On Wang Lung’s Return In The Good Earth From Place Perspective

Peal S. Buck (1892-1973) is a well-known20th century American female writer, who has won the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize. She was born in America but grown up in China. The dual social cultural backgrounds endow her with unique writing style and perspective. Her masterpiece The Good Earth, which describes Chinese peasants and rural life, reflects Chinese spirits and values. In the novel, Wang Lung, the protagonist, has experienced circulatory migrations twice, moving from the village to the city and then returning to the village. His migration track shows his special perception and understanding of the village and the city. This thesis employs place theory to analyze Wang Lung’s return to the village and the land, aiming at revealing the deep reason and the essence of his return. What is more, through the analysis, it intends to help people to know more about the relationship between human beings and place in order to increase people’s knowledge about the place that is closely related to their life.The thesis consists of three chapters, apart from the Introduction and the Conclusion.The introductory part gives a brief introduction to Pearl S. Buck and her representative work The Good Earth, the literature review, the theoretical basis and the major structure of the thesis.Chapter One analyzes Wang Lung’s return from the perspective of place attachment, emphasizing the direct reason of Wang Lung’s return: his strong attachment to the physical environment and the social environment of the village. Place attachment is a kind of positive emotion and connection between people and environment. It reflects people’s dependence on the environment. For Wang Lung, the village is a special place. It can not only satisfy his material needs for survival, but also meet his emotional needs for love, respect, belief, etc.Chapter Two probes into the essence of Wang Lung’s return from the perspective of place identity through a close reading of the process of his migrations, pointing out that Wang Lung is actually trying to search for his self-identity during the two circulatory migrations. Instead of being simple repetitions of moving from one place to another, Wang Lung’s two circulatory migrations reveals that he has accomplished his search for place identity by returning to the place where he belongs and finding his true self.Chapter Three explores Wang Lung’s land complex through his return, showing that Wang Lung’s affection to the land has been sublimed from initial dependence to a deep land complex, which is extensively expressed in two aspects:his love to the land and his adherence to the land ethics. Wang Lung’s life is always connected with the land. Land is not only the material base but also the carrier of human values and ethics. Therefore, the intimate relationship between human beings and place will result in intimate interpersonal relationship based on land. On the contrary, people’s indifference towards the land will lead to the indifferent and utilitarian interpersonal relationship. Although Wang Lung’s pursuit is based on land ethics, seems to be indistinct and involuntary, his return clearly reflects his aspiration for regaining the intimate interpersonal relationship and achieving harmony between human beings and place.The Conclusion reaffirms the main idea of the thesis and points out the significance of Wang Lung’s return. By applying place theory, this thesis digs out the essence of Wang Lung’s return and demonstrates his explorations on the relationship between human beings and place, which is useful to help people know more about how to deal with the man-place relationship and interpersonal problems. Moreover, it may be of enlightening significance for the solutions to such current problems as the increasingly serious contradictions between human beings and nature, and the increasing alienation of human beings in the process of urbanization.