The Good Earth, Chapters 10-19
Hello all! Welcome back for our second week of discussion of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth! This week we’re tackling chapters 10-19.
So, if life in the countryside wasn’t hard enough, now Wang Lung and his family are headed south on the firewagon! This section was a bit like seeing an accident happen right in front of us! While my heart went out to the family as they begged on the street and Wang Lung pulled his riksha, I was also fascinated as the family erected their little tent and lived on their mats on the streets.
Throughout the course of these chapters, Wang Lung really suffers at the hands of the city. He is constantly ridiculed, for the southerners see him as a country bumpkin with his pigtail. He also is faced with the realization of his own illiteracy of the written word.
Finally, once Wang Lung returns to his own lands, we begin to see a shift in his character. To this point he’s been a little disappointing at times–especially in his relationship with O-Lan–but he begins to grow further away from her. His ego expands as his pocketbook grows.
What your thoughts so far? Here are some questions I had for you all…
- What do you think of the means by which Wang Lung got the money to return to his land?
- Why do you think O-Lan wanted to keep the two pearls?
- With Wang Lung realizing his lack of education, what role do you think education will play for his children and in his own future?
- What did you think of Wang Lung’s experiences with the tea houe in Chapters 18 and 19 and the taking of O-Lan’s pearls?
Meet me next Monday for discussion of Chapters 20-28!
Andi (Estella's Revenge), 
Classic Reads Book Club 
Heather 9:41 am on February 27, 2011 Permalink |
Wang Lung is a resourcefully thing, isn’t he? At first, there is that initial “I can’t believe he is doing that” when all those people ‘storm the castle’ as it were, but then, it was kind of “well, everyone else is doing it!” In the end, it felt kind of…well…fair! This whole section is such a great commentary on China and it’s socialist mien.
I can’t blame O-Lan a bit. She wanted something for herself. Her whole life, she had never had a pretty thing. What is two pearls to Wang Lung, who had so much? I was so ANGRY with him when he took them from her. I do believe I saw red.
Education is going to mean a lot, but I’ve already finished the book! Don’t want to give any spoilers!
As for the pearls again, I was absolutely furious with Wang Lung. I know it’s a cultural thing, that people seem to think nothing of a man taking another wife, but to take O-Lan’s pearls, when they meant so much to her…it really showed how little he thought of her. If I had been reading the book, I might have thrown it across the room! But I couldn’t do that to my iPod.
Andi (Estella's Revenge) 11:16 am on February 28, 2011 Permalink |
He is very resourceful! I wish that made me like him more. LOL I agree on the commentary about socialist men. Give the circumstances I just don’t think there was any choice. I’d probably do the same thing. Wang Lung is still human at this point in the book.
And I can’t blame O-Lan either. She deserved SOMETHING! Anything at this point.
Finally, I totally agree about taking his pearls and passing those along to Lotus. What an ass! I think it plays out quite nicely in this next section, though. hehe
Patti Smith 6:17 pm on February 27, 2011 Permalink |
While I certainly wouldn’t condone stealing or dishonesty under normal circumstances, I think war and starvation bring out both the best and the worst in people. If my children were starving I think I could steal…I think. I was so frightened that Wang Lung would sell his daughter…and then I caught myself actually understanding how he could even think of such a thing…one life to save 5 others?
I was glad Wang Lung took the money from the rich man…Wang Lung saw a way to save his family and he took advantage of the opportunity. Wealth doesn’t have to make people selfish and just plain mean. I’m a firm believer that treating others poorly will always come back around somehow/someway.
I wonder if there is some deeper meaning behind the two pearls that we don’t know yet…and the fact that O-Lan wants them so close to her at all times? I’m still wondering about this.
No matter how much money he has, Wang Lung sees that he cannot equal the “city” men…it’s a class separation rather than a financial one…with education or the lack of education being a true divider of men. I hope that Wang Lung’s sons will come back to run the land but with the education their father lacked. I hope that their father will find shame in his actions toward O-Lan…without her loyalty and hard work, he would have never succeeded.
I was furious when Wang Lung began visiting the tea house. Like Heather said, it was like watching an accident as it is happening…I wanted to yell for Wang Lung to get out of there and go back home…to remember where he came from and all the lean years he’d survived with his family. I was absolutely nauseous when Wang Lung took O-Lan’s pearls…at that moment he officially becomes all that he used to despise in the fat oily rich men behind the brick walls.
Andi (Estella's Revenge) 11:18 am on February 28, 2011 Permalink |
Patti, thanks sooo muchly for your awesome comments!
I’m right there with you. I totally could steal if it meant my kiddos got to live and I got to go home to decent living conditions!
I don’t know about the pearl symbolism beyond something crappy that happens in the next section, but I’ll wait on your comments about that later.
There have been soooo many times in this book that I want to tell Wang Lung to remember where he came from. He never listens! He started out such an admirable character and to watch his moral demise over the course of the novel is sort of crushing. I pulled for him all the way, though. Buck certainly is a powerful writer in that regard.
Looking forward to more of your comments!