THE IMAGE OF ORPHANS IN THE WORKS OF PEARL S. BUCK

Аннотация

This article analyzes the representation of orphans in Pearl S.Buck’s literary works, focusing on how these characters reflect the author’s social, cultural, and humanitarian concerns. Drawing on key texts such as “New Year,” “The Good Earth,” and “The Living Reed,” the article examines how Buck uses orphan figures to critique traditional family structures, gender inequality, and social neglect in both Chinese and Western contexts. The study highlights how orphans represent vulnerability, cultural change, and the potential for moral growth and redemption. By placing orphans at the center of emotional and moral conflict, Buck offers a compellingvision ofcompassion, resilience, and cross-cultural understanding. Keywords: Pearl S. Buck, orphans in literature, cross-cultural themes, family and society, Chinese rural life, abandonment and adoption, gender and marginalization, East-West relations, literary symbolism,resilience in adversity. Nobel Prize-winning American author Pearl S. Buck is known for her profound and sympathetic portrayals of Chinese life and culture, largely due to her upbringing as the daughter of missionaries in China. Among the many recurring themes in her literature, the figure of the orphan occupies a prominent and symbolic place. The orphans in Buck’s works are not simply background characters or products of misfortune; they serve as powerful illustrations of social injustice, family breakdown, and cultural dislocation. Through these figures, Buck explores complex issues such as poverty, gender inequality, and the rigid expectations of traditional societies. Her orphan characters often highlight the vulnerability of the individual within societal norms, while also highlighting the potential for compassion, moral growth, and human connection across cultural and social boundaries. This article examines how Buck creates the image of orphans in selected works, her deep humanitarian concerns, and her critique of social systems that fail to protect themostvulnerable. In analyzing the image of orphans in Pearl S. Buck’s literary works, this study adopts a close textual reading approach, with particular emphasis on narrative technique, character construction, and thematic development. Buck employs a variety of narrative strategies to depict orphans not simply as passive victims of circumstance but as emotionally complex figures who challenge social conventions and provokeethical reflection. One of Buck’s key methods is the use of realistic, emotionally charged storytelling. She often places orphaned characters within everyday domestic or rural settings, using detailed, compassionate narration to draw attention to their inner lives. For instance, in short stories like The New Year1, Buck introduces the orphan child through the eyes of humble characters, allowing readers to witness the tension between survival, duty, and empathy. This approach humanizestheorphan figure, shiftingthefocus from pity to identification. 1Buck, P. S. (1969). The New Year. In The good deed and other stories (pp. 35–48). The John Day Company. https://ijmri.de/index.php/jmsi volume 4,issue5,2025 400 Buck also uses symbolismandcontrast as literary tools.Orphans often stand instark contrast to socially privileged or biologically related children, highlighting inequality and the arbitrariness of social status. Through such contrasts, Buck critiques societal structures that marginalize the powerless. In The Good Earth, although not a central orphan narrative, abandoned children due to famine represent the broader collapse of familial and moral structures, serving as a silent but potentmoral indictment. Another important method is Buck’s cross-cultural lens. Having lived between Chinese and American worlds, Buck often portrays orphans as cultural intermediaries or victims of cultural misalignment. She infuses their stories with questions of identity, belonging, and adoption— sometimes literal, as in cases where abandoned children are taken in by strangers, and sometimes symbolic, representing broader East-West tensions. This is especially evident in The Living Reed, where characters suffer loss of family, identity, and nation, blurring the boundary between literal and metaphorical orphanhood. Additionally, Buck employs dialogue and internal monologue to give voice to orphaned or abandoned characters, emphasizing their agency, emotional intelligence, and dignity. Rather than presenting them as silent sufferers, Buck often allows these figures to reflect on their condition, thereby granting them subjectivity and narrative importance. This methodical blend of realism, symbolic contrast, and cultural duality allows Buck to construct orphan characters as central moral and thematic anchors in her fiction. The analysis in this article focuses on how these methods operate in selected texts to build a consistent and impactful image of orphans across Buck’s literary corpus. The analysis of Pearl S. Buck’s works reveals a consistent and m