Women's Classic Literature Enthusiasts discussion
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The Good Earth
The Good Earth
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Chapters 1-10, Week 1, November 1-7, 2015
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☯Emily , The First
(last edited Oct 25, 2015 02:12PM)
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Oct 25, 2015 02:10PM
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The Good Earth is one of my favorites! I love the cadence of the language Pearl Buck uses; it's simple but evocative and it complements the storytelling.
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I like Wang Lung. He is a man who wants to live a better life and give that to his family, but also someone who is willing to work very hard and sacrifice to do so. Finding O-Lan is his great good fortune, IMHO. She is the help-mate he needs to make his life have true meaning. She seems to be of the same cloth, willing to work and ambitious to succeed.No one could know better about slavery than O-Lan who has spent her early life in that condition. She calls the baby the little slave because such is fate of all poor female children. The attitude toward women is upsetting, of course, but you can definitely see how this society has its compartments into which all individuals are forced.
Delivering her children alone made me shiver and marvel at the toughness of this woman. BTW, after giving birth she was up and in the fields immediately, and it made me ache to think of it! I suppose the women are still slaves in many ways regardless of their actual status. They are worked hard, they have no choices of their own but always subject to the decisions of their husbands, and they are often used to produce families until they die of childbirth or complications after. In O-Lan's case, however, I think she is valued by Wang Lung immediately. One reason he feels as he does is that he has had all the work she is taking on to do himself before she comes...there is no woman in the house with the mother dead. That he trusts her is evident, since he tells her where the silver is hidden and also consults her regarding the purchase of the first piece of land.
I hate to say that I think O-Lan killed the fourth child. I do not think it would have survived the circumstances it was born into and I think she understood this. In the interest of helping her other children survive, she makes a very difficult, heart-wrenching choice. How could they have made it to the train if they had had another infant in tow? O-Lan had to carry the little girl and Wang Lung the father.
I am enjoying this book tremendously so far. I already care deeply about Wang Lung and O-Lan and have great hopes that they will be able to improve their lot and return to their home.
I like both Wang Lung and O-Lan. In the opening chapters we see how they are building a life together and forming a bond. He may have been disappointed initially that he could not have a "pretty" wife, but he quickly comes to appreciate O-Lan's diligence, thrift and hard work. He's also secretly thrilled that she likes him as a man and that she quickly produced a first-born son.I think it's pretty clear that O-Lan sacrificed the child. She is very pragmatic and knew the baby couldn't survive simply because she was too weak to feed her. (O-Lan was also the one who had to kill the ox so the family could eat.)
I have often wondered what would have happened if the drought hadn't come and driven them to the South.
♪ Kim wrote: "I like both Wang Lung and O-Lan. In the opening chapters we see how they are building a life together and forming a bond. He may have been disappointed initially that he could not have a "pretty" w..."I had forgotten that O-Lan was the one who had to kill the ox. She a strong and practical woman who does what she has to for survival. I think her experiences as a slave have made her more equipped to handle adversity than even Wang's life as a farmer has.
I'm finding it difficult to connect with these characters - they feel more like archetypes in a parable rather than actual flesh and blood people. And I'm curious how others see this politically. Is Buck simply saying that this is the life of peasants everywhere, or is she saying the economic stratification caused this poverty? Is she saying poverty has to be accepted as inevitable and if you work really really hard and have decent luck you might build up a little nest egg, or is she saying this poverty was caused by the greed of the rich?
Alexa wrote: "I'm finding it difficult to connect with these characters - they feel more like archetypes in a parable rather than actual flesh and blood people. And I'm curious how others see this politically. I..."Not all of the poverty is caused by the division between rich and poor. Much of the poverty is caused by nature, the flooding or droughts, but the land is also the source of all good for these people. I think Buck is critical of the wealthy people not because they are wealthy but because they have become divorced from the land itself. The fear of this is what causes Wang to take his boys into the field and work them when it is not necessary for the survival of the family. And Wang does not slip into any immorality until he finds himself in a place of not needing to any longer work his fields. When the floods come, he does not have to do the interim labor that he was once responsible for, and this estrangement from the land and its labor brings him to the gambling house and the disdain for his wife, which can only be the wrong path.
I think Buck is interested in the changing face of China and believes that luxury and decadence go hand-in-hand. She would therefore have championed the putting down of the wealthy few to the rise of the more moral masses, but she seems to be warning us that this should not take the shape of the poor assuming the wealth and becoming just like those they have ousted.
I am not reading ahead of the schedule, so I have left Wang with his discovery that the women at the gambling house are available to him for a price. I am anxious for his soul and for what his rise to power might mean for O-Lan, who seems to me to be representative of the wiser head.
It's clear early on that Wang is a good man. You can see that in the little things he does like he carries O Lan's case for her and he also buys her the plums. I found the first chapter really intrigueing. It is clear that O Lan is a huge asset to Wang and he does appreciate her, the fact that he gives her the silver coins when she tells him of her little fantasies of going back to her old home with her son. He definitely knows that O Lan is a blessing and he does value her. It's difficult to believe just how tough O Lan is, to give birth on her own and then be out in the fields working straight after. Olan definitley killed the fourth child. You can argue that it wouldn't have survived anyway, but I think O Lan put her survival first as she knew she wouldn't have survived trying to breast feed the child and make the long journey to the south. Wang's main passion seems to be his land and his family. Women were treated appallingly. I think they are called slaves because they will be worked all their lives.
