by Pearl S. Buck
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1932
A few months ago I found myself on a bus with a load of students who were about to spend the entire day going to literature classes at an AP test prep session. I had woken up very early, and was hoping to make the bus ride go as fast as I could, but no matter what I did, I was pretty sure that the day was going to be sort of miserable. It was the Saturday after my birthday, and honestly, the whole day was supposed to be about me, just a little bit. I couldn't sleep in. I couldn't eat a nice breakfast. I could go on and on about the things I couldn't do, but what I could do was pull out the book I had brought with me. I had gotten through a paragraph when a student said, "You read too much." And so much for that.
The reason I tell this particular anecdote is a) it happened while I was reading this particular book, and b) the idea of "too much" or immoderation, is a running theme in the novel. The story concerns a man named Wang Lung, and follows him from his wedding day to his death as an old man. He begins the story as a humble farmer in China before the revolution. He has a small parcel of land, and an elderly father to take care of. His wedding is arranged by his father, who goes to the town's richest lord and asks if he can buy an ugly slave for his son to marry. As the rather unromantic nature of this wedding would suggest, this is not an overly sentimental story. Instead, the novel is strongest when it steers away from sentimentality, or, Wang Lung's character is strongest when he sees a situation without sentiment. For example, he is very pleased that on the day that his wife gives birth to their firstborn son, she leaves the bed and helps him in the fields.
The value system at work in this novel is also noteworthy. Wang Lung values hard work for the sake of financial security (which comes from even more work). But when there is a famine, he moves his family from the farmland to the city. Here their family begs in the streets. He encounters a rich family that is wealthy, and whose wealth becomes an insult to Wang Lung and his efforts. Eventually Wang Lung becomes financially stable, and with that stability he loses his connection to the work that provides his wealth. Pearl S. Buck's thesis seems to suggest that happiness comes from rewarding work, and not from luxury. This is something that probably connected with a readership in the United States that was in the midst of a crippling depression. One element of the story that would probably send up red flags (literally) now is an episode that occurs midway through the novel. During a riot Wang Lung and his wife rob the home of a rich lord. That lord, in the midst of losing everything, is described as fat and worthless. The poor people that the lord had been essentially living on the backs of were stealing his wealth and, well, redistributing it. When Wang Lung becomes wealthy himself, he begins to lose the moral high ground. He spoils his children, takes another wife and all but ignores the first, and spends his time in idleness. However, none of these changes make him as happy as he seemed to be while he was working.
This novel set Pearl S. Buck up for winning the Nobel Prize in literature. It has been adapted into a movie, which I have never seen (although I can't imagine it being very coherent, as this novel did not seem very filmable). Here's something I haven't really gotten at though. Did I enjoy the book? Not really. As the book opened I was intrigued by foreign locale and the different approach to day to day life. But as the book progressed, I had a difficult time maintaining focus. The story was not the problem. The first third especially was fairly gripping. But Pearl S. Buck's prose were very dry, and I would often get distracted and put the book down. I was reading this at the same time as I was reading a nonfiction book, and I would go back and forth between the two. After awhile I was only working on the nonfiction book.
For symmetry's sake, I will return to my birthday weekend, where I was accused of "reading too much." First of all, I do not read "too much." I do not feel that my reading is a luxury. It is my connection to the world, like Wang Lung and his connection to the Good Earth. Right? Right? Is that too much of a reach? Well, it's late and it's the 4th of July. It will have to be enough.
Coming soon:
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