Online: Buck, Pearl S., Retrieved on April 20, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-00214.html
Frenz, Horz (1969). The Nobel Lectures, 1901-1967, Amsterdam: Elservier Publishing Company
Merriam-Webster Online (NDA). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com on
March 9, 2005
PSBI Website (NDA), Pearl S. Buck International Online, Retrieved on April 11, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.pearl-s-buck.org/psbi/
Mythology Themes (2000), Sparknotes Online: Themes in Mythology, Retrieved on April 20, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mythology/themes.html
Spencer, Stephen (2002), The Journal of American Popular Culture, Vol. 1, Issue 1: The Discourse of Whiteness: Chinese-American History, Pearl S. Buck and The Good Earth, Retrieved on April 11, 2005 from the World Wide Web: http://www.americanpopularculture.com/journal/articles/spring_2002/spencer.htm
“The Death of Woman Wang”, written by Chinese historian Jonathan Spence, is a book recounting the harsh realities facing citizens of Tancheng country, Shandong Province, Qing controlled China in the late 17th century. Using various primary sources, Spence describes some of the hardships and sorrow that the people of Tancheng faced. From natural disasters, poor leadership, banditry, and invasions, the citizens of Tancheng struggled to survive in a devastated and changing world around them. On its own, “Woman Wang” is an insightful snapshot of one of the worst-off counties in imperial Qing China, however when taking a step back and weaving in an understanding of long held Chinese traditions, there is a greater understanding what happened in
Most critiques of The Good Earth are preoccupied with the authentic quality of the novel, and while the Western critiques praise it as a novel based on facts, the Chinese hold a different view. Kang Younghill, a Chinese man, in reference to the image Pearl Buck created of China, stated that "it is discouraging to find that the novel works toward confusion, not clarification" (Kang 368). This statement illuminates Kang's feelings that the details, which Buck had presented as factual in the novel, were contrary to the actual life of the Chinese. Yet researches have shown that Buck was rightly informed and presented her information correctly. One detail that she paid special attention to was the family structure within the rural Chinese family, which she presented in the form of the Wang Lung household. The family structure demonstrated by Buck is not restricted to the Wang Lung family, but was a part of every rural Chinese home in the early 1900s. Every member's experiences within the family structure are determined by the role and expectations placed on them by the society, and Buck was careful to include these experiences in Wang Lung's family.
Throughout the book The Good Earth written by Pearl S. Buck, it shows the evolvement of the main character Wang Lung and how owning or not owning land in the 1920s is affected by peasants in China. It also shows the struggles of a peasant’s life, going through poverty and what happens when wealth enters their lives. Owning land as a peasant is an important aspect of their living style, simply because they live off of what they are able to grow that season. They depend on their land for resources to provide for themselves and family; and also selling crops or trading crops in order to make money. The peasants of China exemplify how important their crops and land are to them throughout the whole book by showing love and compassion for them; but,
Yarett, Ian, “Has Anything Gotten Better Since That First Earth Day?.” Newsweek, April 26, 2010. Lexisnexis, 23 April 2014
Throughout The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck, the land brings forth nourishing food and wealth as well as comfort to those who work it. Those who are not close with the land suffer immensely and are corrupted by their distance from the land. Distance from their land is usually because of money, which is overriding corrupting force. The corruption of money causes people to leave their land. This in turn causes further corruption because the nourishing land is not able to save the people from their obsession with money.
Odenbaugh, Jay. "Bill McKibben on the End of Nature." Green Thoughts. Blogspot.com, 28 Sept. 2006. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
A wise man once stated, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man 's needs, but not every man 's greed.” -Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the wise people that realized we need to take better care of our home planet Earth. Another wise person who also thought the Earth should be taken better care of was Rachel Carlson. In 1962 Carlson wrote “The Obligation to Endure” in hopes to educate people on this matter. In this essay I am going to explain how Carlson’s ideas have changed since she wrote her book in 1962.
The following in a report on the themes and action of The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck as it relates to food and culture.
Bulliet, Richard W. Earth and Its Peoples: a Global History. 5th ed. Vol. 1. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Have you ever wondered where we would be without the women of the Wild West? The most obvious we would be extinct, because there would be no reproduction of offspring. Women were needed for this reason, but there was so many more contributions that they made. Women were important in founding this great land. The women traveled with their men in hopes of getting free land out west, but it was a different story when they arrived. The winters were bad, rain was often lacking, and therefore, the crops did not grow. As a result, food was not plentiful. Many of the settlers almost starved to death. Women had to provide and support their families by cooking, cleaning, planting food, making clothes, washing clothes, mending clothes and, above all, taking care of their children. Women in the Wild West should receive more recognition for what they have done in the Wild West from providing for their families, standing up in tough times, and leading an expedition thorough the country.
“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strengths to establish realities”(5). In the book “The Woman Warrior,” Maxine Kingston is most interested in finding out about Chinese culture and history and relating them to her emerging American sense of self. One of the main ways she does so is listening to her mother’s talk-stories about the family’s Chinese past and applying them to her life.
It is as though Asian Americans are succumbing to the thought that America is the only place to be and that they should be grateful to live here. On the other hand, keeping silent due to pressures from the white population means being shunned by the members of the Asian American population. I disagree with Chin’s assertion that “years of apparent silence have made us accomplices” to the makers of stereotypes (Chin 1991, xxxix). I agree with Hongo’s argument that the Chin viewpoint “limits artistic freedom” (Hongo 4). Declaring that those writers who do not argue stereotypes of the good, loyal, and feminine Chinese man or the submissive female, are in any way contributing to or disagreeing with them is ridiculous.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
Ed. Janelle Rohr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1989. Call Number: HV4711.A581989. Cohen, Carl.
There can be no doubt that the symbol of earth in Buck's novel, The Good Earth, is one so potent that it permeates and binds the entire tale. It is presented repeatedly throughout the novel, either through gentle allusion or outright statement. None can dispute that the earth itself is a vital component in the livelihood of any farmer, thus it is not surprising that the farmer Wang Lung places so much value into his lands; however, there is a separate element of the earth that Pearl S. Buck brings forth in her tale about a farmer's prosperous rise in feudal China, that element of regeneration and revitalization that is so apparent within this selected passage from the book.