The Good Earth Research Paper

The spectacular author and civil rights activist, Pearl S. Buck, was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia. She grew up bilingual, knowing both English and Chinese since her mother was from China ("Pearl S. Buck”). She spent ten years of her life living in Nanjing, China. The Chinese in Nanjing were much more influenced by Western ideas than the Northern farmers, and Pearl Buck began to write about the young people's conflicts between the old and new ways of culture ("A Guide to Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth"). When her second novel, The Good Earth, was published in 1931, she gained recognition due to its emotionally impactful storyline and in 1938, Buck became the first American female to win a Nobel Prize. Concurrent with her …show more content…
He is no longer so hard-working, and he does not work directly on the land and he relies on his servants for everything. It was very evident that he was completely different man when he forces his wife to hand over the pearls he had earlier allowed her to keep and he has a prostitute. Wang eventually realizes living in such luxury does not make him happy and he decided to return to living in simplicity on his land because that is his true home. The Good Earth shows that, superficial values generated by wealth have replaced the genuine values of simplicity and hard …show more content…
When O-lan is on her death bed, Wang Lung realizes that she is the woman he wants to return to a simple life and wealth is far from timeless and is not a source of happiness. He returns to being devoted to his family like he was at the beginning when he was out in the fields. Also, when famine strikes instead of condemning Wang for his inability to provide for his family in a full sense, O-lan stands by his side with hope and positively, regardless of the fact that throughout the story, she is treated as more of a servant than a wife (The Good