Question!!!!

How do you think that Pearl S. Buck's status as a foreigner affects/alters her novel? Does it discredit her work? Does it enhance her sensitivity? Think of other works written by "outsiders" to the culture they are writing about, for example Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha.

In the context of the novel, what is your interpretation of the following quote?

"When the rich are too rich there are ways, and when the poor are too poor there are ways." (118)

Keep in mind that this quote appears (slightly altered) on two occasions: once when Wang Lung is in the south, and once after Wang Lung's eldest son evicts the poor tenants out of the outer rooms of the House of Hwang.