the good earth book report

60 pages • 2 hours read

The Good Earth

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-7

Chapters 8-14

Chapters 15-26

Chapters 27-34

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Summary and Study Guide

A measure of the quality, prescience, and veracity of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth is that, nearly a century after its first publication, the book remains required reading in literature, world history, and social science courses. The novel is a simple, straightforward narrative about 50 years in the life of Wang Lung , an uneducated farmer in eastern China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While this era period was one of continual political turbulence in China, Wang Lung’s personal struggle centers on securing good harvests, purchasing more land, and building a lasting foundation for his growing family. To accomplish this, he must work around tempestuous nature, unscrupulous relatives, opportunistic soldiers and brigands, and other common people who, like him, are just trying to survive. His greatest ally is his wife, O-lan . Like the land itself, she is fertile, dependable, and completely accepting.

Growing up in China in the 1890s as the child of Christian missionaries, Buck watched many of the changes she writes about firsthand. The first of a trilogy, the book received a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and was the bestselling novel in the US in 1931 (the year of its initial publication) and 1932. Buck received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1938, largely because of The Good Earth trilogy.

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

8,550+ In-Depth Study Guides
4,700+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
Downloadable PDFs

This guide refers to the 2016 Simon and Schuster paperback edition.

Content Warning: Throughout The Good Earth there are numerous references to opium use and frequent references to sexual abuse. In addition, the book refers to cannibalism during a famine and an instance of infanticide.

The SuperSummary difference

8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
Study Guides you won’t find anywhere else
175 + fresh titles added every month

Plot Summary

On his wedding day, 20-year-old Wang Lung leaves the small farm where he lives with his widowed father and walks to the nearby village to meet his bride for the first time. Mistress Hwang has arranged the marriage, selling one of her kitchen maids, O-lan, to Wang Lung’s father. The newlyweds walk silently to the farm, where Wang Lung tells his bride to prepare a feast for his friends and relatives. While he serves the meal she prepares, he makes her wait outside with the ox. After everyone leaves, he takes her to his bed. While Wang Lung doesn’t find O-lan attractive, she’s the perfect wife in other respects: deferential, hard-working, loyal, and clever. When she finishes her housework, she joins Wang Lung in the fields. Although pregnant, she works beside Wang Lung until the birth. She delivers a boy, and O-lan presents their son to the House of Hwang, where she lived for 10 years as an enslaved woman. She tells Wang Lung that the Hwangs face financial difficulties. He responds by using their saved money to buy part of Hwang’s property. O-lan bears a second son.

Wang Lung experiences a series of events he considers evil omens. After arguing with his aunt, Wang Lung sees Uncle , his father’s shiftless brother, approaching him. Reminding Wang Lung of his social obligations, Uncle extorts some silver from him. Then, O-lan gives birth to a daughter, and a drought descends upon the land. Wang Lung has saved enough money that, despite the drought, he buys another piece of Hwang farmland. However, the drought is so severe that it results in famine, and the family becomes so malnourished that O-lan—who is pregnant again—can’t produce milk. Uncle appears with strangers who ask to buy Wang Lung’s property for a pittance. Instead, O-lan offers to sell their furniture. Wang Lung and O-lan plan to go to a city and beg for food after the baby comes. Wang Lung hears the new baby cry once and fall silent. O-lan tells him the baby is dead and asks him to take the body to the cemetery.

Weak with malnourishment and struggling to walk, the family passes the village on their way south and, for the first time, sees a “fire wagon,” or train; it takes them 100 miles to the city. Many migrants gather for rice each morning, and the family can eat again. O-lan teaches the boys to beg, and Wang Lung pulls a rickshaw—but they can’t earn enough to return home. Wang Lung hears street prophets calling for a revolution. He isn’t interested because nothing they say pertains to farming. Soldiers randomly conscript men to serve on civilian crews for the military. Wang Lung hides during the day and finds hard, menial work at night. A revolt occurs in the city one night. Wang Lung and O-lan hear that the great house behind the wall where they shelter is open. O-lan quickly disappears into it, and Wang Lung follows. The fearful lord of the house comes out of hiding and offers Wang Lung gold if he’ll let him escape. Wang Lung takes the gold.

Using the gold coins, Wang Lung leads his family back to his farmhouse, which is in disarray. As O-lan restores the home, Wang Lung replants his fields. One night in bed, Wang Lung realizes that O-lan has a pouch tied between her breasts, full of precious gems she found in the ransacked great house. Leaving her with two small pearls, Wang Lung uses the jewels to buy the remaining Hwang land. He engages his trustworthy neighbor, Ching, as his steward. They enter seven straight years of excellent harvests. O-lan gives birth to fraternal twins, a girl and a boy—but the delivery is difficult, and O-lan never fully recovers. Tired of merchants mocking his illiteracy, Wang Lung sends his two older sons to school.

Disaster strikes the land in the form of a lingering flood. Wang Lung, however, has stored food and funds. Discontent because he can’t work the land, he goes daily into the village to patronize a new teahouse that’s also a gambling establishment and bordello. Cuckoo—the sales agent who sold Wang Lung the last of Master Hwang’s land—is a madam there. She takes Wang Lung to Lotus , a beautiful, tiny sex worker. Smitten, Wang Lung returns to Lotus each day. Uncle, his wife, and their son—the remains of Uncle’s family—move into Wang Lung’s house. Uncle’s wife figures out that Wang Lung has another woman, and Wang Lung overhears her telling O-lan. He decides to move Lotus into the farmhouse. He adds a courtyard and three additional rooms. Lotus comes to his house, accompanied by Cuckoo as her servant. O-lan is emotionally devastated but doesn’t complain. The arrangement creates multiple problems for Wang Lung, however. His father loudly proclaims that Lotus is a “harlot.” O-lan, who Cuckoo mistreated when they were both in the House of Hwang, treats the intruders with passive aggression, so Cuckoo and Lotus complain to Wang Lung. When the eldest son, who agitated to go south for better schooling, calms down, Wang Lung discovers it’s because the boy has been going to see Lotus every day. Wang Lung beats him and drives him from the house. Once the flood recedes, Wang Lung returns to farming, which relieves him of his obsession with Lotus. He betroths his older sons to carefully selected young women. Wang Lung attaches his second son to a grain dealer, his eldest son’s future father-in-law. The second son will become a grain dealer to help Wang Lung move his harvests to market.

Noticing O-lan’s growing difficulty completing her chores and continual swollen stomach, Wang Lung sends her to bed and summons a physician. They discover that O-lan is dying. Bedridden and approaching death, O-lan orchestrates the return of the elder son and his bride. After the elaborate wedding, O-lan dies. Wang Lung seals her body in a casket, leaving it in a temple for three months as he awaits the date predicted by a geomancer (one who bases divination on geographic features). Meanwhile, Wang Lung’s father also dies. He buries them both in a private hilltop cemetery.

Wang Lung’s oldest son complains that Uncle’s son watches his new bride with lust. Wang Lung explains that he can’t remove Uncle’s family because Uncle is a member of the Red Beards, an outlaw group. As long as Uncle remains with them, the family’s house is safe from the gang. The eldest son suggests that Uncle, his wife, and his son receive free opium because, as they have substance use disorders, they’ll become docile. Wang Lung employs this tactic when Uncle’s son sexually assaults the twin daughter. Uncle and his wife quickly develop an addiction to opium. Their son continues to leer at the women servants. Wang Lung’s oldest son suggests that he buy Hwang House and move all but Uncle’s family there. This is a completion for Wang Lung, who ends up owning the house he went to years ago to buy O-lan. Over time, the family and servants end up in Wang House. Uncle’s son approaches Wang Lung for money so that he can join the military and fight in the war. Wang Lung’s daughter-in-law gives birth to the first grandchild, a boy. Within five years, his two sons father seven children, all living in the 60-room city house. Wang Lung’s old friend Ching and then Uncle die. Wang Lung buries them in the hilltop cemetery.

Soldiers come to the village and billet (lodge) with area residents. Uncle’s son is one of the soldiers. He brings a rowdy group of men into the Wang House. To pacify Uncle’s lusty son, they let him take a servant girl as his “concubine.” When they leave a month later, the girl is pregnant. Wang Lung marries her to one of his field workers. When Uncle’s wife dies, Wang Lung buries her in the cemetery. The youngest son asks Wang Lung for permission to join the military. Wang Lung offers to get him a wife instead, thinking of 17-year-old Pear Blossom, the youngest of the servant girls. Wang Lung becomes infatuated with the girl, even realizing how inappropriate it is. She briefly becomes his “concubine,” and his younger son runs away to join the military. Yearning to enjoy the land again, Wang Lung moves with his elder daughter, Pear Blossom, and several servants back to the farmhouse. He tells his oldest son to procure his casket, which he keeps with him at the farm. His older sons visit him there. One day, he overhears their plan to divide and sell the farmland once Wang Lung is gone.

Plus, gain access to 8,550+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

Related Titles

By Pearl S. Buck

Pavilion of Women

The Big Wave

Featured Collections

Asian American & Pacific Islander...

View Collection

Asian History

Banned Books Week

Books Made into Movies

Challenging Authority

Chinese Studies

Historical Fiction

The Book Report Network

Bookreporter
ReadingGroupGuides
AuthorsOnTheWeb

Find a Guide

For book groups, what's your book group reading this month, favorite monthly lists & picks, most requested guides of 2023, when no discussion guide available, starting a reading group, running a book group, choosing what to read, tips for book clubs, books about reading groups, coming soon, new in paperback, write to us, frequently asked questions.

Request a Guide

Advertise with Us

Add your guide, you are here:, the good earth, reading group guide.

Discussion Questions

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

Publication Date: September 15, 2004
Genres: Fiction
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Washington Square Press
ISBN-10: 0743272935
ISBN-13: 9780743272933
About the Book
Reading Guide (PDF)
Critical Praise

How to Add a Guide
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Newsletters

Ask LitCharts AI
Discussion Question Generator
Essay Prompt Generator
Quiz Question Generator

Literature Guides
Poetry Guides
Shakespeare Translations
Literary Terms

The Good Earth

The novel opens on the wedding day of Wang Lung , a simple Chinese farmer. He has never met his bride-to-be, and on this morning he goes to the nearby town to fetch her from the wealthy house where she works as a slave. After much nervousness, he finally appears before the Old Mistress of the House of Hwang , who presents him with his wife, O-lan . They return to Wang Lung’s house, stopping on the way to burn incense in a temple to the gods of the earth. Wang Lung has a wedding feast that night, and then he sleeps with O-lan.

Over the next few months, O-lan works hard in the house, and when she runs out of tasks, she come to help Wang Lung with his work in the fields. Wang Lung is very happy with her. Before long, she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a healthy son, bringing joy to the house. They have a large harvest that winter, and Wang Lung guards it carefully, saving the money he makes.

When New Year’s arrives, O-lan bakes beautiful cakes to bring to the Old Mistress. She dresses her son in fine clothes and Wang Lung accompanies them to the great house, proud of his prosperity. O-lan learns that the House of Hwang is suffering from a lack of money and hoping to sell some land . Wang Lung triumphantly buys it. In the spring, O-lan gives birth to another son. His harvests continue to be large, and he begins to become an important man in his village.

Wang Lung worries that his lazy uncle will ruin his family’s reputation, so he admonishes his uncle’s wife for letting her daughters talk to men. The next day, his uncle comes to demand money for his eldest daughter’s dowry. Wang Lung grudgingly gives it to him. At the same time, O-lan gives birth to a girl, which Wang Lung sees as bad luck.

Soon after, a drought comes. Wang Lung buys more land from the House of Hwang, though he doesn’t have much money. As the drought worsens, Wang Lung’s family becomes more and more desperate for food. His uncle, however, spreads rumors that he’s hoarding food and refuses to share, so men from the village tear apart his house trying to find it.

As the family starves, O-lan gives birth to another girl, whom she kills immediately. One day, men from town come to buy Wang Lung’s land, but he refuses. Instead, O-lan sells them all the furniture in the house. With the money they’ve made, the family sets out for the south, hoping to find food. They end up on a train, where the other passengers tell Wang Lung how to survive by begging in the southern city.

When they arrive in the city, they build a mat hut against a wall and get rice from public kitchens. O-lan and the children beg on the streets, while Wang Lung pulls a ricksha (rickshaw) around the city. They make just enough money to eat consistently, but Wang Lung feels like a foreigner in the city. He constantly dreams of going home to his land. O-lan suggests that they could sell their eldest daughter to raise the money they need, but Wang Lung is too attached to her.

Wang Lung hears men blaming their poverty on the wealthy, but he isn’t convinced by their arguments. One day he sees soldiers snatch men off the street to force them into slavery, so he begins to hide in his hut during the day and work at night. The city becomes unsettled, but he doesn’t know exactly why. Just as he decides he must sell his daughter to return to his land, a mob forces its way into the wealthy house behind the wall. Wang Lung gets caught up in it and forces a fat man to give him large amounts of gold.

The family returns home and uses the gold to reestablish their farm’s old success. One night, Wang Lung discovers that O-lan has been guarding a handful of jewels that she stole from the wealthy house in the city. Wang Lung takes them to the House of Hwang to buy more land and finds that the House was robbed during the famine. Only the Old Lord and a female slave named Cuckoo remain. Much to Wang Lung’s dissatisfaction, he has to do business with Cuckoo.

Wang Lung expands his house and hires men to work his lands, putting his neighbor Ching in charge of them. He sends his sons to school so that they can learn to read and write, which he can’t do.

After seven good years, the region floods. Many people starve, but Wang Lung has enough set by to live comfortably. However, he has no work to do while his fields are underwater, and he grows restless and grumpy. He suddenly realizes how ugly O-lan is, and tells her so. He begins to go to a fancy tea shop, where he finds Cuckoo in charge of a number of prostitutes. She convinces him to hire one, and he’s astonished by the beauty of the girl, whose name is Lotus . Wang Lung returns to her night after night, but his passion is never entirely fulfilled. He starts spending exorbitant amounts of money on gifts for Lotus and on finery for himself.

One day, Wang Lung’s uncle brings his family to live with Wang Lung, and Wang Lung can’t turn them out because they’re family. He decides to buy Lotus and bring her to live in his house. Cuckoo comes as her servant, and O-lan lashes out at her while pretending Lotus doesn’t exist. There are constantly conflicts between Wang Lung’s family and Lotus. Finally Lotus insults his children, and Wang Lung’s passion for her cools. He returns to his fields.

Wang Lung decides he should find his eldest son a wife, but before he can do so, his son becomes moody and refuses to go to school. One morning, the son comes home drunk, and Wang Lung discovers that he’s gone to a prostitute, Yang , with Wang Lung’s uncle’s son . Wang Lung visits the prostitute and convinces her to turn his son away if he returns. Wang Lung tries to throw his uncle’s family out, but his uncle reveals that he’s part of a robber band that will destroy Wang Lung if he’s cruel to his uncle. Wang Lung finally engages his son to the daughter of a grain merchant named Liu .

An infestation of locusts arrive, killing many crops but leaving most of Wang Lung’s intact. Soon after, the eldest son announces that he wants to go to school in the city to the south, but Wang Lung refuses to let him go. Then O-lan tells him that the son goes to Lotus’s rooms when Wang Lung is gone. The next day, Wang Lung surprises his son in Lotus’s court and, furious, tells him to go to the city.

Wang Lung apprentices his second son to Liu and engages his second daughter to Liu’s son. Wang Lung begins to think about O-lan more often, and he realizes she’s in pain. He brings a doctor , who says that she’s dying. Wang Lung is distraught. He spends the winter at O-lan’s bedside. Just before the New Year, O-lan says she wants to see her son married before she dies, so Wang Lung brings him back from the city and makes the wedding arrangements. O-lan is happy during the wedding, but dies soon after. Not much later, Wang Lung’s father dies as well. He makes a burial plot on his land and buries them both in it with a grand funeral.

Another massive flood comes, and Wang Lung rations his food and money, but he has to give his uncle’s family privileges to protect his house from the robbers. They become increasingly demanding. When the eldest son learns of the situation, he suggests that Wang Lung get them addicted to opium so they won’t cause trouble. Wang Lung only agrees after his uncle’s son tries to molest his second daughter.

When the flood recedes, Wang Lung’s eldest son can no longer stand living alongside his cousin, and he suggests that they move into the House of Hwang, now abandoned by the old family. Wang Lung visits the house and likes the feeling of power it gives him, so he decides to rent it. His eldest son’s family moves there, but Wang Lung stays behind in his old house.

Ching arranges a marriage for Wang Lung’s second son, and Wang Lung’s nephew leaves to fight in a war. Wang Lung eventually moves to the house in town, where he relaxes in luxury. However, there always seem to be problems in his household. His eldest son spends lots of money to decorate the house lavishly and become well respected in the town, but the second son doesn’t want him to waste so much money. The youngest son wants to go to school instead of working the land, which Wang Lung grudgingly allows, putting the second son in charge of the land.

There are rumors of an approaching war, and one day soldiers fill the town and garrison themselves in all the houses. Wang Lung’s uncle’s son brings many soldiers to Wang Lung’s house, and he has to let them live in the outer courts, though they destroy them. The uncle’s son lusts after the women in Wang Lung’s household, so he gives him a slave woman to keep him busy.

Finally, the soldiers leave for the war. Wang Lung marries off the slave he had given to his uncle’s son, sitting where the Old Mistress did when she gave O-lan to him. Wang Lung’s youngest son decides he wants to become a soldier, but Wang Lung refuses to let him go. Meanwhile, Wang Lung begins to lust after a young slave named Pear Blossom . He makes her his concubine, and when the youngest son finds out, he runs away to the army.

As the years pass, Wang Lung sits in the sun and relaxes like his father did, focusing only on his physical comfort and paying little attention to the goings-on around him. He still goes out to his land in the spring, and he has his eldest son buy him a coffin. Eventually he moves back to his house on his land to live out his last days. One day he hears his sons discussing how they’ll sell the land. In the face of his distress they promise not to sell it, but their smiles tell a different tale.

Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.