Pearl Buck's Concepts On Marriage In The House Of Earth Trilogy

In the breakthrough novel The House of Earth Trilogy, Pearl Buck demonstrates the traditional and modern marital systems before and after China's social reform through three generations of the House of Wang. The paper aims to analyze Pearl Buck's concepts on different modes of marital systems and the formation of her concepts in order to explore her attitude towards different culture.The research indicates that Pearl Buck shows her tolerance and understanding upon Chinese traditional marriage and dedicates to explaining its reasonable elements and the necessity of its existence under the specific historical circumstance. Further, relating to the social reality of China in her age, Pearl Buck outlines her ideal modern marital mode, especially the relation between women and marriage. Meanwhile, she also criticizes the total denial of tradition in some individualized marriage. In conclusion, Pearl Buck does not simply renounce or glorify traditional and modern marriages; instead she points out both their strong points and weak points in an objective manner. Such a manner is tightly linked with her multicultural background and personal experience.Pearl Buck's attitude towards Chinese marriage is a reflection of her attitude toward different cultures. Over years of edification by Chinese ancient culture enables Pearl Buck to appreciate its peculiarities and examine it in a friendly way; as an American, her picture of China is easier to be accepted by Westerners, overturning the stereotype of China in the West. It is due to her multicultural background that she could feel more comfortable to compliment the merits in Chinese traditional culture. Moreover, her expectation on ideal modern marriage resulting from her own experience paves the road for the maturity of her feminist theories in her later life.Pearl Buck's multicultural background surely brings certain misread and difficulty in her writing. However, the spirit of cultural tolerance manifested in her works should be recognized and praised by us all. Pearl Buck has set up an excellent example for us when we are pondering over the inheritance and development of our ethical culture and tradition.