Portrait of China’s Social Condition in the Early 20th century Through Wang Lung’s Life in Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth

ABSTRACT

Widhianto, Guntur Purbo. 08.05.111.00039. Portrait of China’s Social Condition in the Early 20th Century Through Wang Lung’s Life in Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth. Thesis. English Study Program of the Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, Trunojoyo University Madura. Advisors: (I) Dr. Suryo Tri Saksono, (II) Diva Wenanda, S.S.
The novel entitled The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck is the novel that told about social condition in China in early of 20th Century. Thus this study discusses the portrait of China’s social condition in early of 20th century through Wang Lung’s life as the main character of this novel. Sociology of literature is the theory that used to analyze this novel. The utterances of Wang Lung or other characters that portray the China’s social condition in early of 20th century are the data of this study. Then qualitative research is chosen as the technique of analyzing data.
This study analyzes the social condition of China in the early 20th century through Wang Lung’s life. In the early 20th century there are classes in China’s society, such as Proletariat class, and Landlord and Comprador class. Besides that, there are several aspects of social condition in the early 20th century that are analyzed in this study, such as; customs, and marriage. Especially for custom, this study is focused on three aspects; they are farming way, religion, and fashion. After analyzing the data of this study, it can be concluded that Wang Lung’s life portrays the condition of China’s society in the early 20th century.