The Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Chapter 1 1. Wang Lung’s marriage preparations reflect his social standing. What do you think about social classes? Should people spend outside their means for special occasions? 2. Why does Wang Lung struggle so much with the thought of having a plain wife? Unbound feet? Do you think his father’s reasoning’s about an ugly slave are wise? How important is an attractive spouse to you? Are you “holy” enough to date an ugly man or woman? 3. Wang Lung and his father do not degrade themselves by speaking to or addressing O‐lan directly. Is this still true today? They also complain about spending and the food – why? Are those good enough reasons? 4. List the things that Wang Lung is impressed with in his new wife. 5. How is sex perceived in this first chapter? 6. What do you think about set gender roles in the home? Should the wife work the kitchen? Should the man support his family financially? Have roles shifted today? If so, why? Chapter 2 1. Why is it important to Wang Lung that his wife like him? Why is he ashamed to feel what he does? Is that gender specific? Is it cultural? 2. How much value do you place on common sense and hard work? Is it important to you that your spouse have both? 3. Respond to the first paragraph on page 81 about the earth. Chapter 3 1. Make a prediction of O‐lan’s time at the “great house” 2. What privileges do you think should be given the firstborn? 3. Wang Lung gives O‐lan one more piece of silver than she asks for. Why the generosity? And why is giving this money painless for the first time? 4. Is O‐lan a remarkable woman in her simplicity and quietness as she gives birth? Or is she emotionally and painfully stunted? 5. List the customs that are shared with the birth of a son. Chapter 4 1. What is the importance of O‐lan’s milk? From a medical point, how important is breast milk? 2. What do you think of frugality? Does money burn a hole in your pocket? 3. What would you attribute their good fortune to?
Chapter 5 1. Think of Wang Lung’s prosperity in comparison to the rest of the village (consider the previous chapter as well). Is he stingy or wise? 2. What are Wang Lung and O‐lan proud about? 3. Are Wang Lung and O‐lan happy? Chapter 6 1. What is the land a sign of and symbol for? 2. Is Wang Lung a heartless man for not giving his wife respite after the birth of their second son? Does O‐lan enable him to justify what he does by what she does? Chapter 7 1. Consider the generational respect Wang Lung gives to his uncle. Should respect and authority be earned or simply demanded with age? 2. What is your personal philosophy on loaning money? Why? 3. Should we take care of our relatives the way Wang Lung does for his uncle’s family? What about when you know the cause for their situation is laziness or addiction? Chapter 8 1. What are your thoughts on O‐lan killing the ox instead of Wang Lung? 2. How important are your basic needs? Sleep? Eating well? Exercise? 3. Why does O‐lan speak here and not Wang Lung? Chapter 9 1. Was it merciful to end the child's life? Is that infanticide? Acceptable? Cultural? 2. Would you have sold the land? Is it really about the land or was it because it was highway robbery? Chapter 10 1. "Then there was always distrust of that which one did not know and understand." 2. "It is not well for a man to know more than is necessary for his daily living" (Buck, p. 97) Chapter 11 1. “How much there was of this woman he did not know!” (Buck, p. 107). 2. Have you come across the elderly that say things like, “Now I never pay more than this, and there is no use in complaint” (Buck, p. 109) or because “…being of the older generation, he could not be reproved” (Buck, p. 111).
Chapter 12 1. Race finally comes into play. "...he belonged to his own kind, who have black hair and black eyes" (Buck, p. 116). Your thoughts, please. 2. What do you think about the stolen meat? Would you side with O‐lan or Wang Lung? Chapter 13 1. What do you know of poverty? The misery that is written about the slums of any city? 2. "When the rich are too rich there are ways, and when the poor are too poor there are ways" (Buck, p. 126). What does that mean? Chapter 14 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
"...A man must play sometimes, though desperate" (Buck, p. 129) Find the Bible allusion on page 129 Christianity or Communism? What do you think? What is Communism? What do you think of the role of Fortune in this chapter?
Chapter 15 1. What do you think of Wang Lung's generosity towards Ching? 2. Is Wang Lung's obsession with the land healthy? What does the land symbolize to him? Chapter 16 1. Why pearls? 2. Draw a parallel between the relationship of Cuckoo and the Old Lord's relationship to modern day stories. Chapter 17 1. Describe Wang Lung's prosperity in a Wordle. 2. What qualifies the school as a good one? 3. How important are names? Consider the closing of the chapter. Chapter 18 1. What is the importance of bound feet? 2. What leads to Wang Lung's downfall? List current circumstances, past situations, and vices. Chapter 19 1. Is Wang Lung's insatiable appetite for Lotus uncommon? 2. Why is this chapter so difficult to read?
Chapter 20 1. Compare Wang Lung now to the Wang Lung the farmer. 2. Why has Lotus agreed to come to Wang Lung's home? Chapter 21 1. List the "thorns" that start to appear. 2. Why does O‐lan hate Cuckoo instead of Lotus? 3. What does it mean when a man is "whipped" by a woman? Do you feel sorry for Wang Lung? Chapter 22 1. What heals Wang Lung? 2. Why does Wang Lung not consult his uncle's wife regarding a bride for his son? 3. What is the Eldest Son's problem? Chapter 23 1. Do you think Wang Lung is blind to the faults he has passed on to his son? 2. What is the phrase "Catch 22" mean and how does that apply to Wang Lung and his uncle? Chapter 24 1. Why do you think O‐lan said what she did? 2. What do you think really happened between the two? Chapter 25 1. What are your thoughts on arranged marriages? 2. O‐lan does not believe her life is worth the silver, but Wang Lung weeps. Why? Chapter 26 1. Why can Wang Lung not love O‐lan? 2. Is it better to be beautiful and a slave or ugly and a wife? Chapter 27 1. Is blood truly thicker than water? 2. What do you think Wang Lung should do about his Uncle's family? Chapter 28 1. Is Wang Lung a complicated man? 2. How has Wang Lung not done right by his second son?
Chapter 29 1. What is the significance of birth and death in this chapter? 2. Make a prediction about how the story ends. Chapter 30 1. Sibling rivalry? Or something else? Pride and greed? 2. Is there anything wrong about the way the second son planned the food and tables? 3. The family mourns over the uncle because “it is fitting.” How much of what we do should be dictated by what is proper and what is honest? Where is the balance? Chapter 31 1. What do you think of how the eldest boys’ wives and Lotus respond to the cousin? 2. Is the idea of others tending to one’s “seed” common in our culture? Chapter 32 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Why do the wives hate each other? Give two verses from Proverbs about living peacefully in one’s house. When Lotus accuses him, Wang Lung begins to look. What are your thoughts on that? Why does the youngest son want to become a soldier? What are your reactions to Pear Blossom coming between the father and son?
Chapter 33 1. Does age matter? Why does his youngest son leave? 2. What is the eldest son, really? How does Wang Lung see him as he is? And in comparison, what kind of man is Wang Lung? 3. Note how the second son handles it in a contrasting way to his elder brother. Which brother are you in confrontation? Chapter 34 1. What provision does Wang Lung make for his daughter? Is that appropriate? Merciful? 2. What kind of full circle comes to play? 3. What are your reactions to the ending?