The Good Earth Essay
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck tells the story of Wang Lung, a diligent farmer living in pre-revolutionary China. The novel begins with Wang Lung’s visit to the powerful House of Hwang to collect one of the house’s slaves, a woman named O-lan, to be his wife; O-lan proves herself to be a plain, yet dutiful and competent wife over the next few years, producing three sons and a daughter and keeping her new family well fed. Wang Lung’s land thrives, increasing Wang Lung’s wealth and social status and enabling Wang Lung and O-lan to return to the House of Hwang to flaunt their prosperous life and healthy boys in front of O-lan’s old masters. Soon, however, hard times befall the House of Hwang and Wang Lung’s town; Wang Lung and his family flee to the south to evade the drought suffocating his …show more content…
Pearl S. Buck uses indirect characterization to help the reader capture the views and values held by Wang Lung and his family. With every tear, gesture, or burst of emotion shown by a character, Buck creates a vivid image of the character within the reader’s mind. I truly loved this sense of characterization because, by having to infer traits about a character, I received a unique perspective of him or her. Buck also possesses a great sense of symbolism, creating images such as foot-binding, the House of Hwang, and O-lan’s pearls to add depth to her story. By use of symbols, Pearl unearths deeper themes in her work. Recognizing these symbols and themes was a difficult, yet worthwhile task for me; to me, their discovery was rewarding when I saw the fuller message of the work. In conclusion, The Good Earth is a brilliant novel full of beautiful symbols and themes; I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning about the pre-revolutionary Chinese culture or has an avid eye for
In her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck tells the story of Wang Lung, a diligent farmer living in pre-revolutionary China. The novel begins with Wang Lung’s visit to the powerful House of Hwang to collect one of the house’s slaves, a woman named O-lan, to be his wife; O-lan proves herself to be a plain, yet dutiful and competent wife over the next few years, producing three sons and a daughter and keeping her new family well fed. Wang Lung’s land thrives, increasing Wang Lung’s wealth and social status and enabling Wang Lung and O-lan to return to the House of Hwang to flaunt their prosperous life and healthy boys in front of O-lan’s old masters. Soon, however, hard times befall the House of Hwang and Wang Lung’s town; Wang Lung and his family flee to the south to evade the drought suffocating his …show more content…
Pearl S. Buck uses indirect characterization to help the reader capture the views and values held by Wang Lung and his family. With every tear, gesture, or burst of emotion shown by a character, Buck creates a vivid image of the character within the reader’s mind. I truly loved this sense of characterization because, by having to infer traits about a character, I received a unique perspective of him or her. Buck also possesses a great sense of symbolism, creating images such as foot-binding, the House of Hwang, and O-lan’s pearls to add depth to her story. By use of symbols, Pearl unearths deeper themes in her work. Recognizing these symbols and themes was a difficult, yet worthwhile task for me; to me, their discovery was rewarding when I saw the fuller message of the work. In conclusion, The Good Earth is a brilliant novel full of beautiful symbols and themes; I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning about the pre-revolutionary Chinese culture or has an avid eye for