Self-Indulgent Post #2 - The Good Earth

I grew up speaking English, I've never been to mainland China (only Taiwan - the 'rogue' state), and I can't read the take-out menu at the Spicy Golden Dragon to save my life. A lot of this came from growing up in an immigrant family that focused mainly assimilation and success in name of the American Dream.

From time to time, we would take a breather from afternoon soap operas or mac and cheese nights and indulge ourselves in the culture of the Motherland. This often took the form of food and movies.

Food = Spicy Golden Dragon Take-out. My mom and the owners had made a pact where we would only order from them for the rest of our lives.

Movies = I can name three: Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon (Great Family Fun), The Great Wall (Boooooooring), and The Good Earth.

There was a scene when the drought stricken family was forced to kill their prized ox to avoid starving to death. Wang Lung's wife, a freed slave with almost primal survival instincts, crept into the barn where the ox was kept, hands shaking with a rusted kitchen knife. Both of their sunken eyes met. Then she lunged for the beast.

Mom's response: Oh yeah, I would have killed that stupid thing long before.

She was telling the truth. To a witness of a revolution, you can never easily ask clarifying questions. Even up until now, I've only actively engaged in a handful of exploratory conversations. Nonetheless, this movie and her real-time commentary helped spawn my lifelong 'fear' of China. Don't ask, and maybe she won't tell.

This week instead of avoiding the big red subject, I waltzed over to the library to borrow 'The Good Earth'. Although recently the author, Perl S. Buck, has been met with some controversy with her depiction of rural life in China during the turn of the century (first they loved it for being one of the first books written on the subject and then they panned it as being only a white missionary woman's view --- the world is so fickle), the book helped to put some of my mother's brief anecdotes into perspective. What is foot binding? Slaves? You had slaves? Grandpa took a second wife? Grandma WAS that second wife?