Pearl
S. Buck's "The Good Earth (1931)" has no match among the twentieth
century American novels in depicting the value of beauty in a woman's life. It
has presented the epitome of the characterization of an ugly female protagonist
who struggles and suffers lifelong, unsuccessful even at the end, to get her
husband's love and care.
O-lan,
a homely servant girl sold to the village's greatest house, the House of Hwang,
as a kitchen slave because of her lack of beauty, otherwise she would be sold
to prostitution, is taken as a wife by Wang Lung, a poor Chinese farmer. She
gives birth to four children and toils in the field for the family's survival.
The sustenance in the land is the only hope for the family, but the fear of
starving in the famine force them to flee to the city for begging in the streets.
It is O-lan's strong will to survive combined with good luck brings them back
to the village with good fortune they never dreamt of. They return to their
land in the village with the money they got by joining a mob in town that was
looting a wealthy man. But the wealth brings only deception and heartbreak for
O-lan who has to sacrifice more than she ever expected.
There
are many events and scenes in the plot of this novel that implicitly or
explicitly emphasizes upon both the pros and cons of beauty in a woman's life.
Set against a China on the brink of change, the novel has presented a clue on
how much the beautiful slaves were sexually exploited by their landlords.
Though
Wang Lung himself lacks handsome appearance and personality, he has a dream to
marry a beautiful woman. Therefore, he is not so much pleased about his
father's choice of bride (O-lan) for him. His father tries to shake him off his
fancy and put the reality by reminding him of their rough hands and dark skin.
He says a pretty woman cannot do work in the field while tending their house
and bearing children. Also, his son doesn't deserve a beauty in his house
because of his coarse personality and poverty. In reply, Wang Lung says, "At
least, I will not have a woman who is pock-marked, or who has a split upper
lip." (p.9)
At
his first meeting with O-lan, Wang Lung does not like her 'not bound' feet
(p.17). Her square face, a short broad nose with large black nostrils, wide
mouth, small eyes that are dull black in color and her brown complexion do not
attract him. He is satisfied to some extent due to her unbroken virginity and
moderateness, but that does not last long. The richer and more vigorous Wang
Lung becomes the more restless and lonelier he feels due to his realization
that his wife and the children are not up-to-date with his new status in the
society. Having given birth to three children, his wife has still been a dull
and common creature who does not know how she appears to others. Wang Lung
hates their 'as brown as the soil' color (p. 41) and they are 'like figures
made of earth' for him.
Wang
Lung grows more restless when he sees several imperfections in his wife. Her
hair is rough, brown and un-oiled, her face is large and flat and
coarse-skinned, her features 'too large altogether and without any sort of
beauty or light' (p. 167). Now, he has different eyes to look at his wife whose
eyebrows are 'scattered', hairs are 'too few', lips are 'too wide' and hands
and feet are 'large and spreading'. When it's too much to bear, he screams at
his wife, "Now anyone looking at you would say you are the wife of a
common fellow and never of one who has land which he hires men to plow!"
(p. 168). He is even more irritated when she does not answer him except
throwing her bare look at him. Her docility uncovers her ugliness even more to
him. She looks as if she doesn't understand her husband's dissatisfaction. But,
in fact, she is so helpless that she easily yields to him.
Then,
out of rage and frustration, Wang Lung starts visiting the tea shop where he
meets Lotus, his dream girl.
Though
he feels a bit guilty for thinking ill of his wife, he is tempted by his desire
for newness in his relationship. The figures of beautiful women painted on the
walls of the great hall of the tea shop make him feel embarrassed at the first
sight. He finds Cuckoo, Old Lord's former slave, who takes him as the same poor
farmer she had met seven years before and humiliates him. The silver-rich Wang
Lung gets infuriated at her rude behavior and becomes ready to waste his silver
for beautiful women when he knows they are achievable with his silver coins.
Wang
Lung chooses the most beautiful woman for his future mistress. The woman called
Lotus has small face with pointed chin, small and rosy feet and fingers, white
complexion and apricot-shaped (round) eyes. In fact, he found in Lotus what
lacked in his wife O-lan. Therefore, he gets very much fascinated to Lotus on
the very first meeting. Then, he is obsessed to make her his own at any cost. Finally,
he gets married to her spending a lot of his property. O-lan, partly due to the
fear of his violence and mostly because she feels inferior to Lotus' beautifulness,
cannot protest her husband's second marriage. She has to tolerate it silently.
As
O-lan dies, she bemoans her lack of beauty and says she is too ugly to be
loved. Wang Lung feels guilty, but still cannot love her as he does Lotus.
Reference:
Buck,
Pearl S. (1997). The Good Earth. UK: Simon & Schuster Inc.
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