Example For High School Students about The Good Earth

Background of the Author: Pearl Buck was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia. Her parents were Christian missionaries, and Buck was raised in China, attending a boarding school in Shanghai. In 1910, she went to America to attend Randolph-Macon Woman's College, in Lynchburg, Virginia.

After graduation, she soon returned to China, marrying an American agricultural specialist in 1917, and living in North China. In the 1920s, Buck taught English literature at the University of Nanking. In 1925, she returned to America and received a Master of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1926.Back in China, Buck and her husband found their lives in danger when a revolutionary army attacked Nanking. They spent a day in hiding before being rescued by American gunboats. During the 1920s, Buck found her vocation as a writer, publishing many stories and essays in magazines.

Her first novel, East Wind, West Wind, was published in 1930. It was followed by The Good Earth (1931), which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and the William Dean Howells Medal in 1935. The Good Earth was a huge bestseller, giving thousands of American readers insight into life in a country about which they knew little.The novel was made into a Broadway play and a film. The Good Earth was followed by Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935), both of which followed the fortunes of the family of Wang through subsequent generations.

Buck returned permanently to the United States in 1934, where she lived in Pennsylvania with her second husband, Richard Walsh. The couple adopted six children. In 1938, Buck won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first American woman to receive the coveted award. The award was not only for The Good Earth, but also for Buck's two masterful biographies, The Exile (of her mother), and Fighting Angel (her father).

Both these books were published in 1936. Apart from her work as a writer, Buck was also active in social causes, such as civil rights and women's rights. In 1941, she and her husband founded the East and West Association, the aim of which was to foster greater understanding between Asian and Western cultures. Buck remained a prolific writer for the remainder of her life.

She published in all over seventy books. These included novels, short story collections, biographies and an autobiography, poetry, drama, children's literature, and translations from the Chinese.Buck died on March 6, 1973, at the age of eighty. Today, several of the organizations founded by Buck have been merged into Pearl S.

Buck International (PSBI), which continues her legacy. Its focus is to improve the lives of socially, politically and economically ostracized children. Through efforts to strengthen communities and families as well as the development of local programming partnerships, PSBI now serves more than 100,000 children, their families and their caregivers annually. I. Setting A. Quote a passage of at least 50 words that describes the setting.

B. What is the location of the story? When does it take place? ~ The story would take place in Anhwei, China; Wang Lung’s nearby farm; the far-off southern city of Nanking between 1890’s to 1930’s. C. How is the setting of the story significant? ~ II. Point of View A.

Quote a passage of at least 50 words that illustrates the work’s point of view. ~ The story is narrated in a third-person point of view that often describes Wang Lung’s thoughts and feelings and generally describes only the actions, and not the thoughts, of the other characters.The novel is written almost exclusively from Wang Lung’s point of view. B. Explain how the point of view relates to the telling of the story. What is the narrator’s perspective, and how does the narrator’s perspective (whether first, third person limited, or third person omniscient, or other) relate to the telling of the story? ~ Buck wrote the book straightforward and simple.

She made the story natural, not letting the characters rule the work and value the story above all things. The story was shaped in a great deal by the Chinese literary tradition.The story is told with a great deal of gravity, but the language is kept very simple and remains placid even when describing events of great trauma and upheaval. III. Conflict A. Quote a passage of at least 50 words that contains a significant conflict.

~ In the time Wang Lung gets richer; his desires clashes with his simple respect to the earth, which gives everything he needed before, his adherence to old Chinese traditions and filial piety. Due to his desires, he developed a conflict to his uncle’s family and his children, making Wang Lung’s wishes disregarded. B.Explain the significance of the conflict in this scene. What kind of conflict is it – internal or external? C. What is the significance of the conflict toward moving the story forward and complicating the plot? IV.

Characters A. Write a profile of three major characters in the work. For each character, include the following: Quotation he/she said. What is the character’s role in the story? What is the character’s significance in the story? What adjectives describe the character? ~ Wang Lung - a poor peasant farmer whose love for the land sustains him through the difficult times of his life.After marrying a slave from a great house, he gradually rises from a poor, humble, country farmer to a wealthy, respected, landowning patriarch of a great family. He multiplies his fortunes through the help of his loyal wife, O-lan, and his faith in the good earth.

He is the center of the story. ~ O-lan - she was Wang Lung’s first wife, formerly a slave in the house of Hwang. A woman of few words, she is simple minded but nonetheless is valuable to Wang Lung for the skills she acquired previously. She is a plain-looking, dull woman; her feet are not bound.She is hardworking and self-sacrificing. Although Wang Lung didn’t value her, she remained loyal to Wang Lung.

~ Lotus - a prostitute who conducts her business upstairs at the tea shop where Wang Lung visits. She is petite and attractive, although not as young as she first appears. Wang Lung becomes infatuated with her and moves her into his house making her Wang Lung’s mistress. Lotus is vain and lazy, with a sharp temper. As years passed by, she became fat and lazy, only caring for her food and jewelries.

V. Theme A. Quote a passage of at least 50 words that relates to a major theme in the work. ~ The story began when Wang Lung was still poor.

Although he is poor, he is contented with the life his land can give. He is humble, honest and loves nothing more than working in his fields. His life with O-lan was simple. But when Wang Lung found his luck and became richer, he didn’t value his relationship to the earth and made wealth as a destroyer of traditional values.

B. What is a major theme in the work?State it as a complete sentence that contains a universal idea and a statement of opinion about that idea/truth. ~ C. Identify another work of literature or art that echoes this theme. Explain the similarity. VI.

Writing Style A. Quote a passage of at least 50 words that illustrates the distinctive writing style of the writer. ~ Buck’s style in writing the novel was a simple and direct narrative style. It moves along smoothly towards the conclusion, making no complicated techniques (such as cut-back or stream of consciousness).She made Wang Lung the central character; the actions of all other characters relate directly to him. B.

Explain what characteristics of the writer’s style — such as: tone, diction, use of language (detail), and syntax (length and use of sentences) – make the writer’s style distinctive. VII. Opening and Closing A. Quote a significant sentence from the opening scene. What is the significance of the work’s opening scene? B.

Quote a significant sentence from the closing scene. What is the significance of the work’s closing scene?