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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSWang Lung is a poor farmer in rural China who marries O-lan, a slave from the wealthy House of Hwang, and builds his life around his deep attachment to the land. Through drought, famine, and hardship, and through seasons of hard work and unexpected fortune, he rises from poverty to become one of the most prosperous landowners in the region, acquiring fields, a grand house, and a large family along the way. As his wealth grows, so does the distance between him and the simple values that shaped him, but his bond to the earth remains the one constant in a life of restless striving.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Good Earth
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Good Earth. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a bridegroom pay a gateman a silver piece just to enter and claim his bride?
✓ Answer
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
When Wang Lung arrives at the House of Hwang to fetch O-lan, the gateman with three long hairs on his mole bullies him into surrendering nearly all his money before allowing him inside.
- First half
In what book does a refugee crouch behind copper cauldrons to hide from soldiers seizing men for battle?
✓ Answer
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Soldiers sweep through the city grabbing any able-bodied man to carry their guns and bedding to battle. Wang Lung ducks into a steaming shop and crouches behind the copper cauldrons until they pass.
- First half
In what book does a silent wife pull a fortune in jewels from a loose brick during a raid?
✓ Answer
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
While Wang Lung corners his fat man, O-lan finds a loosened brick in a wall and pulls out a hidden cache of jewels. She had learned from her years as a slave that the rich always hide treasure in secret places.
- Second half
In what book do farmers burn their ripening wheat and flood trenches to fight a horde of locusts?
✓ Answer
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
When the locust cloud comes from the south, Wang Lung leads his men to burn certain fields and drown the insects in trenches. He saves the best of his harvest and finds his personal troubles forgotten in the fight.
- Second half
In what book does a dying wife murmur, "Beauty will not bear a man sons!" in her last hours?
✓ Answer
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
On her deathbed O-lan slips between memory and the present, comforting herself with the thought that her plain looks still gave her husband three sons. The line is a final rebuke of the painted concubine in the inner court.
- Near the end
In what book does a faithful old farmhand die after a clumsy laborer fails to handle a flail?
✓ Answer
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Ching collapses while threshing grain to show a clumsy laborer how to hold the flail. Wang Lung leans down and shouts that he will buy him a coffin second only to his father's, but Ching's ears are filled with blood.
