International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics Volume 119 No. 15 2018, 1989-1995 ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version) url: http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/ Special Issue http://www.acadpubl.eu/hub/

THE GOOD EARTH: FICTIONALIZING PRE- REVOLUTIONARY CHINA Aparna V Student Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham India Niya Mathew Tharakan Student Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham India Dr Balakrishnan K Professor, Department of English and Languages Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Kochi. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham India

ABSTRACT Pearl.S.Buck’s novel The Good Earth, presents an authentic image of China during the reign of the last royal house. The novelist is the daughter of missionaries who lived in China and is very familiar with Chinese village life. The novel is set in the early 20th century, a chaotic era in the Chinese history. Duringthe phase covered by the novel, China went through vivid changes in politics. The20th century political and social upheavals were nothing but distant echoing in the life of ordinary people. This novel provides the readers with a close view of the inner life of China and its people. It gives a precise and well- informed illustration of the customs and traditions of China.The book which speaks of the family, the values, the politics and the traditions of the Chinese people,helped to create sympathy for China during the World War I.This paper is an attempt to analyze the severity of the changes which happened in China during the pre-Revolutionary era. Keywords: History,Society, Culture, Politics, Realism, Feminism, Theory.

INTRODUCTION A brief review of China during the pre-revolutionary period would help us understand The Good Earth better. The novel illustrates the life of China during the early twentieth century, which is a very tumultuous period in the history of China and its citizens. By the middle of the nineteenth century, it became very difficult for China and its people to remain resistant to the Western pressures even though they had been traditionally close to westerners and their ideas. As a result of the Opium Wars (1839-1842 and 1856-1860) a series of treaties were arrived at. These treaties (such as the Unequal treaty) gave the westerners right of entry to the Chinese waterways. It also exempted the foreigners living in China from enduring Chinese laws. Missionaries started streaming into the China in an effort to make the Chinese switch their religion to Christianity (Buck.p, XII).In course of time distrust towards the western intruders was growing. The Boxer Uprising (1898-1900)

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which resulted in the murder of a number of westerners gave rise to a new treaty which gave them right to station their troops in China indefinitely. The rulers since the seventeenth century, the Qing Dynasty, were overthrown in 1911, following a massive uproar in China. Different political groups competed for supremacy until Mao Zedong proclaimed the organization of the People’s Republic of China. The death toll during this period was very high. The Nationalist Party was forging coalition with the small Communist Party along with the support from the Soviet Union to try to bolster their power and extort control from local leaders. The Nationalist Party launched its Northern Expedition in 1926 and 1927, conquering the local landlords along the way (Buck.p, XII)

The novel throws light on the life of a Chinese kin who lives in a rural community on the cusp of the War. The novel portrays the changes in the life of Wang Lung, the protagonist, and the rise and fall of his fortunes after his marriage to O-lan, a slave in the house of Hwang. Through his hard work and his wife’s skills, Wang Lung takes advantage of the family’s position and manages to buy the land from the Hwang family. This paper is an attempt to analyze the severity of the changes which happened in China during the pre- Revolutionary era. Wang Lung shows little worry towards the rumors about the war until it hits his life directly. He is troubled by the horror of being dragged into the army by the soldiers wandering in the Great City’s streets. He profits financially from the mass departure of the wealthy with the coming of the war (Buck, Chapter.16-18). Born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia, as the fourth among her parent’s seven children, Pearl Sydenstricker Buck’s Chinese name was Sui Zhenzhu. Her parents were in China earlier. After Buck was born, they returned to China as a part of their missionary work. As an infant she came over to China to settle with her parents and stayed there for the next forty years of her life. Her father, Absalom Sydenstricker was an ascetic missionary and had to spend most of the time away from home. Her mother, Caroline Stulting (lovingly called Carie) was a very lively woman. But she often renounced her faith as she was totally ignored by her patriarchal husband. Her condition became worse when four of her seven children died. Her family had to move to Chinkiang (a small port in Kiangsu province), during the year 1896 where Buck spent her days of childhood wandering about in the streets of the city and grew up playing with the Chinese children which made her closer to the Chinese life. Since her childhood days Buck handled both Chinese and English. Primarily, she was taught by her mother who introduced her to English literature and later by a tutor, Mr. Kung, who taught her classical Chinese (Buck,p.IX).

In 1900, due to the social unrest in China, the Boxer Uprising, Absalom sent the family back to America fearing the consequences of the turmoil. The Chinese nationalists turned on the westerners. Even before the political instability was settled, the family returned back to China with Buck doing her schooling from Miss Jewell’s School in Shanghai. One of the events that shaped her future life as a writer was volunteering for the Golden Door, a shelter home for Chinese prostitutes and slave girls.Later Pearlgot married to John Lossing Buck, an American Agricultural Economist. They started their journey to Nansuchou in Anhwei. She was very depressed and repelled by the lives she saw over there. Gradually she was touched by hardships faced by the poor Chinese farmers (Buck, p. IX).

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TheGood Earth, one of the best seller novels in America portrays the family life in China just before the World War second. The Good Earth was chosen by Life Magazine to be among the best 100 works published during 1922 -1944.The novel was translated in thirty languages. Oscar Cargill believes that the greatest merit of the novel ―is the conviction it carries of verisimilitude to all the vicissitudes of Chinese life –nothing changes or passes which do not seem probable‖ (Cargill, p.149). She was awarded by the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1938 ―not just for The Good Earth but for other portrayals of peasant life in China for her biographical masterpieces about her parents, and for her body of work‖ (Rasheeda, p.41). E M Foster remarked that ―the final test of the novel will be our affection for it‖. Her works were noted for its simple style, respect for traditional values, uncomplicated plots, universal themes, critical representation of reality‖ (Doyle, p.38). During the years Buck spent in China, she paid careful attention to the plights of the subjugated and the deprived Chinese women and girls.WhileEast Wind, West Windwas her first novel, it was The Good Earth published in 1931, which created an immediate sensation by remaining the best-selling book in both 1931 and 1932 and also winning the Pulitzer Prize and Dean Howells Medal in 1935. Buck’s other famous works include The Sons (1933) andThe House Divided (1935), which form a trilogy along with The Good Earth.Buck was a stern humanitarian.Through her writings she very well succeeded in opening up the mindset of the Americans about the racial, social, and gender injustice. The book gave a different perspective on the life of the Chinese people. The cultural theories of the 1930s were very much enlightened by Bucks’ ideas on race; civil rights and gender .Even though the novel lacked criticism; readers in the western world and all around the world overwhelmingly considered the novel as realistic portrayal of Chinese culture.She had a very warm affection and love towards the ordinary people of China. Pearl S Buck was very much disheartened and repelled by the lives she saw over there. Gradually she was touched by hardships faced by the poor Chinese farmers. She felt that the common people in China were often abused and oppressed. She strongly believed in classical phrase ―all under the heaven are one‖ (Rasheeda, p.40). She incorporated all her feelings in her novel. The Good Earth is essentially a Depression Novel (Rasheeda, p.40) which portrays the story of an ordinary peasant suffering the trails of economic and natural disasters. Despite being an agricultural country with peasants comprisingfour-fifths of the total population, the Chinese farmers were the most abused and suffered group in China.The Good Earth describes the mental state of about seventy percent of the Chinese population and was reprinted over ten times within one year of its publication (Rasheeda, p.41-42).

The Good Earthdepicts the life of Wang Lung, an ordinary farmer in the village of Anhwei. The novel opens on Wang Lung's marriage day. Wang Lung bathes for the first time ever since New Year, dresses in his finest clothes, and buys special foodfrom the market in order to mark the auspicious moment of his life. The House of Hwang, a family of wealthy landowners, lives in the nearby town, where Wang Lung's future wife, O-Lan, lives as a slave. Wang Lung leads a peaceful life with his wife O-lan .She isrespectful, hardworking and self-sacrificing. Wang Lunggets delighted when he learns that she is pregnant with his first child.Wang Lung’s marriageto O-lan brings good fortune to the family. As Theodore.F.Harris says:

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The Good Earth is a superb example of intuition. It is a unique book. The Good Earth is China. The people in this rather thrilling story are not ―queer‖ or ―exotic‖ they are natural as their soil. They are so intensely human that after the first chapters we are more interested in their humanity and habit .Those who supposed that the story of a Chinese peasant will be monotonous will have a surprise when they read this book.Mrs. Buck has the story has the story tellers gift. She sees like a reel unrolling scene after scene, each exhibiting a character (p.194).

O-lan and Wang lung continues to have children. They started to save silver in an earthen pot in their wall. The House of Hwang deteriorates duefrequent opiumuse. Wang Lung and his wife O-lan through their hardwork, earns money to buy land from the Hwang family.(Buck, p.54)A talk about their wealth prevails in the village of Anhwei and Wang Lung's uncle comes to him to ask money for his daughter’s marriage. Wang Lung is forced to help his uncle financially because he started to speak ill about him. However their luck however changes with beginning of a severe draught. The harvest is minimaland hunger thrives.O-lan and Wang Lung are blessed with three sons and three daughters.Because of the draught and theaccompanying famine; their first daughter becomes mentally disabled due to lack of nutrition.Wang Lung addressesher bythe name "Poor Fool‖, all through his life (Buck, p.170).Wang Lung sells everything except their land and the house to his uncle in a very lesser price and migrates to the south in search of food. In the city Wang Lung pulls rickshaw and others beg but his father does not earn any money.

One of O-lan’s son brings home a stolen pork meat a day andWang lung becomes enraged and says: ―beggars we may be but thieves we are not‖. (Buck, p.119) The War breaks out soon.The rich and the wealthy leaves the city to escape from the war and it’s after effects. Wang and his family are able to return back to their land and rebuild their farm by stealing the wealthy. In the meantime, their youngest children were born, a twin son and a daughter. He is eventually able to send his first two sons to school and retains the third one on the land with the money and jewels looted by O-lan from an abandoned house.As Wang Lung becomes more prosperous and wealthy he buys a concubine named Lotus. When Wang takes the two pearls the only jewel O-lan had for herself to make earrings for his concubine Lotus,O-lan experience the complete betrayal of her husband.Soon after witnessingher first son's wedding,O-lan dies suffering all the betrayals and hardships.After her death Wang Lung acknowledges her place in his life, and he mourns her passing (Buck, p.286). Buck even though being a feminist does not openly criticize the role of traditional Chinese women. But she is real enough in portraying the difficulties and hardships faced by them. This is very clearly shown through the character of O-lan who did not even have the freedom to choose her own husband leaving alone the fact that she was not allowed to see the one she is going to marry before the wedding day. The interaction between O-lan and Wang Lung gives us a picture that some of the Chinese women were in constant fear of their husband.

Pearl S Buck moulds her women characters fromthe patriarchal Chinese society which values menmore than women. AChinese folk tale records it: "When a baby boy was born, he was laid on the bed and given jade to play with, and when a baby girl was born, she was laid on the floor and given a tile to play with" (Lin p.137).Chinese society is predominately male oriented society which

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treats women with scorn and men were treated as assets. In chapter 7 of The Good Earth, when O- Lan is in her maternity bed and he asks O-lan: "What now— has your time come? The voice of his wife answered from the bed more feebly than he had ever heard her speak: it is over once more- It is only a slave this time— not worth mentioning.‖ - It is only a slave this time— not worth mentioning.‖(Buck.p.51).He reacted to this event strangely: "Wang Lung stood still. A sense of evil struck him- A girl! A girl was causing all this trouble in his uncle’s house. Now a girl had been born into his house as well."(Buck, p.51).The daughter is always considereda burdenfor herparents. As Simon deBeauvoir puts it:

Woman herself recognizes that the world is masculine on the whole; those who fashioned it, ruled it , and still dominate it today are man- As for her, she does not consider herself responsible for it; it is understood that she is inferior and dependent; she has not learned the lessons of violence, she has never stood forth as subject before the other members of the group- Shut up in her flesh, her home, she sees herself as passive before these gods with human faces who set goals and establish values (p.609).

Lung, who is now in his old age moves along with his family to the town and rent an old House of the Hwang.He wishes for peace and happiness but there is always fights and quarrels in his household especially between the wives of his first and second sons.Wealth and richness prompts Wang Lung to delve into the pleasures of life, both physical and material and brings home the next concubine.

The Good Earth can be analyzed from the aspect of Critical theory.Criticaltheory, being a school of thought attemptsa critiqueon culture and societyby taking in knowledge from social sciences and humanities. It has different meanings from various histories and origins .According to Max Horkheimer, its aim is, "to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them"(Shaw,p.160-181).In the novel, The Good Earth,Wang Lungs and O-lan’s children are raised without understanding the value of money. Theywere they people who wanted to settle in the town even though they were poor; they even plans to sell their property without the knowledge of their father. Wang Lung never sheds off his self as an ordinary farmer but he gets interested in those wordly pleasures of life for example fine cloths and concubines.Critical theory "attempted to revitalize radical social, and cultural criticism" and discussed authoritarianism, militarism, economic disruption, environmental crisis and the poverty of mass culture, (Shaw, pp.160-181).

Pearl S Buck tried to expose the existing American dilemma through her novel, The Good Earth.In 1924 Pearl .S .Buck wrote:

Bolshevism? No, I think not. The young Chinese rants a little and philosophizes a great deal, but he has an inner foundation of unemotional, hard commonsense, a practical gift from his ancestors, which will make him stop and see what Bolshevism has done thus far, and finding it barren of fruit, he will cling to a saner, slower order of progress(Hayford, p.7).

Wang Lung being an impartial and disinterested farmer, once comes across a political agitator once in the city,who was passing political pamphlets .what Wang does with the leaflet is very funny —he stuffs it into his shoe to fill a hole. He never blames his landlord

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for his troubles but on the other hand blames the weather for all his difficulties. He doesn’t suffer from ―poverty‖; his problems are individual, not social, only foreigners in the book are naive. Once when an evangelist displays a picture of a character on the cross to WangLung, he wonders what this person must have done to deserve such a punishment this even suggest how naïve and he is ; he takes the evangelist’s pamphlet and gives it to his wife, O –lan to make shoes out of it.(Buck,p.134)

The novel The Good Earthprovides us with an insight into the life of the Chinese peasants and the social changes that affected their traditions and life. In the novel there is a good blending of tradition, history, social system, cultureand politics, making the whole work a complex structure with apparent simplicity. It is a brilliant fictionalization of the life and society of pre- Revolutionary China. The novel forebodes the significant changes which were about to take place in China in the near future. Its historical relevance lies in the fact that it is a fictional documentation of depression and disruptions leading to revolution. The condition of women reflects society and culture which were embedded in a traditional pattern of life.

References

Buck, S Pearl. The Good Earth. New York: Washington Square Press, 1930.

Buck, S Pearl. ―China the Eternal‖. International Review of Missions, October, 1924.

Begum,B Rasheeda. ―Paradigms of the Chinese Experience in PearMacmillan,1941.

Harris, F Theodore.‖In Consultation with Pearl S Buck: A Biography‖.New York: John Day Company, 1969-1971.

Hayford,W Charles."What's So Bad About The Good Earth?". Education about Asia, volume 3, number 3, winter 1998.

Lin, Yu-Tang, ―Woman’s Life‖, My Country and My People (New York: Reynal John Day, 1935), p- 137.

Paul A. Doyle, Pearl S. Buck. United States Authors Series, 85, rev.ed. (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1980. Shaw, J Brian. ―Reason, Nostalgia, and Eschatology in the Critical Theory of Max Horkheimer‖,The Journal of Politics,Vol.4,No.4,(Feb.,1985).

Simone De Beauvoir, TheSecond Sex, Trans. and ed. HM Parshley(1949;London: Pan Books Limited, 1989).

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