/5

1

Marcus Meisel, 7C

T H E

G O O D

E A

R T H

by Pearl S.Buck

Author:

"The Good Earth" was written by Pearl S. Buck, who was
born in the United States of America, but since her early age she lived
in China the most time of her life and also felt to be one of the
Chinese.
In 1938 Pearl S. Buck was given the Nobel Price in Literature for "The
Good Earth".

Published:

The book was published by Longman. It was first
published in 1931.

Type of book:

It is a novel and the plot is not a thriller, nor a
biography but a social chronicle.
There exist two versions of "The Good Earth", the original and the
simplified.
The simplified in the English Series is for learners because if they try
to read the book in its original form, they have to turn frequently to the
dictionary and so the reading fluency loses much of the pleasure that
it ought to give.

Subject:

In an almost pastoral style "The Good Earth" describes
the cycle of birth, marriage and death in a Chinese peasant family. It
is the absorbing story of Wang Lung´s life until it is time for him to be
claimed by the good earth.
The setting of the story is located in northern China in the early 20th
century.

/5

2

The most important persons are:

•

)

Wang Lung:

he is a Chinese farmer

•

)

O-Lan:

was bought by Wang Lung as a slave woman,because he

wanted to get married. So she is Wang Lung´s wife.

•

)

Lotus:

his concubine

•

)

Cuckoo:

a servant and slave

•

)

Nung En:

Wang Lung´s oldest son

•

)

Nung Wen:

Wang Lung´s second son.

•

)

The Fool:

Wang Lung´s first daughter

Plot synopsis:

Wang Lung was the son of a poor farmer in

China who lived alone with his father. He decided to get married and
so he bought a slave girl named O-Lan from the house of Hwang, a
girl who would keep the house clean, prepare the food, and not waste
her time thinking about clothes.
On the morning he led her out through the gates of the big house,
they stopped at a temple and burned incense. That was their
marriage.
O-Lan was a good wife. She collected twigs and wood, so that they
would not have to buy gas. She mended Wang Lung´s and his
father´s winter clothes and cleaned the house. She worked in the
fields beside her husband, even on the day she bore her first son.
The harvest was a good one that year. Wang Lung had a handful of
silver money from the sale of his wheat and rice. He and O-Lan
bought new clothes for the baby.
Together they went to pray their respects, with their child, to the home
in which O-Lan had once been a slave. With some of the money
Wang Lung bought a small field of rich land from the Hwangs.
The second child was born a year later. It was again a year of good
harvest.
Wang Lung´s third baby was a girl. On the day of her birth, crows flew
around the house,mocking Wang Lung with their cries.The farmer did

/5

3

not rejoice when his little daughter was born, because they raised her
to serve the rich.The crows had been an evil omen. The child was
born feeble-minded.
That summer was dry, and for months no rain fell. The harvest was
poor. After the little rice and wheat had been eaten and the ox killed
for food, there was nothing for the poor farmers to do but die or go
south.
Wang Lung sold their furniture for a few pieces of silver. Before they
went to the south, O-Lan first gave birth to their fourth child, a girl, but
she strangled her at birth. The family went to their new home by train
and they were lucky.
In the city they constructed a hut of mats against a wall, and while O-
Lan and the two older children were begging, Wang Lung pulled a
ricksha. In that way they spent the winter, each day earning enough to
buy rice for the next day.
One day an exciting thing happened.There was to be a battle between
soldiers in the town and an approaching enemy.The poor who lived so
miserably, broke into the houses of the rich. By threatening one fat
fellow who had been left behind, Wang Lung obtained enough money
to take his family home.
O-Lan soon repaired the damage which the weather had done to their
house during their absence. Then, with jewels,which his wife had
managed to plunder during the looting in the city, Wang Lung bought
more land from the house of Hwang. He allowed O-Lan to keep two
small pearls which she fancied. Now Wang Lung had more land than
one man could handle, and he took his best friend and neighbour,
CHING, as overseer. Several years later, he had six men working for
him.
O-Lan, who had born him twins, a boy and a girl, after their return from
the south, no longer went out into the fields to work, but kept the new
house he had built. Wang Lung´s two oldest sons were sent to school
in the town.
When his land was flooded and work impossible until the water
receeded, Wang Lung began to go regularly to a tea shop in the town.
There he fell in love with a girl named LOTUS and brought her home
to his farm to be his concubine. He also bought Cuckoo as a servant
for Lotus and a slave for him.To keep peace at home, he built a

/5

4

seperate establishment for Lotus, to prevent that O-Lan had anything
to do with her.
When he found that his oldest son visited Lotus while he was away,
Wang Lung arranged to have the boy marry the daughter of a grain
merchant in the town.
The wedding took place shortly before O-Lan, still in the prime of life,
died of a chronic stomach illness. To cement the bond between the
farmer and the grain merchant, Wang Lung´s second son got an
apprentice for the merchant LIN and his youngest daughter was
betrothed to Lin´s young son.Soon after O-Lan´s death Wang Lung´s
father folliowed her. They were buried near one another on a hill on
his land.
When he grew wealthy, an uncle,his wife and his shiftless son came
to live with Wang Lung. One year there was a great flood, and
although his neighbour´s houses were pillaged by robbers during the
confusion, Wang Lung was not bothered. Then he learned that his
uncle was second to the chief of the robbers. From that time on he
had to give way to his uncle´s family, for they were his insurance
against robbery and perhaps murder.
At last Wang Lung coaxed his uncle and aunt to smoke opium, and so
they became too involved in their dreams to bother him. But there was
no way he could curb their son. When the boy began to annoy the wife
of Wang Lung´s oldest son, the farmer rented the deserted house of
the Hwang, and he, with his own family, moved into town.
The cousin left to join the soldiers. The uncle and aunt were left in the
country with their pipes to console them.
After Wang Lung´s overseer had died, he did no more farming
himself. From that time on he rented his land, hoping that his
youngest son would work it after his death. But he was disappointed.
When Wang Lung took a slave, young enough to be his
granddaughter, the boy, who was in love with her, ran away from
home and became a soldier.
When Wang Lung felt, that his death was near, Wang Lung went back
to live on his land, taking with him only his slave, Cuckoo, his foolish-
witted first daughter, and some servants.
One day as he accompanied his sons across the fields, he overheard
them planning what they would do with their father´s property. Wang

/5

5

Lung cried out, protesting that they were never allowed to sell the land
because only from it could they be sure of earning a living.
He did not know that they looked at each other over his head and
smiled.

Ideas, opinions and comments:

Pearl S. Buck shows how the acquisition of wealth destroys the
happiness of Wang Lung and how the family got divided.
Also the conflict between the generations is shown. The sons
dissipate the wealth which has been acquired by the father with such
difficulty. In the end, the land alone repairs its permanent value.
I think that Pearl S. Buck´s opinion during her lifetime was, that
owning land was worthier than having just money. As you can see
nowadays,in a time of rapid money inflation, she was right. I think she
tried to get her thoughts into her book.
I can recommend that book because it is written so realistically that
nothing could take your attention from it when reading it.