TITLE The good Earth

AUTHOR                              Pearl S. Buck

PUBLISHER                        Mondadori

DATE OF PUBLICATION 1931

GENRE          Fiction

SETTING

time     1900s

place    China

CHARACTERS

The main characters of this novel are Wang Lung, the protagonist, and O-lan, his wife.

Wang Lung is a little farmer very very poor; he is strong and tenacious. So he can enlarge his farm and he becomes one of the most important, rich and respectable people of the city where he lives.

O-lan is Wang Lung's wife. From the age of ten to the age of twenty she was enslaved in a rich house. At twenty years old she was sold to Wang Lung, who was looking for a wife for him. She isn't beautiful; she has straight long dark hair, a strong build and a square face. She never talks, but she works hard and has three babies: two boys and a girl, who is mentally ill.

MAIN EVENTS

The novel proposes the theme of the patriarchal life in China, that is tied to earth and to millenary traditions.

A little farmer very poor, Wang Lung, buys an enslave, O-lan, who becomes his wife. They work hard for some years and save sufficient money to enlarge their farm. Meanwhile O-lan has three babies: two boys and a girl, who is mentally ill.

Their family becomes one of the most important, rich and respectable families of their city.

Wang Lung comes away from his job only for some short times. He spends some years of his old age in a luxurious city house, but he returns to his fields to face the death in a peaceful way.

MEANING

'The good Earth' doesn't convey strong meanings; however this don't mean that it hasn't some! The meanings that it conveys are those touching the heart of the human life: family, job, respect for the old people and the traditions.

The point around which all the novel goes is however  the importance of the earth for man's life. In fact the Earth is seen with quite a religious attitude, as a source of life, as a place from which all that allows us to live comes. This meaning is completely lived by Wang Lung; in fact he comes away from his job only for some short times. He spends some years of his old age in a luxurious city house, but he returns to his fields to face the death in a peaceful way.

PENSONAL COMMENT

This novel is presented through the eyes of an occidental woman who knows very well the Chinese reality, because she lived in those places for many years. Besides a deep knowledge of this civility, the authoress takes her description with a big participation and liking. Often a novel is more useful than an encyclopaedic voice to know a world far from ours; the documents in fact stop themselves only to the general facts, while the reading concentrates on a few people and studies their personality, their behaviours and the interior reality.

The world described in the book, now doesn't exist. Some meanings however must be still esteemed, naturally adapted for the modern life. Among these are noticed the earth and the work of the earth. Today many people think that the job of farmer is an inferior job. But it is forgotten that during millenniums all the humanity lived principally thanks to the agriculture and to the contact with the nature. Also in a world that is dominated by internet, man can't come off from his more ancient roots and from his historical memories.

The woman. It's impossible to stop you from criticizing the social inferiority in which she lived. From the birth a sad destiny weighs on her: she becomes wife when she is very young to a man who can she enslave her or sell her (instead of the earth) in case of necessity. Once married her only utility that could have is that of 'making children in series' better if males. If the continuous births and the excessive job made she less attractive to the eyes of the husband, there are not problems: he takes at home a beautiful and young concubine, who maybe be will reveal herself capricious and demanding.