THE EPIC OF THE SOIL IN PEARL S. BUCK’S THE GOOD EARTH: A STUDY

Abstract

Pearl S. Buck is a distinguished American novelist of twentieth century who became first American to be recipient of Nobel Prize in literature in 1938. Pearl S. Buck spent almost her precious forty years in China, and wrote to interpret China for the Western world. Her works are mainly Asian way of life.Her third novel The Good Earth published in 1931, it became worldwide popular and critical success and winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.  Pearl S. buck was awarded Nobel Prize in literature in 1938 “for rich and truly epic description of Chinese peasant life and master pieces of biography”. Thus she became first American woman to be awarded Nobel Prize as well as Pulitzer Prize in literature. These awards were given to her not only admirable biographies of her parents but for her true depiction of the Chinese peasant life. The Good Earth is the story of poor farmer Wang Lung who works hard and established himself in the society and became a landlord in his village. He had intimacy with the land. He puts all his effort, love and devotion for the land and became a prosperous man in his region. The paper aims to present the emotional attachment to the land of WangLung and how he becomes land owner in his village.