About the Novel
Introduction
To better understand The Good Earth, a brief review of the history of China at that time that the story takes place would be helpful. After the overthrow of the Ching Dynasty of the Manchus in 1911 by Sun Yat-sen and other dedicated intellectuals who envisioned a united and democratic nation, developments did not go quite as well as the leaders had hoped.
Since China is one of the largest nations on earth, it is natural that its people are not necessarily homogeneous. Even though they are basically of the same race and write the same language, there are at least a hundred spoken dialects, which means that a person from one province may not easily understand what a person from another province is saying; in many cases, verbal communication is totally impossible. However, an educated person could read Chinese, be it written by a person from the extreme South or a person from the extreme North, even though these two people would not understand each other's speech. As Wang Lung notes in Chapter 12, "But Anhwei is not Kiangsu. In Anhwei, where Wang Lung was born, the language is slow and deep and it wells from the throat. But in the Kiangsu city where they now lived the people spoke in syllables which splintered from their lips and from the ends of their tongues."
While perhaps over-simplifying the troubles in China after the overthrow of the Imperial power, most of the local military governors of the provinces were unwilling to be lorded over by what they considered a revolutionary government. Instead, they set up their own separate territories. This state of affairs went on for years.
Almost every province had its "strong man," popularly known as "war lords." Some were merely terrorists or bandits, but others controlled vast areas and held millions in thrall. Wu Pei-fu, for example, ruled five provinces in North and Central China and his "subjects" must have been well over one hundred million. In Manchuria, Chang Tso-ling held onto a territory almost as large as France and Spain combined. Even after his death at the hands of Japanese extremists, his son, the "Young Marshal," ruled until the Japanese finally took over in 1932 and established the satellite state of Manchukuo. The war lords collected taxes and had their own armies and civil service: their word was law. Even Chiang Kaishek, while he pursued his goal of a united China, could have been labeled a war lord. After the death of Sun Yet-sen in 1925, and a period of struggle within the ruling Kuomintang party, Chiang finally set up his headquarters in Nanking and his campaign against the local chieftains was largely successful until it became a conflict against the Communists of Mao Tse-tung and the Japanese.
By the late 1920s, the period which most resembles the period of this book, China was torn by civil strife from Canton to Peking, from the India border to the Amur River on the border of Russia. The lot of the Chinese peasant was not very good. Most of them were tenant farmers, working the land for the rich landowners, who may have owned thousands of acres (as does Wang Lung at the end of The Good Earth). But here and there were small, independent farmers working their own plots, as does Wang Lung at the beginning of the novel. These small farmers were constantly at the prey of marauding bandits—such as Wang Lung's uncle and the "red beards." They were also at the mercy of the grain merchants since they could not read or write; hence, the importance for Wang Lung to have his oldest son learn to read and write. Essentially, however, most of the farmers were left alone, for even the war lords had to eat. The farmer was thus protected to some extent by the same needs which plagued him and his family.
In times of favorable weather, the peasant lived a frugal but adequate life. He saw very little of actual money (during the first part of the novel, a piece of silver was a very rare thing for Wang Lung), but he usually had enough to eat, though it might be no more than garlic and unleavened bread. Wang Lung was often scorned by those who had education or an ability for commerce, and people often called him "Wang, the farmer" in a derogatory manner and held their nose in contempt for the garlic he ate. But in spite of these things, the small landowning peasant had a pride in the land he owned, and this pride is Wang Lung's most distinguishing characteristic. His final speech in the novel concerns the importance of retaining his land and never selling even a small portion of it.
Some critics have claimed that Pearl Buck is not writing about a Chinese farmer, but a universal farmer, one who knows that his riches and his security come from the good earth itself. This concept does give a universality to the novel, but for most readers the importance of the novel lies in Pearl Buck's knowledge of China and of the Chinese—a knowledge as great as that which any foreigner can possess. Her life in the rural areas of China also gave her a profound insight into the thinking of the Chinese peasant, something that Mao Tse-tung discovered when he was planning his revolution, and the Communist leader eventually came to depend on farmers like Wang Lung, with their strength of character, as a nucleus of his revolutionaries. Even Wang Lung's third son, we hear, became an important official in the revolutionary army.
About the Novel
A Brief Synopsis
The novel opens on Wang Lung’s wedding day. Wang is a Chinese peasant farmer who lives with his father; his mother died six years earlier. His intended bride, O-lan, is a slave in the prosperous House of Hwang. Wang walks to the House of Hwang, where he is embarrassed by his shabby appearance, and collects O-lan after appearing before the Ancient Mistress of the House. The couple returns to Wang’s farm, where O-lan prepares dinner for guests—including Wang’s unnamed uncle and the uncle’s unnamed son—invited to celebrate the wedding. Later that night, Wang and O-lan consummate their marriage.
Over the next few months following their marriage, O-lan tends the house and joins Wang in cultivating the fields. We learn at the end of Chapter 2 that she is pregnant. The events of her pregnancy are skipped over, and we soon find O-lan ready to deliver her baby; she asks Wang for nothing except a newly peeled reed, slit, so that she may cut the baby’s umbilical cord. She delivers a son and soon rejoins Wang in working the fields. The harvest is prosperous, and Wang and O-lan are able to hide silver dollars from the harvest in their house.
On the second day of the New Year, Wang and O-lan, dressed in new clothes that O-lan has sewed, take their son to the House of Hwang to present him to the Ancient Mistress. Their appearance of prosperity is in stark contrast to Wang’s appearance the first time he visited the House. O-lan relates to Wang her suspicion that the great House of Hwang is having financial difficulties, so much so that the House is looking to sell a portion of its land. With the silver coins from their previous harvest, Wang purchases the land. Soon thereafter, O-lan delivers a second son. Along with this second son comes another prosperous harvest, even better than before, and Wang and O-lan again are able to stash silver in their house.
At the same time that O-lan is delivering yet another child—a girl this time—Wang’s uncle approaches Wang and cajoles Wang into giving him silver to be used as a dowry for his eldest daughter. Wang resists giving the money to his uncle, who is a despicable character, but out of guilt—and the threat of blackmail of his good name—Wang acquiesces.
Times grow bad for Wang and the other farmers, but he continues to buy land from the House of Hwang—although he does not tell O-lan that he’s using up all of their silver. Food grows scarce, and the family is forced to slaughter their ox and eat it. Wang’s uncle maliciously spreads the false rumor among the farmers and villagers that Wang has hordes of food and silver, and men force their way into Wang’s home and take what little food they find, to which Wang comforts himself by saying that at least no one can take the land that he owns. Wang decides to move his family in hopes of finding a job, but he refuses to sell his land. Along with many others, Wang and his family take a train south.
Arriving in an unnamed city in the south, Wang and his family support themselves by O-lan and the children begging for food and Wang hiring himself out as a ricksha driver. Daily they eat at the public kitchens. Soon, armed soldiers regularly appear in the city, for there is talk of war; the rich begin fleeing the city, abandoning their opulent houses. A mob of people including Wang break into one of these abandoned houses, and Wang forces a man who failed to flee the house to give him gold. With this gold, Wang and his family return to their land and once again establish themselves as prosperous farmers. Wang learns from O-lan that while in the southern city she stole a cache of jewels from the house where Wang stole the gold. With this newfound prosperity, Wang buys up all of the remaining land of the House of Hwang. He is becoming as rich and established as the House of Hwang formerly was.
Seven years pass of increased fortune, but in that seventh year a great flood comes and covers the fields. With idle time on his hands, Wang begins visiting the town’s tea shop. There, he is introduced to a woman named Lotus Flower and takes her for his concubine, moving her and her servant into his house. The household further grows when Wang’s uncle and aunt and their son forcibly move themselves into Wang’s house. Additionally, Wang’s sons marry, and they and their families live in the house. It is during this time that O-lan and Wang’s elderly father both die and are buried.
Wang’s oldest son approaches his father and suggests that the family move into town, into the great house formerly occupied by the House of Hwang. Wang likes this idea, and the entire family—except Wang’s uncle and aunt—move; Wang’s uncle’s son goes to join the war. The House of Hwang has now become the House of Lung. Wang spends less time surveying his many lands, and he begins renting some of his lands to tenants—just as the Old Lord of the House of Hwang had done. It is during this time that Wang’s uncle dies, and Wang moves his aunt into the house in town.
As Wang grows older, he becomes less attracted to Lotus Flower and finds that his affection for a slave named Pear Blossom increases. Ultimately, he takes Pear Blossom as his new concubine. His passion for her soon wanes, but he remains fond of her. He, Pear Blossom, and his first daughter return to the house on the land. His two oldest sons visit him, and they promise him that they will never sell the land—but it is clear that they are lying, and that they eventually will sell the land once Wang dies.
yours...
[glint]Y.H.M[/glint]
تسجيل الدخول
MOB
الأسئلة المتكررة
بحث
