The Braid, Silver Raindrops, and Pearls

Set in pre-revolutionary China, Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth portrays a man, Wang Lung and his family who go through many tumultuous times but pull through it together. We learn of this man's morals and values, and also of the life of a man during pre-revolutionary China. When Wang Lung first meets his wife, Wang Lung must go through the gates of the great House of Hwang. He is ashamed of his status as a farmer and is disappointed to see that his wife does not have bound feet. However, he later becomes satisfied as she performs the duties of a wife well enough, despite her large feet. In this novel, we see the changes in Wang Lung due to his growing wealth and his rising status. We see the ties between the land and Wang Lung erode as...