Embracing the West in Pearl S. Buck’s East Wind: West Wind

Dr.R. Aseda Fatima, Head & Assistant Professor, Nirmala College For Women, Coimbatore. Phone No: 9442629169, Email Id: asedadavy@gmail.com

Abstract

American literature started its journey in a search for ideal light directed by hope and expectation. It has always been a platform to involve the human situation in its established works. Pearl S. Buck is a successful novelist who belongs to two worlds- an American missionary world and a Chinese world. As a novelist, she was encouraged by her parents and society to write about intercultural and social understanding of different people. East Wind: West Wind is a story which depicts the life of the characters bound by the culture and traditions of upper class society. The novel compares the development and structure of two worlds- China and the West. The novel is based on the relationship with Hsu Chih-Mo, Kwei-Lan’s husband in which she finds difficult to accommodate between tradition and modernity. Through the voice of Kwei-Lan, Pearl S. Buck attempts to portray the position of women in Chinese society.