Good Earth, The ~ Pearl Buck ~ September Book Club Online

[JoanP]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome.

September Book Club Online  
 

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

Interest in Pearl Buck's  The Good Earth, continues with the news that her never-before published, final novel is coming out in October, forty years after her death.  The Good Earth is the poignant tale of a farmer and his family in old agrarian China, a  depiction of traditional Chinese culture in the early twentieth century before World War II.  Some critics say it should move readers to rediscover Buck as a source of insight into both revolutionary China and the United States’ interactions with it. Let's discover together why The Good Earth remained on the bestseller list for 21 months in 1931 and 1932, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.l Relevant Links: the Good Earth Timeline ; Comprehensive Bio of Pearl Buck and her work ;

DISCUSSION SCHEDULE:
September 2-8	Chapters 1-8
September 9-15	Chapters 9-15
September 16-20	Chapters 16-21
September 21-25	Chapters 22-28
September 26-29	Chapters 29-34

            
 

Some Topics for Discussion
Sept. 16-20 Chapters 16-21

1. Water seems to play a key role in the story.  Not a drought this time,  now a flood. Too much water. Too much wealth?
How did this new-found wealth affect Wang Lung and O-lan?

2. How long has Lung cared how O-lan's looks reflected on him? When did she become hideous to him? How does O-lan react to this?

3. What did those two pearls mean to O-lan? Why did Wang Lung demand them of her, with silver stashed all over his house?

4. Had Wang Lung ever dreamed of beautiful women before? Why now?

5.  "More than one woman under one roof is not for peace."  O-lan puts up with the uncle's wife, and even with Lotus...but why does Cuckoo get under her skin?

6. The water has receded at last!  Back to the land.  What has caused Wang Lung's passion to cool, just as the waters receded?
 

Contact:   JoanP  

[bellamarie]

JoanP.  When you read the book from the very beginning you can tell the narrator is not yet revealed.  She/he speaks of Pearl, or I should say throughout the book the narrator uses the name  Comfort (never Pearl).  If it were Pearl herself she would use pronouns such as I, me, myself, mine etc.  When I researched who the narrator was all I could find was "unknown, probably a Chinese woman"  So even though Pearl wrote the book, she is using a narrator to tell the story.

The timeline for the book is primarily from the time Carie marries Andrew and leaves to go to China, July 8, 1880 until she dies in 1914. It does touch on Carie's family living in Holland and then moving to W. Virginia.  Caroline was born in 1857, so she was 23 yrs. old when she began her life in China.

Here are a few highlights of Pearl:

Pearl Comfort  Sydenstricker born June 26, 1892 in W. Virginia, and they left to return to China when she was 3 months old.

In 1911 Pearl returned to America, went to Randolph-Macon Women’s College and in
    1914 she returned to China and found her mother sick and emaciated and stayed with her til her death.
   (1914 – 1933)  She served as a Presbyterian missionary, but her views became highly controversial during the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy, leading to her resignation.
    1917 – 1935 Married John Lossing Buck
    1935 -1960 Married Richard Walsh  until his death.
    1936 -The Exile Copyright by Pearl S. Buck     second and third printing February 1936

During the Cultural Revolution, Buck, as a preeminent American writer of Chinese village life, was denounced as an "American cultural imperialist."[citation needed] Buck was "heartbroken" when she was prevented from visiting China with Richard Nixon in 1972.
Pearl S. Buck died of lung cancer on March 6, 1973, in Danby, Vermont and was interred in Green Hills Farm in Perkasie, Pennsylvania. She designed her own tombstone. The grave marker is inscribed with Chinese characters representing the name Pearl Sydenstricker.[11]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_S._Buck#Early_life

JoanP, " Doesn't it make you wonder why so many biographers describe Pearl's childhood spent on the streets with the poorest of China's poor?  Where is the truth?

Carie protected her children and did not want them to see the atrocities of China.  While Pearl did live in poor areas of China and they went through famine and poverty for a short while, they lived a better life than the Chinese.  Carie opened her home to feed many.  There was a time when she feared the starving people lined up outside her walk would raid her home knowing she had food.  They actually had a summer home built in the hills where other Americans built so her children could be with Americans the few months of the summer.  It is described as a very nice summer home, which later Carie had enlarged to accommodate her grown children when they would come to visit her.  They moved around a lot because Andrew would feel the need to go to other areas of China to begin a church and the places they moved to were very much poverty stricken, but Carie would always have her organ moved to what ever home or hut they lived in, she would decorate so she could always feel America, she had great resources from her knowledge being raised in W. Va.   She would teach the Chinese women to use what they had to help themselves.  At some point she refused to travel to the remote places any longer because it was not sanitary for the children and she lost 3 babies. I don't mean to contradict, I am only sharing from The Exile.

[bellamarie]

Jude, "I can't agree more.  It's hard enough to figure out what was going on in China  in Pearl's day without doing research.  What do you think was going on?  Who were the foreigners China was rebelling against?  The missionaries, like Pearl's father?  Who were the soldiers? Chinese?'

This link will help answer your questions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion

[bellamarie]

#5.  Why did Wang decide to take all of the rich man's jewels, leaving him nothing to survive?  Was this out of character?

Did Wang take the rich man's jewels, I thought it was all his gold the man had on him. I think he took ALL his gold because he knew the wealthy man would probably survive, and at this devastating time in Wang's life he saw it as a means to return to his home, and begin a new future for him and his family.  Desperate times, require desperate measures is my take on it.  It may have seemed out of character, but I think Wang saw this wealthy man who had nothing on but a robe, indicating he had been lying with a slave as someone who was not worthy to respect.  He had no intentions of ever killing the man, although the man had no idea Wang was not a soldier there to kill him.  In a sense I found this a bit comical.  You have the wealthy man who was nearly naked, begging for his life, offering gold for his life, and Wang says give me ALL your gold and then leaves him.  

I am off to grandchildren's volleyball games and football games, so will begin reading the next chapters in between.

Ciao for now~   

[PatH]

Bellamarie, thanks for the historical insight.  The Boxer Rebellion fits perfectly--the drought, starving people moving to cities, followed by political unrest, then war, both with foreigners and internal.

Wang had never taken anything belonging to another before, so it was certainly out of character to take the man's gold.  You're right, he was desperate, and he saw that the rich man wasn't worthy of respect.  Also, the whole situation was so far from anything Wang had experienced or even understood, that it must have seemed surreal.  There was no such thing as normal behavior here.

It wouldn't have done any good to leave the man some of his gold; someone else would have taken it from him.

[JoanP]

Funny how we read the same passages and see things  so differently.  I can understand how hunger, and Wang's family's hunger would force him to do something out of character.  Especially when he  was being forced to consider selling the pretty little twin.  There was no other way to get out of the city and back to the land.  sell the girl or steal the rich man, the "fat" rich man's money - all of it

When I read that section, I thought the fact that he took all of the money was what made Wang weep-

"Wang had hardened his heart to the man's despair and left him with nothing."

Maybe I'm wrong - maybe he just regrets basing his future on what was not his - as good as stealing.

I thought the fact that he left the man with nothing at all was far worse than stealing enough to get his family back home. And something he will come to regret someday...

[ANNIE]

  When she first went to China as a child and when she returned after her marriage,  she really lived like a Chinese person.  As a little girl, her friends were  Chinese and she was one of them.  So she heard all the mothers, aunties and grandmas talking about what went on in their families.  Seems that they were very open about their lives, not knowing that this little white girl was like a sponge, soaking up all their stories which she would later use as an author. 
As I read and really take in her Good Earth, I find myself thinking of how civilized in their own world the Chinese were but also how unaware they are of the rest of civilization.

From I have I have read in Hilary Spirling biography of PB,  the above was very true.  Carie evidently didn't keep Pearl from having neighborhood children as friends.
 
Again from the book, PB early life was inhabited by ghosts (a Chinese thing) of her dead siblings.  She was the fifth of seven children but only her brother, . All were born in China except Pearl. "When she looked back afterward at her beginnings, she remembered a crowd of brothers and sisters at home, tagging after their mother, listening to her sing, and begging her to tell stories".  Pearl wrote, describing a storytelling session on the veranda of the family house above the Yanagtse River.  But we saw none of these sights.  What we saw was America, a strange, dreamlike, alien homeland where they had never set foot.
When two of the children died within two weeks of each other, Carie came close to having a complete breakdown.  The doctor urged Absolam to take her family home to West Virginia where Carie might recover from the horrible grief that they that almost ended their marriage.  And about 18 months later, Pearl was born in West Virginia.  (I have more but have to join a community walk this morning.  Will
return later.)
On pg.178-9 of the bio, there is an 1895 picture of the family-Absolom, Carrie and their 3 surviving children-13 yr old Edgar, 2 yr old Pearl, and the baby Clyde-after their flight to Shanghai.  I think Clyde died of diptheria in 1888 and before the final child of the Buck's children, Grace who was born 1899 shortly after Clyde's death. Of all the children, Pearl was only one born in the United States.  
An amazing thing to me is the ease that the Buck's travel back and forth between the States and China, and while in China, Absolom moves them around from one little town to another.  Carrie finally stands up to him and says they will move back to Zhenjiang and there will be no more traveling from  pillar to post for the family.  This happened during the Boxer War.
There is just too much in this bio to write about.  

[ANNIE]

Here's a concise short bio about Perle's life and her many book titles, what a woman!

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/pearlbuc.htm

[ANNIE]

Jude, I like your earlier post explaining that the article about baby killing was not just about China but about other countries having the same problem.  You certainly have given a more modern look to the China of today and their plans for the future.  The program that I watched about all the buildings and malls that are going up and aren't occupied was actually presented on BBCWorldNews last week but was also covered earlier this summer, on Sunday Morning or 60 Minutes.  Can't remember the reporter.

[bellamarie]

Good morning all.....well I read this coming weeks chapters last night and will not jump right in this morning, but I will say I am so saddened and disappointed.  I can barely go on with this book.  While The Exile had sad parts in it, Carie kept it hopeful and happy.  The Good Earth is down right depressing, and my heart has never hurt so much reading a book as it has this one.   

Going to get ready for church, they are giving us CCD teacher a special Mass & blessings today.  Y'all have a blessed Sunday.

Ciao for now~

[ANNIE]

Good morning, bellamarie, we were posting at the same time. .  Glad to see you here and know how you feel about the book at this point.  PB really pulled out her knowledge of China and the poor which she experienced while growing up.  Part of that knowledge came from living among the poor as her father, Absolom, dragged the his little family to all the small towns in north China as he tried to proselytize for the Presbyterian missions he represented. And there was Carie trying to make homes of every place they traveled and lived for such short periods.  

[bellamarie]

Good morning to you Annie!  It's so interesting how in The Exile while Pearl describes and speaks of the situations in China, she tells us how her mother tried to protect them from it and make their lives happy with her humor, singing and always having her organ in every hut and home. Carie does not allow them to get too close to the windows to shield them from the beggars and homeless, she home schooled them so they would know and be America. Yet, I do remember after she loses her last baby, Carie is angry and decided she will take her children with her to the poor homes so as to let them see the real world.  It was as though she realized she needed to stop protecting them from what was life itself.  I felt as though Carie was angry with God and all that was good after losing the last baby and so she was rebelling by taking her children to see the ugliness she had protected them from.  What I like about Carie, she was never hesitant to help all the afflicted, poverty stricken people of China, but other than the times she suffered from bouts of depression after losing her babies, and her own sicknesses, she would come back with a zest and zeal for life and her faith.  It's also interesting that no where in The exile they refer to her husband to any name other than Andrew.  When I saw Absolom I thought, oh dear its like Comfort being used rather than Pearl.  Names are vital when writing a book and I think the author should stay consistent with the names when she is writing many biographies of the same people.  It could be a bit confusing for readers who do not think to go google for information like us curious avid readers here at SeniorLearn. 

Off to my grandson's football game.  Need a little fun and distance from those last chapters I read in The Good Earth.  Ughhh

Ciao for now~

[ANNIE]

I just reread a paragraph on pg123 about Wang Lung's first experience with a foreign missionary.  The man that is described there is the description of PB's own father used in the bio I am reading. And the author mentions that it was in "Good Earth."  

"In places where no one had seen a white man before, people treated a missionary preaching in the teahouse as a one man traveling freak show, or else set the dogs on him.  
Absalom was in his element.  Difficulty and danger proved that he was getting to grips at last with the practicalities of wholesale conversion."

What were the missionaries thinking?  That the Chinese were uncivilized?  That they had no morals? or religion?? [/b]

[ANNIE]

bellamarie.
I couldn't agree with you more.  But PB had said that her books were semi-biographical and they sure are.  I see that she published The Exile in 1936.  So while she is writing about her mother, she is also comtemplating completing the trilogy-Good Earth, Sons, and A House Divided.  I have a copy of A House Divided but not Sons.  Since they are the story of Wang Lung's family, I am ordering 'Sons' from my library today so that I read them in order.  Buuuuuuut, having said that, I think I must stick to Good Earth's story first.  Am becoming confused with all these titles, bios, links.

[JoanP]

Oh, I hope all the information about Pearl's life as she wrote Good Earth is not confusing you, Annie!  Personally, I'm loving it - and it is making the story come alive, reading of her experiences - knowing that the characters we're reading about were very possibly people that she knew - or heard about first hand!  Thank you all for sharing all of your outside reading that is making this story come alive in a way that most people don't get to appreciate when they read the Good Earth without all of this information!  (I just put that good concise  bio  into the heading for easy reference, Annie.  Thank you!)

[JoanP]

Are you ready to move on to the next section - Chapters 16-21?  I'm reluctant to talk about them. They were so painful to read.   Didn't your heart bleed for the faithful O-lan? - Wang Lung considers her  a "dull, faithful creature."  She would do anything for Wang Lung and her family.

My memory is a bit fuzzy - I read those chapters last week before I went off for the weekend.  Do you remember how the family was able to get home and replant their crops?  I remember that Wang took more than enough from the rich man to get the family back home...but then I remember reading of the lump of jewels that O-lan had stolen before they left - had hidden in her bosom.  Maybe Wang's stolen treasure got them back - and O-lan's stolen jewels gave them what was needed to get on their feet once they got home? I seem to be missing something.  Do you think she intended to turn it over to Wang Lung - she seemed to be keeping it secret, didn't she?  Why?  I need to reread - to catch up with the rest of you.

When I read it, I remember thinking it was  important to remember  that O-lan's jewels had made it possible for what was to come next- in a way...  

[bellamarie]

Oh JoanP, indeed my heart is hurting for O-lan.  I seriously could not believe the change in Wang.  When he points out O-lan's appearance I just sat with tears in my eyes.  She has lived through the horrors being a slave girl, and just when she is a wife, mother and companion and has some self worth, he manages to just bring her back to feeling worthless.  I can barely discuss these chapters because they are so painful.  All I kept thinking was, "Idle hands are the devil's work."  Wang has allowed all this wealth turn him into a man even his father can not be proud of. 

The gold he took from the wealthy man to spare his life, got them back to their land.  Wang began buying so many things an ox, land, beds, tables and chairs everything they needed to begin seeding and harvesting their crops and things for their house.   He then uses the hidden jewels O-lan has to buy more land from the great house.  It's as if he could not get enough, the greed was just overtaking his good judgement. 

I fear this is the last time we will see his soft, compassionate feelings for O-lan.

pg.111 (O-lan) "I wish I could keep two for myself," she said with such helpless wistfulness, as of one expecting nothing, that he was moved as he might be by one of his children longing for a toy or for a sweet.  "Well, now!" he cried in amazement.  "If I could have two," she went on humbly, "only two small ones_two small white pearls even..."  "Pearls!" he repeated, agape.  "I would keep them_I would not wear them," she said, "only keep them."  And she dropped her eyes and fell to twisting a bit of the bedding where a thread was loosened, and she waited patiently as one who scarcely expects an answer.  Then Wang Lung, without comprehending it, looked for an instant into the heart of this dull and faithful creature, who had labored all her life at some task at which she won no reward and who in the great house had seen others wearing jewels which she never even felt in her hand once.  "I could hold them in my hand sometimes," she added, as if she thought to herself.  And he was moved by something he did not understand and he pulled the jewels from his bosom and unwrapped them and handed them to her in silence, and she searched among the glittering colors, her hard brown hand turning over the stones delicately and lingeringly until she found the two smooth white pearls, and these she took, and tying the others again, she gave them back to him.

I've seen in my own family how when someone came into money through inheritances, they changed.  They spent like there was no tomorrow and before you know it, they were penniless, and destroyed all their relationships with their family members.  I suppose there are lessons to learn being poor and rich. 

Ciao for now~ 

[salan]

I am saddened by this section of the book.  I think fortune (good or bad) sometimes brings out the true nature in people.  I feel sorry for Olan and thoroughly disgusted with Wang!
Sally

[JoanP]

I agree, Sally - and wonder if things will look up for Wang Lung and O-lan. What did that neighbor at the wall in the city tell Wang? -about when the rich are too rich and the poor too poor, change will come.  Do we have to wait until Wang loses this new-found wealth, do you suppose?  His good fortune is bringing out a side of Wang we hadn't seen before this.

[JoanP]

So Bellamarie, do you think Olan hid those jewels from Wang because she knew that Wang would use it to buy more land - land that he really didn't need?   He did take it from her to buy land, didn't he?  I was interested in his reaction when she asked him for those two pearls for herself...

[JoanP]

Annie - interesting to learn that Pearl's. father had been a tea house missionary. Can't imagine what the girls would have thought of his sermons! Or the stories he brought home after spending time in the teahouses!  Pearl Buck had all this information stored away until just the right moment.  What a place to find Cuckoo!  Didn't you just know that Olan must have known this manipulating woman when they both lived in the gray house?  She's trouble... Where is Pearl Buck going to take us?

[bellamarie]

I'm not sure if O-lan kept the jewels hidden for any certain reason.  She was smart enough to know to look in the loose bricks for the jewels, from living among the wealthy as a slave girl.  She didn't actually hide the jewels from Wang considering they were in her bosom.  She is a bright woman, she knew he would find them there.  Had she really intended to hide them so Wang could not find them, she would have known a better safer place to do so.  I think O-lan expected Wang would use the jewels for the good of the family.  Lo and behold I don't think she ever imagined him coming back later and asking for her two precious pearls, for the likes of the mistress.  That was deplorable behavior.

I loved how O-lan treated Cuckoo.  She let Wang know that she would never be a slave again to such a harlot.  

Sally, do you think Wang's behavior in these chapters are his "true nature,"  because we did not see these character flaws in the prior chapters.  Or did we?  He really did hate having to take care of his father, he relished the thought of lying in bed and letting O-lan be his slave/wife.  He did resent his uncle expecting him to help his family out.  He also was quick to go to the House of Hawng to purchase their land as soon as he had the means before the flood.  He allowed O-lan to work beside him in the fields right up to her delivery and immediately after giving birth to his first son. And yes, as JoanP pointed out, why did he make the wealthy man give him ALL his gold.  He had more than enough gold to get his family back to their land and still be rich.  So maybe, just maybe, there were signs of his flawed character.

Good question JoanP, where is Pearl taking us?  Can Wang redeem himself? These chapters appalled me.

Ciao for now~

[salan]

I think Wang will redeem himself.  All of us have redemption in ourselves.  Perhaps when he sees what wealth brings to his son; he will recognize the error of his own ways.  I hope so anyway.
Sally

[JoanP]

Growing up as the daughter of a missionary, the concept of "redemption" would be a familiar one to Pearl, wouldn't it?  Can we talk a bit about whether we feel that Wang Lung is in need of redemption - I guess I'm trying to ask if you feel that he has done anything  morally wrong - from the Chinese point of view at this time.  We're all hurting for O-lan, Wang Lung treats her with gross insensitivity....but does he consider himself in need of redemption, or was this sort of thing the norm in China at this time? Is Pearl telling it like it is was?

Do you have any sympathy for Lotus- and the other teahouse "flowers?"

[JoanP]

An aside...something you are perhaps aware of, but I keep forgetting - that Wang is the family name, Lung is his given name -

First, understand a fundamental difference between a Chinese name and a western name, that is, the order of given name and family name. A western name places the given name first and the family name last...
A Chinese name places the family name first followed by the given name.   Why the difference? There is some speculation on that. One possible reason is that order indicates different cultural values. The Chinese culture holds great respect for their origins and ancestors so they put family names first. Western culture is more individualistic, hence an individual's given name comes before the family name. Making sense of the difference in name order, although only speculation, helps us shed light on cultural differences.

So these sons are Wangs - of the house of Wang...and now we learn their names:
Wang Nung En and Wang Nung Wen. 

Not sure it the wife took the husband's family name - is she Wang O-lan?  (Not sure what Lotus' name is...a concubine is not a wife is she?  I'd be real surprised if she's a Wang, but it's possible that she is considered " of the House of Wang".....)

So do we refer to Wang Lung as Lung when we speak of conversation or interaction between husband and wife - O-lan and Lung?

[bellamarie]

Even though this may be the Chinese customs of the culture back then, I can tell Lung feels he has done something wrong because first of all, he has hidden his concubine away from his children and is ashamed when he realizes they have intruded in her section/court.  Also, Lung's father points out that he is disgraced by his actions and says he nor his father has ever done this.  Indicating Lung has brought shame to the family name.

Definition of moral values:   http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mor
mor•al  [mawr-uhl, mor-]  Show IPA  adjective   
conforming to the rules of right conduct (opposed to immoral ): a moral man.
1.  of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.
2.  expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work.
3.  found on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom: moral obligations.
4.  capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct: a moral being.
noun
5.  the moral teaching or practical lesson contained in a fable, tale, experience, etc.
6.  the embodiment or type of something.
7.  morals, principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct.


By the definition, I feel the way Lung has treated his wife O-lan is morally wrong.  Even if it is their custom to take a concubine, he has demeaned O-lan and treated her as nothing more than a slave, expecting her to heat water for Cuckoo and Lotus and cook and clean for them.  

Thank you JoanP for the explanation of the name order.  So, I suppose we should be referring to them as Lung & O-lan.  Yes, Pearl would know about redemption, and I am almost certain she will attempt to turn Lung back into the man we came to know in the beginning.  I'm not so sure I would ever see him in the same light as I did early on, but then only time will tell.  Right now....he is a cad, and I am so very upset with how he has treated O-lan.  Have a concubine if you must, just do not denigrate your wife who has bore your children, cleaned your house, cooked your meals, put your needs above her own and guided you in decisions that have contributed to your success.

Ciao for now~

[ANNIE]

As I read(past tense) and really took in PB's Good Earth, I found myself thinking of how civilized in their own world the Chinese were but also how unaware they were of the rest of civilization. Especially the poor!  And especially Wang Lung!

This was so true earlier in the story when Wang sees himself in a new light.

He is unaware of who the "foreigners" are.

Thinks its people like himself.  New to south China.  He and the other poor  who live around the "wall", he thinks they are the "foreigners".

Until he gives a ride to an American woman and asks of other rickshaw drivers who she is.  They tell him she is an American and he will get a big tip.  She tries to speak Chinese at the end of the ride while paying him more money than he charges.

So, he tells O-lan about the overpayment.  She says that she always begs from these people as they give  bigger donations.

Now, Wang Lung realizes that he is not a "foreigner" to the people like himself, with dark or yellow skin and black hair.  He now  knows that there are white people in China who the young men consider "foreign" to the country.   This is what started the Boxer Rebellion.  Which wasn't a success for the Boxers.
  
The Japanese invade China and the missionaries, the business people, the whites  and the Japanese are all the "foreigners".
  
But, wait a minute!  What else were those young men telling the  people? That they needed to rise up and take away the possessions and money of the rich.  Then divide it evenly between everyone so none would be poor.  That would be Communism and Mao eventually arriving on the scene.

In the meantime, we must ponder why Wang was willing to  rob the fat man behind the gates(who offered all his gold]. Taking all that he had.  It would seem that his character is changing.  Did he think that the young men might be right and that he had a right to rob this man and use the money to enrich his life, his family's live, even his old neighbor, Ching's, life.

So, Wang and his family return to the land, buy more land with O-lan giving her stolen gems to Wang, minus 2 pearls.  

So, after 7 years of very good weather and much success,  the rain comes and fills the fields so there is nothing to do but wait for the water to go away.  That's when Wang notices that O-lan does not take good care of herself.  (Do we call this the beginning of the man's "change of life").  He finds he wants more than O-lan as his wife and Cuckoo helps him find someone for that need.  And she comes with the bargain.

[PatH]

I've been traveling,so had to play catch up.  One strain that runs through this section is the importance of the land, and its connection to health, well-being and success.  Yu lose your touch with it at your peril.  When Wang Lung goes to the house of Hwang to buy the rest of their land from the remnants of the once rich family, Cuckoo tells him:

"But all this was not a sudden thing.  All during the lifetime of the Old Lord and of his father the fall of this house has been coming.  In the last generation the lords (b)ceased to see the land(/b) and took the money's the agents gave them and spent it carelessly as water.  And in these generations (b)the strength of the land has gone from them(/b) and bit by bit the land has begun to go also."

Wang Lung goes away musing about the fall of this family, which had long been a power in the town.  It comes of their leaving the land, he thought regretfully, and vows to set his sons to work in the fields.

He falls into the same trap.  With all this land, he has to do more and more administrating and less and less farming.  Then he meets Lotus.  She knows every trick in the book, and he falls for every one of them.  He drops everything for her, takes her as a concubine, ignores the feelings of everyone else, spends huge sums on her.

Finally he starts to come back to reality.  She angers him by her treatment of his children, especiallyPoor Little, and after their quarrel, he never loves her quite as much as before.  And one day he wakes as from a sleep:

"Then a voice cried out in him, a voice deeper than love cried out in him for his land.  And he heard it above every other voice in his life and he tore off the long robe he wore and he stripped off his velvet shoes and his white stockings and he rolled his trousers to his knees and he stood forth robust and eager and he shouted,
'Where is the hoe and where the plow?  And where is the seed for the wheat planting?  Come, Ching, my friend--come--call the men--I go out to the land!'"

I like to think he'll now come to his senses about the other people in his life, but even if he does, he's still stuck with Lotus and Cuckoo.

[PatH]

And I could say quite a lot of vitriolic things about him falling for Lotus and his despicable treatment of O-lan and everyone else, but I've babbled enough for tonight.

[bellamarie]

Yes, from the very beginning of the book, Lung is aware that owning land is the key to success. Lung seems to think he is smarter than the Lords and others who owned land and let it go to waste while laying around with harlots, slave girls and eating the finest foods and wearing their jewels.

PatH, "He falls into the same trap.  With all this land, he has to do more and more administrating and less and less farming."

A trap indeed!  Where does O-lan and Lung go from here now that the rains have come and Lung is now more interested in his land than he is in Lotus.  What will become of Cuckoo and Lotus?  They do not seem like women who will be happy just sitting around doing nothing while Lung comes in with his dirty hands, dirty clothes and garlic smelling breath.  Ironic isn't it?  I can almost see these two women conniving to steal his money and leave to go elsewhere.

It's interesting how Lung thought his father was so blind and sickly that he would not noticed his behavior?  Do you think it matters to him what his father feels about him?  What about his teen aged sons who have become aware of their father's behavior.  I was happy to see Lung defend his "poor little" and other children when Lotus was so cruel to them.  So does this indicate that his children are more important to him than his wife, since he was willing to deduce her back to a slave, yet he would not tolerate Lotus being cruel to his children?  We all have our breaking point, was the way Lotus treated his children, Lung's breaking point?  Lots to ponder.....

Ciao for now~

 

[JoanP]

So good to have you back with us, Pat - and hope you had a great time con-celebrating your birthday with your twin.   That must be so special for both of you each year!

So many good points have come up - you have me thinking of the young author telling this story.  Pearl was young - 28 years old.  No mentor - in China with young Janice and an unhappy marriage to a distant husband, a distant father too.  Her outlet seems to be her writing, which seems to be inspired by her experiences in China.  Haven't we seen that her work is mostly autobiographical?  But where does her inspiration for The Good Earth come from?

Pat:  

One strain that runs through this section is the importance of the land, and its connection to health, well-being and success.

 

I was thinking of the importance of water, rain, draught, floods, - but it all comes back to its effect on the worth of the land.  Let's keep in mind the title Pearl chose for her novel - the GOOD Earth.  In what sense does she refer to the land as "good"?

Annie reminds us how Pearl views the  "civilized the Chinese were in their own world - but also how unaware they are of the rest of civilization.  I read somewhere of the importance of Pearl Buck's portrayal of the Chinese farmers and the poor  at this time - importance to Chinese historians, because there was little (if any) literature at this time on these subjects.  The Good Earth is hailed in China.
Annie, you reminded us of that tall American woman, one of Wang Lung's "fares" - a foreigner.  He had never seen people who looked different from his people in the north before coming south.  We know that Pearl and her family had fled the persecution of the missionaries in the north - had come to this very same city before leaving for America.  Did anyone suspect as I did that the tall American was herself - or her mother? Had she written  herself into this story?  

Annie sees Wang Lung's character is changing while living with the poor in the south and asks  if he now believes he has a right to rob the rich man and use the money to enrich his own life.  Is this something we find difficult to accept because we are "foreigners" to the Chinese challenged to survive with little.  Another theme then? - the continuing struggle between the rich and the poor.   Is it too soon to consider Pearl Buck's reason for writing this story?  What drove her, what inspired her?

Bellamarie sees that Wang Lung does have a conscience, a moral code - one that is universal,  which tells him he is wrong when he violates that code - when he steals, when he takes a concubine... when he hurts others...
 
I am not sure just how "good" or how morally weak we can consider this man.  It seems - to me - that his guiding principle from the very beginning is his pride, and how he appears in the eyes of others.  He seems to think of no one but himself.  (With the exception of his "poor little daughter.)

[ANNIE]

Just wanted to mention the bio again which tells us that "Pearl inherited her mother's warmth, humanity and integrity, her steadfast eye and her firm mouth and her look of something rocklike, the qualities O-lan passed on to the boldest of her own children in "The Good Earth".

That would be her oldest son, Wang En. 
 
After reading this, I began to have more hope for O-lan as she has her life changed so drastically by Wang and his concubine, Lotus and her slave, Cuckooo.  
Will O-lan be more valued later in the story?  Will Wang come to his senses? What will happen to their sons?  Are they like their parents?  Will they value the land that will be theirs as much as Wang did? The Earth that has been in the family for many generations and added to by Wang, in Wang's eyes, has always been there for his family.  He credits the family's land for everything they have.    

[PatH]

Wang does have a conscience.  Every time he does something particularly bad in the course of establishing Lotus in his household, he feels ashamed or embarrassed internally.  But his conscience isn't strong enough to make him apologize or stop.

JoanP, the celebration isn't over yet.  Today we go whale watching.

[JoanP]

He weeps on occasion too - only when he's ashamed of what he's done to O-lan. The fact that he doesn't  apologize or stop such behavior might mean that he  doesn't really have a conscience - maybe he just doesn't like to look bad.

Whales? I thought you two were birdwatchers...Can't wait to hear if there were any whales to watch today.

[JoanP]

Annie - can you point to your post where you quoted Pearl from The Exile , her book about her mother?  True that she based O-lan's character on her mother, Carie?

Do you consider Lotus, known as a concubine, Lung's wife? What is the standing of a concubine in a man's household if he already has a wife?  What if the concubine bears children?  Sons?

So, the American woman, the big tipper in that southern city is not Pearl....Annie reminds that the American woman did not understand the Chinese language enough to. Still wond dicker with Wang for the fare price.  Here I thought Pearl had planted herself in her novel. Still I wonder why she's in the story...

[bellamarie]

I read The Exile, and I am not seeing O-lan's character based on her mother, Carie.  That would be a far stretch for me to believe because O-lan is so different than Carie.  Carie was an extrovert, intelligent, fun, humorous, Christian, sweet, loving woman who loved to be with people, home schooled her children and very much the decision maker for her children's upbringing and colleges/universities.  O-lan for me is an introvert, dull, not very intelligent, and does not show much emotion at all.  She even seems detached from her children and leaves Lung to decide for the sons schooling etc.  I have not seen any indication that O-lan has any faith/religious beliefs. I have not seen her have any remorse for stealing the jewels. 

JoanP,  "The fact that he doesn't  apologize or stop such behavior might mean that he  doesn't really have a conscience - maybe he just doesn't like to look bad."

I don't have much liking for Lung and his behavior in these chapters, but I am not sure I can see him as not having a conscience.  Is it possible for any one to NOT have a conscience?  For me as a Christian/Catholic I see a conscience as the advocate, the Holy Spirit inside you that guides you to make moral decisions.  Now, I am sure the Chinese do not have such beliefs, but Lung does believe in the spirits of the Gods and he showed it was important early on to respect them and worship them.  So this indicates to me he does have a conscience, he has just allowed himself to be completely distracted with his greed and fortune.  Am I seriously saying this after how angry I have been with his deplorable behavior........     

I don't see Lotus as Lung's wife.  They did not take vows.  I see her as his concubine/mistress.  If she births his children I wonder if they would have his name?  Interesting to find out.  Guess it's time to google.

Ciao for now~

[bellamarie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concubinage

Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship in which a person engages in an ongoing relationship (usually matrimonially and sexually oriented) with another person to whom they are not or cannot be married. The inability to marry may be due to differences in social rank (including slave status), or because the man is already married. Historically, the relationship involved a man in a higher social status, who usually has a legally sanctioned wife and maintains a second household with the lesser "wife". The woman in such a relationship is referred to as a concubine.

Statue of Yang Guifei (719-756), the favoured concubine of Emperor Tang Xuanzong of China.

Historically, concubinage was frequently voluntary (by the woman and/or her family's arrangement), as it provided a measure of economic security for the woman involved.
Under Roman law, Roman culture under the empire came to tolerate concubinage as long as the relationship was durable and exclusive; for Roman jurists, concubinage was an honorable de facto situation.[1]

Concerning the concubine's legal status or the legal definition of her status, in ancient China for example, concubinage was akin, although inferior, to marriage. The children of a concubine were recognized as legal offspring of the father. However, their inheritance rights may have been inferior to younger children of a marriage, or they may have received a smaller inheritance. Men frequently used concubines to bear heirs when they were not able to produce sons with their wives.

In ancient China, successful men often supported several concubines. For example, it has been documented that Chinese Emperors accommodated thousands of concubines.[25] A concubine's treatment and situation were highly variable and were influenced by the social status of the male to whom she was engaged, as well as the attitude of the wife. The position of the concubine was generally inferior to that of the wife. Although a concubine could produce heirs, her children would be inferior in social status to "legitimate" children. Allegedly, concubines were occasionally buried alive with their masters to "keep them company in the afterlife."[25]
Despite the limitations imposed on ancient Chinese concubines, history and literature offer examples of concubines who achieved great power and influence. For example, in one of the Four Great Classical Novels of China, The Dream of the Red Chamber (believed to be a semi-autobiographical account of author Cao Xueqin's own family life), three generations of the Jia family are supported by one favorite concubine of the Emperor.

Imperial concubines, kept by Emperors in the Forbidden City, were traditionally guarded by eunuchs to ensure that they could not be impregnated by anyone but the Emperor.[25] Lady Yehenara, otherwise known as Dowager Empress Cixi, was arguably one of the most successful concubines in China’s history. Cixi first entered the court as a concubine to the Xianfeng Emperor and gave birth to his only surviving son, who would become the Tongzhi Emperor. She would eventually become the de facto ruler of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in China for 47 years after her son's death.[26]

[JudeS]

I was curious as to the life of the Presbyterian missionaries during Pearl Bucks time with her parents (!890 -1910.) That is not just her family but the group as a whole to see if her father was different than others of his profession. (He remained a missionary in China till his death in 1931.)
During the period of Pearl's girlhood we there was the Boxer revolution  (!900) which was named after the young men who started the uprising and practiced martial arts, especially boxing. In that year 185 Presbyterian Missionaries and 55 of their children were killed. Roman Catholic missionaries were also killed. The Boxers also killed 2000 Chinese who had converted.

The success of the Missionaries was minimal at most and many of them left the profession, returned to their countries while others committed suicide. It was also clear that the Chinese who converted did so mainly for the chance to send their children to the Mission schools.
Missionaries were paid very little (about $500 a year). Their wives were expected to help them in all their endeavors and were not paid.
During the years of Pearl's girlhood and adolescence children in the Buck family were dying-four of the seven children died. Pearl knew sorrow from within her family and the terror of war outside her family. Though Carrie was depressed, Absolom was struck numb. Pearl was Carrie's hope of making up for all the losses she suffered. In the end of her days Carrie denounced her religion. She felt that too much was taken from her to continue in her faith.

We can see the sorrow within this family . Pearl knew the meaning of suffering and she portrayed the suffering of her characters in a way that deeply touched her readers.

[ANNIE]

JoanP,
That quote was from the bio that I am reading at the same time I am reading Good Earth.  According to the author, Hilary Spirling, "Pearl inherited her mother's warmth, humanity and integrity, "her steadfast eye and her firm mouth and her look of something rocklike," the qualities O-lan passed on to the oldest of her own children in "The Good Earth".
What do we call Lotus?? She is the second wife?? or his concubine?  Googling, as we speak!  And after perusing several hundred answers to my query, I chose this one but you have to read it all to understand that this still goes on in China.  A link for you all: http://shardsofchina.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/sex-in-china-the-second-wife-or-er-nai/
 
As to where Pearl is in the novel?  So O-lan is her mother or herself?? Well, she said she put herself in every book she wrote.  Hmmm, of course! O-lan is a composite of Pearl and Carie!  

[ANNIE]

The above post has been sitting on my computer all night!  I forgot to post it!  Sorry about that!
Jude, how interesting that although Pearl saw her mother's sorrow but she chose to ignore it when she wrote about her in The Exile?  Is that what you mean?
  
I saw some other quotes in the biography last night of people who lived and worked with Absolom and Carie.  They said she was a typical missionary wife, always supporting her husband and also a pretty quiet woman. So Carie's real personality is the one portrayed by Pearl in "The Exile" as belladonna?quotes or she was both?

bellamarie, since we are depending on your understanding of Carie's personality in "The Exile" , is she portrayed as being this incredible wife and mother but also that she has much sorrow to deal with?  Is that why the title?  Did the real Carie hide in her surroundings as a missionary's wife? And at home, she was this wonderful mother, teacher and companion to Pear and Edgar?