Mackenzee Osborne

Mrs. Stone
AP English Language
3 June 2014
Part 1: Form, Structure, Plot, and Point of View
Written by Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth follows the life of a Chinese man and
his family, starting from his wedding day, and continuing until his death. At 418 pages,
the poignant novel is set in old agrarian China, and emphasizes the pride Wang Lung
finds in working the land. It is divided into 34 chapters, and occurs in chronological
order, resulting in a simple, comprehensible plot.
The novel starts when Wang Lung reaches the age to which he can be married,
and Wang Lungs father asks the wealthy house of Hwang for a slave that his son can
marry. The Hwangs sell a slave named O-lan to him, and though he is initially
disappointed in her lack of beauty, the two are happy with the arrangement. Wang Lung
is even more pleased when his wife quickly falls pregnant, and then gives birth to a first
born son. The two are extremely happy with their son, but meanwhile, the House of
Hwang begins to suffer due to a costly lifestyle. Taking advantage of the situation,
Wang Lung buys land off of the Hwangs, and then ultimately has a bountiful harvest.
Along with this harvest comes another baby boy, so he sees it as a good omen, and
purchases more land off the House of Hwang.
O-lan gives birth to another child, a baby girl. However, soon after her birth, the
land suffers a terrible famine. There is just enough food to feed their family (sans a 2nd
baby girl, resulting in her strangling), but ultimately Wang Lung is forced to move their

family south for the winter. Wang Lung feels out of place in this unfamiliar south, and
though they make enough to eat, they do not make enough to allow them to return
north. Wang Lung debates selling his daughter, but ultimately finds he cannot bring
himself to do so. Wang Lung is desperate to return to his beloved land though, and
resorts to ransacking a mans home for the money to return. Shortly thereafter O-lan
has twins, and they also discover their oldest daughter has extreme mental retardation.
When Wang Lung returns, he faces a few years of prosperity. However, he
ultimately finds himself bored, and resenting O-lan for not being beautiful. He resorts to
take a girl names Lotus as his, but when his wife becomes ill, he feels guilty, and grows
to appreciate O-lan. Following her death, Wang Lungs sons begin to follow dreams that
go against Wang Lungs beliefs and attachment to his land. As he grows old, he is
surrounded by arguing in his family, and eventually takes Pear Blossom, another young
slave. When he dies, his one wish is that his beloved land is not sold, and he is
adamant that his three sons understand this. However, his sons do not respect this,
and the book ends with the dismantling of the one thing Wang Lung truly worshipped
and built up.
The novel is written in a mostly detached third person point of view, but it does
well to reveal the thoughts and feelings of Wang Lung. It does not reveal the thoughts of
any characters apart from Wang Lung, but the use of third person allows the author to
describe the action of characters even when Wang Lung isnt necessarily directly
involved. The third person also often refers to Wang Lungs inner thoughts, helping to
emphasize his internal conflict between his greed and desire for status with his
attachment to the land.