The Good Earth Response

In the novel "Good Earth", Wang Lung's uncle proves himself to be a bad uncle and a bad man. He blackmails Wang Lung into giving him money by stating that he will tell the whole village what Wang had said to him when he was angry. Wang Lung of course gives in, he does not want the villagers thinking wrong of him. The uncle doesn't seem to be a very good father either, letting his daughter wander around the city with men, despite the fact that she is unmarried.

Soon Wang Lung's uncle, along with other men, come to him wanting to buy his land. he says no, he will never sell his land, but because the famine is so horrible and they have not any money to spare, he sells his furniture to his uncle and decides that he must move his family south if they are to survive. With no money, Wang Lung and his family are force dto become Beggars to get food. He soon finds a job pulling a rickshaw, making barely enough money to feed his family. Wang Lung is out of his comfort zone in this new place, but tries to make the best of it, one day at a time.

Adopted Poet: Robert Frost

Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Fransisco, California. He moved to New England when he was eleven years old. Robert became interested in reading and writing poetry when he was in high school in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He went to Dartmouth College in 1892 and later went to Harvard, but never earned a formal degree. His first professional poem "My Butterfly" was published on November 8, 1894 in the New York newspaper The Independent. Robert married Elinor Miriam White in 1895 who was a major inspiration in his poetry until she died in 1938. They moved to England in 1912, where Frost met British poets Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, and Robert Graves, and Ezra Pound who helped promote and publish his poetry. By the 1920's he was the most celebrated poet in America. Frost had won four Pulitzer Prizes throughout his career, as well as other honors. Robert Frost lived and taught in Massachusetts and Vermont, until he died in Boston on January 29, 1963.

The Good Earth - Chapter 1

In the novel "The Good Earth", Pearl S. Buck shows how society in early 20th century China differs from our society today. If a woman was not wealthy, she was treated as though she was a slave. Women were given away to be married as if they were unimportant, or an object, rather than a person. "[Wang Lung's] father had stirred himself... and gone to the House of Hwang and asked if there were a slave to spare. "Not a slave too young, and above all, not a pretty one," he had said." (p. 8) The lower you were in society the less privileges you had, like a pretty wife, or a nice home. Wang Lung, a poor farmer, was expected to have a not-so-pretty wife, while it was believed that wealthy men were entitled to a beautiful one. In today's society women and men are treated equally, and many women are more if not just as powerful as men. "The Good Earth" proves how much our society has evolved over time.

A Jury of Her Peers

The short story "A Jury of Her Peers" shows that even the happiest of people, can suddenly become the unhappiest. Minnie Foster, said by Martha Hale, had been just that way. "She used to wear pretty clothes and be lively--when she was Minnie Foster, one of the town girls, singing in the choir." (p.27) Minnie changed after she got married, when her husband forced her to stop singing. It seemed as though the only happy thing Minnie had in her life was her canary, a beautiful creature that loved to sing, just like her. When Mr. Wright strangled and killed her canary, Minnie got her revenge by killing him the same way he had killed her beloved bird. Mrs. Hale believed that she could have stopped all of this, if only she had visited her old friend Minnie more. That even visiting her a few times would have made her happy, and brightened up her lonesome life.