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 starting here on September 2
 

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 As Buck delved deeply into the lives of the Chinese poor, she opposed  the religious fundamentalism, racial prejudice, gender oppression, sexual repression, and discrimination against the disabled. She  championed many of these causes when she returned from China to the US,  including woman’s rights, rights for physically and developmentally disabled persons, and racial inequalities.  Pearl won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first American woman to do so. Relevant Links: the Good Earth Timeline :

DISCUSSION SCHEDULE:
September 2-8	Chapters 1-8
September 9-15	Chapters 9-15
September 16-22	Chapters 16-22
September 23-29	Chapters 23-34

 

Some Topics for Discussion
Sept. 3-10 Chapters 1-8

1. How did a man expect his life to change when he married in China?

2. What did his marriage preparations reveal about Wang Lung's character?

3. Did his new wife disappoint?  Your impressions of O-lan?

4. Was it just a coincidence that Wang's good fortune began to change, once he bought that plot of land?

Contact:   JoanP  

[JoanP]

Not so much that you were a "slow learner," Steph - Pearl just came from a different environment - a different world from the one you grew up in.  You would have been one of the Randolph Macon girls, listening to her stories in disbelief!
Imgine growing up like this - thinking this is what the world is like. No wonder she came to Virginia feeling the disconnect with her fellow students!

"She roamed freely around the Chinese countryside, where she would often come upon the remains of abandoned baby girls, left for the village dogs, and she would bury them.
The young Buck and her family lived at subsistence level in houses that were little more than shacks and apartments on streets thronged with bars and bordellos."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128238422

[Steph]

Yes, I can imagine listening to her. When I was a young teen, my parents got a fresh air child each summer. We lived in lower Delaware and this was some sort of get the children out of New York City for the country. They would come on a bus and most of the people in our church would take one. We got Rosemary every summer and a few Christmases for years.. actually until she married at about 17.. I remember being amazed at her stories. Her father was a bartender in what she called a Fairy bar.. You can imagine this farm girls mental picture of what was a fairy.. ( small, winged creature) and what she told me it really was.. Whew..

[PatH]

Steph--

I got my book last night, so I'll be ready to go.  I took a loook at it.  It's beautiful writing.

[ANNIE]

I just finished Matthew Pearl's newest book, "The Technologists" and in it are several boy students who are charity students and they are not very popular either. The book is about the founding of MIT and Harvard's involvement at the time.  Historical fiction and pretty good. 

I think my book came in at the library over the weekend.  I am looking forward to The Good Earth but have also become interested in all the articles that folks have left links to.  The one about Caroline, Pearl's mother.  There is another book I haven't read.  As I said before, I saw the movie when I was quite young and don't remember much about it.  Just slanty-eyed women.  I must look it up to see who is in it.  A woman's face keeps coming up in my memory. 

[ANNIE]

I just watched a trailer for the Good Earth and thought I would bring it here for you all to see.  Quite impressive.  Just remember this is 1937and before we had color and black and white was really well done photography.  You might want to enlarge your screen after is begins to play.  Lower right hand corner has a thing to click on and boom! it enlarges! there.  I also have a head set on and parts of this  trailer are quite loud so I had to keep changing the volume.  Enjoy!


ftp://http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006JV19PY/ref=atv_feed_catalog?tag=imdb-amazonvideo-20

I also read quite a biopic about Luise Ranier.  She was a corker!!  I leave the link but you might not enjoy it.  Hollywood, she tears down as she talks to reporter at her home in Brentwood, CA.  Again
this is in 1937.

http://www.luiserainer.net/Miss-Rainer-Regrets.php      

[bellamarie]

Oh my!  I stopped in to see what The Good Earth was about, and all these posts just pulled me in, wanting to learn more about Pearl Buck.  I am with those who have never read this book, and shamefully admit, I have never heard of Pearl S. Buck.  I would love to join the discussion.  After reading all the posts I clicked on the links, and checked out some of Pearl's other books, and feel like I could read The Exile right along with The Good Earth.  SeniorLearn what have you done to me?  I never in my lifetime read two books at the same time til I joined this book club. 

So, off I go to snoop around and find out more information, before the discussion begins.  Thank you JoanP. for mentioning this book in our "Those Angry Days", discussion, I probably would have missed a great book/discussion. 
Ciao for now~

[Steph]

Ah yes, Senior net and now Senior learn expands your to be read and your I must read this categories.. Too many books and not nearly enough time or space.

[JoanP]

Oh yes, Pat, I agree, the writing is beautiful -it's  economical, yet  full of meaning.  The characters are so simple, yet complete.  Don't you get the feeling Pearl is writing about people she knew?  Happy you are joining this discussion!

 From the Spurling biography-

"Her love of these stories and her interest in people's lives made Pearl Buck determined at an early age to become a writer of stories. As she later writes in My Several Worlds: "Even then I had intended to be a teller of tales, a writer of novels, though how that end was to be achieved I did not know. One longs to make what one loves, and above all I loved to hear stories about people. I was a nuisance of a child, I fear, always curious to know about people and why they were as I found them." Aided by her mother's encouragement, Pearl got her first youthful selections published in the children's section of the Shanghai Mercury."

Bellamarie - I see you are hooked on the writer, her background -  as I am. I know you have aspirations to write...and can see where you'd be interested in learning as much as you can about Pearl Buck.  I'm beginning to see that it is impossible to separate her work from her life. It would be great if you actually do find the time to read of her mother in The Exile - It is said to be beautilfully written too - some prefer it to The Good Earth.  

Annie - wowT  That was quite a film production - in 1937, not long after Pearl wrote the movie!  I wonder if she had any input into the film?  I wonder if my parents saw it.  They would have been dating at this time.  Don't I wish they were still here to ask about it!

Since I haven't read the book in its entirety yet, I'm afraid to watch the trailer...worryied about possible spoilers.  But will put the links in the header to view after.  There's a discussion schedule in the heading, you may have noticed. We'll be discussing the first 8 chapters starting September 2.

Big Welcome- Path, Bellamarie and Annie!  I think this will be a rich discussion because of all your contributions.

[bluebird24]

http://books.google.com/books/about/Young_Fu_of_the_Upper_Yangtze.html?id=bQXK5-QiVj4C

[Steph]

mark

[ANNIE]

Bellamarie?  Assuming you are the original Bellamarie,  where have you been??  Hope you plan on being here for the opening of "Good Earth".  Welcome back!!

[marjifay]

I remember when I was a schoolgirl, my mom kept Pearl Buck's The Good Earth hidden in her dresser drawer.  She did not want me to read it because it talked about concubines.  I hadn't the slightest idea what a concubine was, until of course I sneaked her book and read it.  Then I read it again as a grown woman, and laughed to think she'd been so worried about my reading it.

I think I'll read Pearl Buck's Pavillion of Women that Barb had recommended.  Anther one my mom would not have let me read, LOL.

Marj

[JoanP]

Bluebird, does this mean that you will be reading Yung Fu of the Upper Yangtze?

Marjifay...I hope you'll share some of what you're reading from Pavillion of Women. This is going to be such a rich discussion!

ps. What's a concubine?

[ANNIE]

I have the book and now must start reading our assignment for Sept 2nd.  

 JoanP So, her mother did support her writing as a child.  Was't she only 9 or less  when that happened?  That's amazing!

[JoanP]

I think I read she was six, Annie - but will check on that.  All the more amazing since I read her first language was Chinese...  Can that be right?

[bluebird24]

JoanP no on webpage Pearl Buck is there.

[JoanP]

Here's another Biography of Pearl Buck, bluebird.  

"Pearl’s parents preferred to live among the Chinese and not in the missionary compound. Thus, she grew up in close intimacy with the Chinese people, speaking Chinese, playing with Chinese children, visiting their homes, listening to their ideas and absorbing their culture. These experiences helped to develop the mind and the imagination of an alert, intelligent child, who later used this material in her novels.

Pearl was home-schooled by her mother, who insisted that Pearl write something each week. At age 6, her first published work appeared in the English-language Shanghai Mercury, a newspaper with a weekly children’s edition. Being an avid reader and having few books available, she started at the age of seven reading Oliver Twist. Each year she read through the family’s collection of Charles Dickens. She later said this influenced her style of writing."

[bellamarie]

So excited!  I went to my library and they did not have The Good Earth or the Exile, BUT, they did walk me through downloading the adobe overdrive app and I now have The Good Earth on my Nookcolor and computer!!  I have begun reading it and found myself giggle.  Will wait til the discussion begins to share what amused me in the first chapter.

Marj,  That is hilarious, your mother hid the book and YOU sneaked and read it.
Annie, Hello, yes I am the one and only original.  I have been in Those Angry Days discussion.  I am really looking forward to this one, and so happy to see you as well.

I have The Exile coming into my library in a few days, so I will begin that along with The Good Earth.  I sense this is going to be a fun discussion.

Ciao for now~

[Steph]

China and missionaries .. The two never managed t get along..

[Dana]

Pavilion of Women is my favourite so far.  About a lady who finds a concubine for her husband so she can, essentially, retire from the marriage, altho she still runs the household etc. 
Rather civilized approach of the Chinese I thought!  Its also the book where she expresses, through some of the characters, some views on Christianity, presumably hers.

[bluebird24]

http://www.english.upenn.edu/Projects/Buck/tour.html

Found this with goodsearch.
first picture is her family

I want to read Yung Fu  someday.

Thank you JoanP.

[JoanP]

Thanks for those good clear photos, bluebird. Will put them in the heading for reference as Pearl gets older.

Pavilion of Women

"the book where she expresses, through some of the characters, some views on Christianity, presumably hers."

 I'd like to hear some of those views, Dana.  Neither Pearl - nor her mother, for that matter, seem to be the missionary type.  Well, not the fire and brimstone preacher Pearl's father was...

"China and missionaries .. The two never managed to get along.. "  

I  can understand, that, Steph!  I guess Pearl's father meant well - spent his time translating the Bible into Chinese.  I wonder if that project was ever reproduced.

As far as I can see, Pearl and her mother spent their time caring for sick and abandonned children - and abused young women.  Do you call that valuable missionary work?  Pearl left a position in the Psychology Dept. at Randolph Macon after her graduation - to return to China in 1915 on learning of her mother's illness.  A few years later, she met the man she married in 1917, John Lossing Buck, who was working as an "agricultural missionary."  Does that mean anything to you?  Pearl wrote "The Good Earth" in 1930, while living with John in China.  Don't you think she learned a lot about "good earth"  during this time?

[salan]

Yea!  My book finally arrived yesterday.  I also bought Yung Fu.  I read The Good Earth many years ago & am looking forward to reading it again.
Sally

[Steph]

 I think that she probably learned the farming and agricultural methods from her husband. She conceived the fiction from her own experiences though.l
No idea how you would find out if her fathers translations were ever used.
Many female missionaries seemed to really be teachers and nurses.

[JoanP]

Couldn't find anything about the Reverend Sydenstriker's translation on the Bible into Chinese...but DID learn that he translated from the GREEK into CHINESE!
It will be interesting to hear what being married to such a man was like  from those reading The Exile - Pearl's biography of her mother, Carie -   The very title is revealing, don't you think?  

Many female missionaries seemed to really be teachers and nurses.  

  I can see that, Steph, but what do you think Pearl's role would have been?  And what sort of a man did she marry.  A man much like her father?  I imagine she didn't have much of a choice among the missionaries in China..

Just found this -
 In 1918, Lossing, as he was known to his friends, and Pearl went to live in Nanhsuchou, home to several thousand impoverished farmers.  Here,  Lossing began his research into the Chinese farm economy using sociological tools based on statistical surveys conducted in person. Pearl, who had grown up in China, accompanied him on his initial trips through the countryside to interpret and translate. She became intimately familiar with the daily lives of China’s poorest inhabitants, and years later the village would provide the primary setting for her first stories of China, including, The Good Earth.

[JoanP]

Sally, happy to hear you will be joining us.  I think we ought to continue into the discussion of the book right here, in the morning - rather than start a fresh discussion.  There's so much valuable background stuff here.

As in past discussions, we will discuss the book in chunks - if you read ahead, try to not reveal what you have found.  You might spoil things for those who are reading.  Tomorrow we will start with the first 8 chapters, no more.  There is a discussion schedule in the heading.  It may turn out that the pace is too slow...in which case we'll make some adjustments.  Don't know how much time we'll need for each section as we attempt to intertwine what we learn of Pearl's life as she wrote the book.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

[bellamarie]

bluebird,  Thank you so much for providing the links to the photos of Pearl. Just looking at them gives me the impression she was a loving, caring, nurturing soul.  I love the smile and love I see in her face as she holds the child.  Til tomorrow~

Ciao for now~

[JoanP]

Good morning!  It's "tomorrow."- September 2  

Looking forward to hearing your first impressions of The Good Earth - the writing, the author's manner of expression and description.  Can you provide an example?

Does it sound as if Pearl Buck knew Wang Lung or would you say he was a typical Chinese farmer - a stereotype?
 

[Steph]

I always thought of him as a composite.. She knew so many .

[bellamarie]

Good Morning & Happy Labor Day!

Speaking of labor, I was impressed with how much labor Olan was able to do, even while she was pregnant.  Pearl has captured me in these first chapters, with how Wang has so much love for the slave woman he bought and wed.  The part that brought me humor was, pg. 9 (ereader)  "And what will we do with a pretty woman?  We must have a woman who will tend the house and bear children as she works in the fields, and will a pretty woman do these things?  She will be forever about clothes to go with her face!"

I no sooner found myself giggling at the realization his father pointed out, how vain and expensive a pretty woman would be, but then I found myself feeling for Wang, as his father continued to point out these facts as far as wedding a slave woman:

"No, not a pretty woman in our house.  We are farmers.  Moreover, who has heard of a pretty slave who was a virgin in a wealthy house?  All the young lords have had their fill of her.  It is better to be first with an ugly woman than the hundredth with a beauty.  Do you imagine a pretty woman will think your farmer's hands as pleasing as the soft hands of a rich man's son, and your sunblacked face as beautiful as the golden skin of the others who have had her for their pleasure?"

Wang Lung knew his father spoke well.  Nevertheless, he had to struggle with his flesh before he could answer.  And then he said violently, "At least, I will not have a woman who is pockmarked, or who has a split upper lip."

This was sad for me, imagining how farmers looked at themselves as less a person because of their labors, skin color, and texture of their hands, due to hard labor.

I have fallen in love with Wang & Olan.  So much more to comment on, but I have to go prepares dishes for our cookout.  And I want to savor the great parts of these first 8 chapters.  So much in them!!!! 

By the way, does/did anyone know what pockmarked meant?  I imagined a disfiguration on her face.

Ciao for now~

[PatH]

Pockmarked would be scarred from smallpox.  This would be like acne scars, only worse.

I see that what I will find hardest to take in this book is the status of women.  They are really beasts of burden.  When Wang Lung wakes up on his marriage day, he thinks, this is the last day he'll have to get up early, boil water, and make breakfast.  Tomorrow, he will be able to lie in bed while his woman does it.  But although he is brainwashed by his culture, Wang Lung is a decent sort of person.  He wants his new wife to like him, and he is fonder of her than he is willing to admit to himself.

The language is beautiful, an apparent simplicity to fit the simple peasant, but rhythmical and economical.

[JoanP]

Steph, I thought of Wang as a stereotype - a "composite" of the many Chinese farmers Pearl came to know as she worked with her husband in his "agricultural missionary" work.  But was he really like all the rest?  I'll be watching for one of them with the same decency and consideration for his wife - that Pat describes.  He had expectations of what a wife should do, but I don't think he expected to care about what she thought of him.  I was surprised at this.  In my mind, this made him stand apart from other men.  O-lan could have done worse.


OK, she wasn't much to look at, but she wasn't scarred.  Does he seem disappointed that her feet had not been bound?  What does this mean?  Was it a plus?   Bellamarie talks about O-lan labouring in the field.  Would this have been possible had her feet been bound?  Was she expected to labor beside him in the field?  Did other wives do this?

[Dana]

Only the well off Chinese bound their daughters' feet.  It was a sign of beauty ,like a lotus bud.  But it crippled the women, who walked with a particular limping gait which was found attractive.  When they got older they needed help to walk and were supported by two slaves.  Of-course it kept them in their place,(!) and poor women did not have it done because they would not have been able to work in the fields..  The Manchus  (ruling dynasty)did not bind their feet.
It's like female genital mutilation and wasp waists.  When you see the damage done by these 3 practices it makes you want to vomit.  Not to mention the pain...

[PatH]

The smallness of the feet was thought of as attractive, as well as the gait.  O-lan, being tall, probably had particularly large feet, and I think Wang Lung was disappointed in this, just as he was disappointed that he couldn't have a pretty wife, but I'm sure he didn't expect a wife with bound feet.

[bellamarie]

PatH,  I agree, I did feel a bit frustrated with the fact Wang thought, oh great now I won't have to take care of my father anymore or cook & clean.  But if I am not mistaken, this is expected in their culture, so O-lan would be honored to be his wife and to do these things.  I guess we have to remind ourselves of the customs in China, and the time it is taking place.

I didn't get the feeling Wang was disappointed his salve girl was not pretty, because if anything I think he did not see himself being a catch either, (dark skin and rough hands from hard labor). Him being a farmer, and she a slave, my impression was neither were into vanity. They know their place in their world, and for them, hard work seems to be their purpose in life.  I don't know if other slave/wives help in the fields as O-lan did, I would assume they did.  I don't think Wang expected O-lan to help in the fields especially when she was pregnant. I think Wang was very impressed to see her help out.  Beauty from inside lasts longer, than beauty of the outside.  I think Wang is realizing the beauty his wife beholds inside, especially when he saw how she had already planned the dressings of their soon to be baby.

Thank you for the clarification of the pock marked as small pox scars.

I'm suspecting Wang and O-lan will surprise their families and friends, as well as the readers, as this story moves along.  I'm sensing they could hold important places down the road.

Ciao for now~

[JoanP]

"I think Wang Lung was disappointed in this, just as he was disappointed that he couldn't have a pretty wife, but I'm sure he didn't expect a wife with bound feet."  PatH

Pat - you bring up an interesting side of Wang's personality. I think he takes pride in the way he is perceived in the community.  If he could escort a pretty wife through the streets, Pearl writes, "other men might congratulate him."  The same would have happened, had her feet been bound.  (She couldn't walk on her own!)  But  I think we're seeing just how pleased Wang was with this wife of his.  O-lan would have been a useless wife for a farmer -

"Although the practice was doubtless a means of male domination to ensure women remained chaste. Women whose feet were bound were unable to participate freely in society – to go on outings on their own, for example – with feet so severely disfigured. They frequently needed the physical support of another person if they were to walk for any length of time, and this kept them dependent on their families, subject to the will of men around them, and often all but confined to their homes."

Don't want to upset your stomach, Dana - but can't help but share a photo of what  feet that have been bound look like:

"In 1911, the Chinese government finally outlawed foot binding. Pressure had come not only from feminists but also from educated people concerned about how China was viewed by the outside world, as well as from Social Darwinists worried about the idea of an enfeebled nation. Even after this, however, much work was needed to undo the entrenched idea of the lotus foot as erotic and lovely. Today, although as a practice foot binding has died out, one can still see elderly women hobbling around on broken feet, all in the name of past notions of beauty."

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/news-foot-binding?image=3

[JoanP]

Are you a bit surprised that Pearl Buck portrays her female character as such a stoic silent type.  Since she worked with women extensively in China - and spoke the language, I expected to hear more from her female characters... Maybe silent acceptance of whatever life had to offer was what she found.  OR maybe we'll be hearing more from O-lan as her story unfolds - as Bellamarie expects..

[Dana]

These feet don't look too bad actually and are quite large. The best feet were just an inch or two long. Sometimes the big toe was broken and folded back under the foot and even the arch of the foot could be broken and so the foot was folded back on itself.  Imagine the pain as the bindings were tightened week by week from an early age when the bones were still soft.  Ah, beauty.....

[JoanP]

I'm thinking that if pretty little slaves feet were bound, it was to keep them from fleeing, as well as for beauty, no?  O-lan was lucky!

Did you look at the other bound feet in this link?

Chinese foot-binding