Introduction
The family unit is traditionally the fundamental component of Chinese culture. In ‘The Good Earth’ the family is the axis of Wang Lung’s life, subsequent only to his affection for the land. Specific conventions preside overall relations in the Chinese family. The place and position of a member in a family are instrumental in determining his conduct as also his name. This aspect is evident throughout the novel in the way Wang Lung’s sons are addressed as the ‘Eldest Son’ or the ‘Second Son’, and the kith-and-kin of the uncle’s family are not identified as ‘aunt’ or ‘cousin’ but as ‘uncle’s wife’ or alternately ‘uncle’s son’.
Main text
The rules in a conventional Chinese family are obligatory, where a wife has to be subservient to her husband, so also the children to their father, and each and every person including the husbands, wives or children have got to respect the elders.
The supremacy of males is evident in the rules of the family. A wife like O-lan, who gives birth to males, obtains admiration and concern from her husband which would not be the case if the wife gave birth to females. We also see the obligation of Wang Lung to acquiesce to the unreasonable demand of his uncle for the sole reason that they are correlated to him through his father.
Wang Lung not only respects his aged father but also loves him dearly and obeys him, whereas from his own sons, Wang obtains only a demonstration of respect.
Wang Lung additionally values the more advanced Confucian philosophy of family esteem and is delighted when his son builds a temple in the house. Following this philosophy, he donates liberally to both, Buddhist and Taoist temples when his first son is born, which is a typical aspect of Chinese spiritual practices.
In a traditional family, a daughter or a Chinese girl has absolutely no rights. In actual fact, the delivery of a female was considered as an occasion of grief and evil omen, as is evident from the fact that Wang Lung considers the birth of his daughters to be indication that the gods are not supporting him. There is an absence of merriment if a girl is born and Wang Lung even goes to the extent of threatening the gods at the birth of his first grandchild. The daughter of the house was regarded as a burden to the family since she was only a temporary member of the family and had to be supported till she got married.
Most girls were married off at an early age and Wang Lung gives his daughter away in marriage when she is only thirteen because he can no longer assure her virginity. After she departs, Wang Lung never meets her again. Thus, we see that a traditional Chinese daughter is taught to be obedient first to her father and later to her husband. When Wang Lung discovers that O-lan possesses a bagful of jewels, he asks for them and she obeys him without a whimper, apart from the brave appeal to keep two small pearls, which she later gives to him when he demands for them.
Chinese society does not accept or permit a wife to divorce her husband. Contrastingly a husband has the right to divorce his wife for seven different reasons including ‘loquacity’, or talking too much apparent throughout the novel by O-lan’s is naturally reticent nature and her communication only on rare occasions. The other reasons are the wife’s incurable disease, theft by the wife from her husband or his family, adultery on behalf of the wife, disobedience on the part of the wife towards her husband or his family members, jealousy towards a concubine, and the most important, barrenness or inability of a woman to bear children. In typical Chinese customs, the family continues through the sons of the family and requires male descendants.
Confucius, the father of the Chinese religion emphasized in his teachings the importance of male descendants and in compliance to these principles, if the wife did not bear male children, the man should adopt other sources failing which there was a violation of one of the theories of the religion of Confucianism on his part. Generally, it was the family that arranged the marriages a Chinese man and was not allowed to see their brides until the marriage. If the wife was beautiful, it was fine, but if she was not, then the man could turn to someone else usually a concubine.
Principally, by exhibiting the character of O-lan, Buck investigates the status of women in conventional Chinese families, emphasizing the suffering and restrictions they have to face, commencing from child abuse to slavery and bondage in youth and later life. As a feminist, Buck adopts a calm, unbiased attitude toward the oppression of women in a conventional Chinese family unit, by exposing the inhuman practices of foot-binding, female infanticide, and selling daughters as slaves.
Her impartiality stems from her suggestion that male partners who obtain concubines and treat their wives like bonded laborers are not essentially nasty men, but are required to act according to the mandatory rules of their society. Buck emphasizes the important financial assistance that women are able to make to their families. She achieves this purpose by using O-lan to propose that, strangely, in spite of women being of great help to their families in times of need, the men attach no value or significance to them other than their physical attributes or beauty.
Summary
Thus we see how the traditional family set up in China is biased towards the male society with absolutely no consideration for the females. The setup most definitely proves advantageous to the male gender and suppresses the females so that they can abide by the laws and customs of the society.