The Good Earth

The Good Earth has won the affection of millions of readers since its first publication in 1931. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, and its author, Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973), was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 1938—the first American woman to be so honored.

The story, set in the Chinese province of Anhui (formerly Anhwei) in the early twentieth century, focuses on Wang Lung, a simple peasant who takes a wife, O-lan, from the wealthy House of Hwang. Together they work their land. Some years bring abundance, some years, famine.

The novel follows the fortunes of Wang Lung and O-lan as they move from relative security to starvation, then to wealth. The Good Earth presents us with unforgettable characters: the enterprising Wang Lung; the long-suffering O-lan; Wang Lung’s faithful neighbor Ching; Wang Lung’s shifty uncle; and the dainty concubine Lotus.

Equally powerful are the impersonal forces that shape lives and fates: the capricious heavens, which sometimes bring rain and sometimes deny it; fortune, which both raises and overturns individual health and prosperity; and above all, the earth, which, as the title suggests, underpins and sustains all. Over and over, the book stresses how good fortune is bound to the earth. Those who cling to it, like Wang Lung, prosper; those who stray from it, like the lordly House of Hwang, face ruin.

The Good Earth portrays a China that differs immensely from the nation today. Practically feudal and governed by strict hierarchies of lineage and wealth, it is a land with sharp contrasts between the wealthy few and the majority, who live on the edge of starvation. The book reminds us that if the gap between rich and poor is too great, unrest will follow.

Among its accomplishments, The Good Earth provided its America readers with their first exposure to Chinese people who were more than mere racist caricatures. This classic novel has shaped our nation’s attitudes toward China for nearly a century.