1. Discuss the roles of “chance” and “change” in the life of the Chinese peasant (especially note Chapters 18, 19, and 20), as opposed to a cause-and-effect relationship, illustrated in the belief by Wang Lung that hard work will have benefits. 2. Discuss the relationship between the House of Hwang […]
Read more Study Help Essay QuestionsCritical Essays Lotus Flower and Concubinage
There are few Westerners who can understand the Chinese practice of concubinage as it was practiced up until the 1930s. In actuality, the practice of concubinage is a logical outgrowth of the Chinese family structure, particularly as it applied to the position of women in the Chinese family, in which […]
Read more Critical Essays Lotus Flower and ConcubinageCritical Essays The Chinese Custom of Foot Binding
The Chinese custom of binding a young girl’s feet plays an important role in The Good Earth. When Wang Lung first sees O-lan, he immediately notes that her feet are not bound; later, he has O-lan bind his daughter’s feet. He becomes disgusted with O-lan’s feet and is attracted to […]
Read more Critical Essays The Chinese Custom of Foot BindingPearl S. Buck Biography
Pearl S. Buck was truly a pioneer in appreciating the People’s Republic of China and its emergence as a world power. Through her writings and humanitarian activities, she often made attempts to reduce the cultures of China and the United States to their lowest common denominator in order to bridge […]
Read more Pearl S. Buck BiographyCharacter Analysis O-Lan
O-lan is as basic as Wang Lung. On her wedding day, when she humbly follows Wang Lung home, she is seen as a model, in some ways, of the perfect Chinese wife. She is humble and subservient; in fact, she is so quiet that Wang Lung never knows what she […]
Read more Character Analysis O-LanCharacter Analysis Wang Lung
From the first time that we encounter Wang Lung until our final view of him, his main concern is the “good earth” and the sustenance that it gives. When we first meet him, preparing for his wedding day, he takes his bath water and returns it to the good earth. […]
Read more Character Analysis Wang LungSummary and Analysis Chapters 33-34
Wang Lung cannot free himself from the thought of the youthful beauty of Pear Blossom, and he is ashamed since he is approaching seventy years old. One day, however, as she passes him, he calls her forth, and she, feeling “from him the heat of his blood,” confesses that she […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 33-34Summary and Analysis Chapters 31-32
Wang Lung, who has now lived through more than one drought and more than one flood, swarms of locusts, famines, and other disasters, has never seen a war. The mere fact that he refers to the war as something to be seen re-establishes the fact that he is a simple […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 31-32Summary and Analysis Chapters 29-30
Wang Lung is impatient to get the task of moving accomplished. Yet on the day set aside for moving, he is still reluctant to leave the land. Thus, Pearl Buck suggests that, even in wealth, Wang Lung’s ties with the land are still exceptionally strong. He resolves to move to […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 29-30Summary and Analysis Chapters 27-28
These chapters continue to show how Wang Lung becomes a wealthy and powerful man. This wealth is accomplished as a result of several factors. First, a great flood comes at a time when Wang Lung had given over the entire management to Ching and “had scarcely thought whether [he] had […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapters 27-28