Book: The Good Earth
Author: Pearl S Buck
Pages: 357
Date: 1/28/25
I chose this book because I read it in high school and wanted to read it again. It is about a poor Chinese farmer, Wang Lung, and how he grew his family and land holdings bit by bit until he was a wealthy man. It shows the struggle he goes through both externally (drought, floods, locusts, etc) and internal (family feuds, issues with servants, daughters vs sons, etc).
What I learned from this book is that Wang Lung’s life is not that different from my own. He had three sons who grew up on the farm and each made their own life after leaving home – like my two brothers and I did. Wang’s first was homely and he purchased her from the large rich House of Hwang. She was very thrifty and bore him three sons & three daughters. During a riot during a period of starvation, she found where another rich family had hid their gold & jewels. With this, Wang bought much more land and became a wealthy landowner. He then took a younger, prettier second wife who only cost him money. When his first wife died, he bought the Hwang’s deserted house, moved his family there and rented out the land. The children were spendthrifts and began to spend an unusually large amount. As Wang neared death, they talked about selling the land and the cycle of Hwang to Wang Lung repeated itself.
I learned the following lessons that will increase my prospects for success after prison:
1) Family always comes first. Don’t give up on your first wife who is thrifty once you are rich. She is what made you and you should stick with her forever.
2) Land – don’t sell your assets. Hold onto them as long as you can – especially assets that produce cash like houses & land.
3) Pain – just like the pain that Wang Lung’s family felt during the year of starvation, you have to push through the pain until something better comes.
Vocabulary:
Spendthrift – person who spends money wastefully
Filial – relating to or benefiting a son or daughter
Furtive – done by stealth
Wan – suggestion of poor health, sickly, pallid
