Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth

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Theme Analysis Essay “When men are oppressed it’s a tragedy, when women are oppressed it’s tradition.” - Bernadette Mosala. In the 1931 novel The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck raised themes of foot binding and the oppression of women that relate to the present day extent of plastic surgery women will resort to for social acceptance and the treatment of females in impoverished countries. Primarily through the character of O-lan, the limitation and hardship of traditional Chinese women is explored from abuse in childhood, to servitude in adulthood. Inferior to men, women were not granted complete control of their futures, as they were viewed as being incapable of having their own thoughts or making decisions; although the issue has diminished over …show more content…
Thousands of females in China are sold as slaves in the early years of their lives (from nine to twelve years of age) as a repercussion of poverty. The slaves were terribly treated, and if pretty, used as a sex item for their masters’ desires. When faced with starvation, Wang Lung and O-lan discuss the dilemma of if they should sell their own daughter to another family, before ultimately deciding not to put her through the same childhood which O-lan had experienced. Wang Lung eventually marries his daughter off at the youthful age of ten. In addition to being forced into marriage, women also faced pressure in childbirth. The gender of the children they bore to their husbands modified his outlook of her. Males were favored for the reason that they could bring honor to the family and carry it’s name. On the other hand, girls were considered a waste of time and money because they would be married to a different family in the end. After giving birth to her first son, O-lan is anxious to return to the House of Wang, where she was once a slave, to show the old mistress of her fortune. From this, a reader can conclude that the yearning for a son at childbirth already prepares females for a life of

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