The Good Earth

When you learn about creative writing one of the first lessons on characterization teaches that characters must be universal--which is just a fancy way of saying that they must be human.

But it's also true that some characters are more human than others, no? How often have I read a book (usually a glorified screenplay) to dismiss the actions of a character with an "No one would ever do that!"

The Good Earth by Pearl Buck demonstrates this quality of writing perfectly and effortlessly (as good writing always does--while in actuality being a huge effort of accomplishment) as it follows the life and trials of Wang Lung, a Chinese peasant in the early 20th century.

Buck ties us to Wang Lung through his human frailties--his desire for success and prestige, his greed and pride--and his sufferings. And while I will never be nor will I ever meet a Chinese peasant plagued with locusts, famine and starvation Wang Lung in many ways is no different than a 21st century executive trying to make it in today's world. That's what is meant by universality.

But while Buck follows the rules of characterization brilliantly there are other things that contradict today's conventional wisdom in book-writing; namely, she has very little dialog. Most editors or creative writing instructors would insist that the majority of a book--if not a full 75%--should be dialog but Wang Lung rarely speaks. He thinks and feels and contemplates but he is a solitary figure, moving about in a lonely setting and says little to those around him but instead of creating cracks in the book's structure and language this only goes to enhance the ties the reader has to Wang Lung. Since he says little to his wife, his father and his children we, the reader, are the beneficiary of his feelings and thoughts and it binds us to him as a shared secret binds two people together.

By the end of the narrative I almost feel as if Wang Lung is my child that I've watched grow up. I met him on his wedding day as he went to the nearby estate to bring home his purchased bride who worked as a slave in the kitchens then followed him as O-Lan bore him children and worked beside him to build his farm into a successful plantation. I stuck with him during his days of starvation and his later days of idleness in prosperity, always wanting him to succeed but feeling little hope as his money ruins him and his family.

Not only is the book beautiful in its language and descriptive quality but it treats each character gently and carefully as if each line and paragraph is another stroke of the brush in the portrait. While Buck's characters are universal, her setting is exotic and fascinating and there's a strange feeling of simultaneous regret and relief that it no longer exists. Regret for lost simplicity and beauty but relief for peasant prejudices and superstitions that went with it.

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