The Good Earth Summary
Pearl S. Buck

Everything you need to understand or teach The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.

The Good Earth Summary & Study Guide
20 Student Essays
1 Encyclopedia Article
4 Literature Criticisms
1 Book Notes
...and more

30 The Good Earth Lessons
20 Activities
180 Multiple Choice Questions
60 Short Essay Questions
20 Essay Questions
Pre-Made Tests and Quizzes
...and more

The Good Earth Summary

Pearl Buck was one of the most widely read American novelists of the twentieth century. When she published her most popular and critically acclaimed novel, The Good Earth, in 1931, she was living in China as the wife of a Christian missionary. By that time, she had lived in China for about forty years and brought to her portrayal of Chinese rural life a knowledge that few if any Western writers have possessed.

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Study Pack

The The Good Earth Study Pack contains:

The Good Earth Study Guide

Introduction

Author Biography

Plot Summary

Characters

Themes

Style

Historical Context

Critical Overview

Criticism

Critical Essay #1

Adaptations

Topics for Further Study

Encyclopedia Articles (1)

The Good Earth

3,912 words, approx. 14 pages

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck Pearl S. Buck was born in China in 1892, the daughter of American missionary parents. After growing up in rural Chinese communities, Buck was profoundly affected by ... Read more

Pearl S. Buck Biographies (5)

Pearl S. Buck

3,120 words, approx. 11 pages

"One pays the price for being prolific," bestselling author Pearl S. Buck once told an interviewer. "Heaven knows the literary Establishment can't forgive me for it, nor for the fact that my books sel... Read more

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck

647 words, approx. 3 pages

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973), an American Nobel Prize-winning novelist, dedicated her books and her personal activities to the improvement of relations between Americans and Asians.Pearl Syden... Read more

Pearl S(ydenstricker) Buck

1,787 words, approx. 6 pages

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, while her parents were on furlough from their missionary work in China. Taken to the Orient during infancy, Buck grew up among Chinese f... Read more

Pearl S(ydenstricker) Buck

1,959 words, approx. 7 pages

Pearl Buck 's genius as a writer lay in her ability to portray her characters in a universal manner; their joys, sorrows, problems, and disillusionments transcend cultural barriers to become understan... Read more

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck

3,514 words, approx. 12 pages

Biography EssayPearl S. Buck's genius as a writer lay in her ability to portray her characters in a universal manner; their joys, sorrows, problems, and disillusionments transcend cultural barriers to... Read more

Essays & Analysis (24)

Critical Essay by Malcolm Cowley

741 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Essay by W. J. Stuckey

652 words, approx. 3 pages

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Critical Essay by Walter G. Langlois

497 words, approx. 2 pages

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Critical Essay by Dody Weston Thompson

2,015 words, approx. 7 pages

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Is Wang Lung a Good Man?

1,477 words, approx. 5 pages

Appreciably, Pearl S. Buck depicted her very characters on such a detail basis that everyone in her story seemed to move truly alive in each single page of the bound book in the meant time of reading ... Read more

The Good Earth (based mostly on the movie)

1,268 words, approx. 5 pages

Social Classes     Throughout The Good Earth Wang Lung and his fellow peasants face famine, death, financial struggles and problems between peasants, and family. A great drought arises,... Read more

The Good Earth

645 words, approx. 3 pages

There is a leech in almost all families. In The Good Earth, Wang Lung's uncle was the leech who is a constant source of trouble to Wang Lung. The uncle was the younger brother of Wang Lung's father... Read more

Meaning of a Family in "The Good Earth"

727 words, approx. 3 pages

The simple thought of the warmth of the house full with children and a partner of our life awakes our desires. Therefore, family is something everyone dreams of while being a kid, a teenager or even ... Read more

Immorality Vs. Humanity

1,434 words, approx. 5 pages

Excusing wrong and sinful behavior by its necessity gives people false feeling that denies truth blinds fault and mistakes. Achieving goals by using ideology " all the means necessary" might seem glo... Read more

Wang Lung: A Man with a Passion

756 words, approx. 3 pages

In the book The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, a story is told of a Chinese farmer, who is deeply in love with his land. Early in the book, we find Wang Lung preparing for his first meeting with his ne... Read more

The Good Earth

1,377 words, approx. 5 pages

Psychological, social, and economic operations of a patriarchy were all present in The Good Earth. During times of crisis, women were often sacrificed to help out financial difficulties in the family... Read more

The Good Earth, Change Always Comes

1,136 words, approx. 4 pages

The decisions we make not only affect us, but others as well. Whether we made those decisions in hopes that the outcome will be positive or not does not matter. What matters though is what happened... Read more

The Good Earth: Enlightenment of Conflict

672 words, approx. 3 pages

Conflict in a story contributes to the development of characters. In Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, Wang Lung encounters conflicts that effect change into his life. Throughout the novel, he struggles... Read more

The Good Earth: An Analysis of Wang Lung

542 words, approx. 2 pages

In The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck portrayed Wang Lung as a reflection of one of the many Chinese men during that period of change, who considers land as everything needed to sustain life. Wang Lung, th... Read more

Pearl S. Buck and the Role of Weather in Chinese Culture

591 words, approx. 2 pages

The book The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, shows great examples of how the role of the weather determines the fate of the lives of people. In the book the weather controls the lives of Wang Lung and ... Read more

The Good Earth: Filial Piety: a Curse, or a Blessing?

2,237 words, approx. 8 pages

Filial Piety: A Curse, or a Blessing" In Pearl Buck's novel, The Good Earth, she implies that pre-Revolutionary Chinese people feel obligations: to treat their elders' wants as preeminent priorities... Read more

Wang Lung's Change in Character

497 words, approx. 2 pages

One of the main characters of the story is Wang Lung. In the story his character evolves from the beginning to the end and shows it the forces that have changed him. Wang Lung is a farmer who is obs... Read more

The Good Earth: First 10%

633 words, approx. 3 pages

First Summary - Novel: The Good Earth The following summary of Pearl S. Buck's second novel: The Good Earth, will include: an introduction of the main characters, a description of those characters... Read more

Moral Themes in "The Good Earth"

766 words, approx. 3 pages

Should The Good Earth stay on the summer reading list for ninth graders? I believe so. I can state many reasons for the book staying on the list, but I will stick with three main reasons. Theses reaso... Read more

The Main Dilemma in "the Good Earth"

1,251 words, approx. 5 pages

In every story there are dilemnas which the characters have to face. Sometimes they are insignificant and other times they are significant. Without a dilemna, a story would be very dry and boring. The... Read more

Wang Lung's Characterstics in The Good Earth

1,226 words, approx. 5 pages

Characters are one of the most important elements in a story. They have the ability to make the reader like or dislike them. A lot of the time there are certain characteristics in a character that eac... Read more

The Roles of Women in the Good Earth

1,656 words, approx. 6 pages

In the Old Testament of the Bible, it is told that God created Eve to serve Adam. As written in Genesis 3:16, "thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Even for Pearl. S. Buc... Read more

The Braid, Silver Raindrops, and Pearls

1,169 words, approx. 4 pages

Chelsea Kim 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 t... Read more

Lotus and O-lan in "The Good Earth"

636 words, approx. 3 pages

Many people have been in a situation where they thought that they were the complete opposite of another person. Most would probably believe them, too, until they got a closer look at the two people an... Read more

Free Book Notes (1)

The Good Earth

28,547 words, approx. 96 pages

The Good Earth Book Notes is a free study guide on The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. Browse the summary below:   Author Biography / Context of the Work   One-Page Plot Summary   Ch... Read more

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