Pearl S.
Buck,the author of this book,came to China with her parents when she was four months old as well as lived in China for nearly forty years.After the outbreak of the war of resistance against Japan in 1937, she ran for China’s war against aggression.Many Americans understand China through her novels and helped them in this war.The Good Earth has created the first American writer Nobel prize for literature, Pearl S.
Buck.As the first woman to win the Nobel prize in literature, she is considered great.On the whole, her views retain her deep and warm humanity.She injected life into her knowledge objectively.
And gave us this peasant epic The Good Earth that made her world-famous.So her description of women in the book deserves our consideration. The description of women in this novel is not the main aspect,but it should not be ignored.There are two female figures depicted are especially vivid?O-lan,Wang Lung’s first wife,Lotus,Wang Lung’s concubine.O-lan married Wang when he was poor,but after the family was getting better,Wang was addicted to the beauty of prostitutes and made her a concubine.
The heroine’s fascination with women is doomed to the tragedy of the novel.The concept of”women are inferior to men” is most vividly reflected in this novel.Besides polygamy in China is a manifestation of a completely patriarchal society and a major feature of China’s old society.The terrible thing is that not only do men think so, but also women think so.When O-lan worked hard to give birth to their child,Wang didn’t care about her health but the sex of child.
Fortunately, she had a son,both of them were so happy.Most of the families even the moms felt that the daughters was a bad omen and maybe strangled them when they were born.It is this abnormal idea to made her helpless for husband to concubinage.Her anger towards him was expressed in the way of the words”I gave birth to your son?”However Wang thought “Her looks are too mediocre to be a rich man’s wife,Though for many years, she followed him faithfully like dogs..
.”As the good appearance of Lotus was gone,Lotus also couldn’t stop Wang from falling in love with other women.What is more incomprehensible is that when he liked a young servant who was younger than his grandson,the girl offered to wait on her master.Whether she obeyed Wang because his commands were not to be violated, or because it would become more beneficial to serve him.From this we can see that he wants to live when he is poor, and wants to enjoy when he is rich.
From O-lan to Lotus and the little girl,women are just the difference between new clothes and old ones which have no human rights.The woman depicted in the novel is not a case, but a universal phenomenon in that era.Thousands of years of feudal ideology in China have led to the extremely low social status of women.And this situation is deep-rooted?women are almost reproductive tools.
But with the progress of the times and the development of culture, the status of women is gradually improving.After the founding of new China,more and more women enter school.There is a saying that”Women hold up half the sky”.Lots of women like Pearl S. Buck have sprung up.In today’s society, in some areas, women are even more successful than men.We advocate communism and equality for all,only you respect others, others will respect you.
