Pearl S. Buck’s book, The Good Earth, is an example of environmentalism as it relates to psychology. Environmentalism is defined as "the belief that the accumulation of experiences creates tendencies to behave in certain ways and these tendencies are likely to become entrenched in personality."(Roediger G6) This can be proven true by looking at the lives of Wang Lung, O-lan, and their sons.

Wang Lung grew up with the land. In being taught how to farm it, harvest it and live off it, he began to associate land with life. And as he began to see the land as a source of life and power, he began to save up his money to buy more land, preferably from a great family. To save enough money to buy land, Wang Lung worked hard. When in the city, upon finding a rich man in the middle of the riot, he still held in his mind the need for more land. The rich man said he had money and would give it to Wang Lung if he would spare his life, and the main thought that passed through Lung’s mind was "land"; he would use the money to buy more land and feed his family. (Buck 139) Wang Lung was a product of his environment. He grew up thinking and concentrating on the land and even when he’s old and rich, he still worries about his land.

O-lan was raised as a slave in the house of Hwang. There, she learned how to be obedient, to be a hard worker, not to speak unless spoken to, and to be happy with what little possessions that she has to call her own. As a slave, she was beaten everyday and forced to follow orders. If she acted up or did something that was unwanted, she was beaten. Also, she had no possessions to call her own; anything that she could call hers really belonged to the house of Hwang. Because of this strict type of environment, these characteristics stayed with O-lan after she left the house of Hwang and married Wang Lung. She would do all that Wang Lung said, work in the fields up until the final hours of childbirth, and she would be content. When they are in the city, O-lan finds the hiding place of the rich family’s jewels and gives them to Wang Lung, who in turn gives two pearls to O-lan. She treasures these pearls because they are the only objects that she can truly call hers. In this book, O-lan doesn’t have many lines unless she has something to say; she never made idle conversation when she was a slave, so it didn’t make sense to her to begin now that she was a wife.

The sons of O-lan and Wang Lung were born to the land but then had to move to the city when food became scarce. This is an example of situationism, in which "behavior is controlled by immediate situational pressures," (Roediger G17) turning into environmentalism. The sons left the land too young to fully appreciate its importance, the hard work it took to cultivate the land for their own purposes, or to understand that the land was the source of real power, not material things. In the city, the boys learned that to live they needed to steal food, money, or other possessions. They saw that the rich people owned lots of "things," even if they weren’t very practical. When they grew older, they began to become obsessed with getting "things," whereas Wang Lung wanted land. They only perceived wealth as wants and things, but they didn’t see how these people became rich, nor did they seem to remember how they became a rich family. This condition of worth, "feelings about what behaviors will bring the approval from others," (Roediger G4) forced the sons to become materialistic in order to "fit into the norm" of high society, and to reject the land as a source of power. A rich man could not be seen toiling the earth, which was the job of the lower class.

Buck uses situationism, the condition of worth and environmentalism to describe the lives of Wang Lung and his family. Their upbringings and conditionings determined how they would live their lives, whether they would be devoted to the land and hard work or just the opposite. The sons didn’t know much about hard work; they stole when they were younger. The middle son was more adept at petty thieving than begging. The eldest was ashamed of stealing things so in his hesitations, he was often caught and beaten. (Buck 111) They didn’t feel the tie to the earth as Wang Lung did so they couldn’t be as devoted. This is the reason why they were plotting to sell the lands at the end of the story. O-lan’s whole life was made up of hard work, from when she was a slave to when she was a wife. She was tied to the land because her husband was and she didn’t have much of a choice. For nearly all of Wang Lung’s life, he was devoted and tied to the land and worked hard for all that he had. When he became rich, he still wanted to work the land, though not as much. He was worried about his land when it became flooded, and he worried again when his sons wanted to sell the land and divide the money among them. Had Wang Lung stayed on the land with his family, the sons would have grown attached to the land and would have known that it was the true source of wealth and power.

Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. New York: Washington Square Press, 1931

Roediger, Henry L., III, Elizabeth Deutsch Capaldi, Scott G. Paris, Janet Polivy, C. Peter

Herman. Psychology Fourth Edition. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company, 1996.