In this blog post, I reflect on Pearl S. Buck—whom I encountered at a used bookstore during my middle school years—and the themes she raised—“freedom, happiness, and women”—and what they mean for my life and for women today.
In my second year of middle school—a time when I was brimming with curiosity about the world and vaguely pondering how I should live my life as a woman—I encountered Pearl S. Buck at a used bookstore. It was likely on that day that the theme of “freedom, happiness, and women”—which remains a central concern in my life today—first took root.
Pearl Buck summarized her reason for writing this book as follows: “Men and women can only experience true happiness when they enjoy complete freedom. But before that, it is now time to examine what complete freedom actually means and how it can be achieved.”
Born in the late 19th century and having lived through the turbulent early 20th century, Pearl Buck remains a mentor to women even today not only because she was a writer and social rights activist, but also because she was an observer who took a sober, unflinching look at the world she inhabited. Although she was born in the United States, she spent over forty years in China and traveled extensively afterward, never fully assimilating into any one place—and it was this life experience that formed the foundation of her perspective.
As the daughter of a Presbyterian missionary, Pearl Buck spent her formative childhood in China. From her vantage point as an observer straddling the boundary between the West and the East, she could not help but experience everything that others took for granted as strange and extraordinary.
As a result, she keenly observed and articulated in her writing the hypocrisy and contradictions perpetuated in the name of tradition and custom, as well as the psychology and anxieties of fragile human existence. As evident in the anecdote at the beginning of the book, she had a deep interest in women’s lives from an early age. Watching women—including Aunt Wang, with whom she was as close as a mother—who had walked long distances to confide their tragic stories, she fatefully accepted the fact that she, too, was a woman just like them.
However, the women Pearl Buck observed were not merely beautiful. While there were certainly women who demonstrated exceptional talent and contributed to society, the majority of women at the time relied on social conventions and remained complacent within the confines of the home. Pearl Buck was outraged by these women’s tendency to cease creative thinking and remain consistently indifferent to the society in which they lived. She believed that women were special beings with both the duty and the right to live better lives.
Even women who had entered the workforce and were making unique contributions did not escape her sharp gaze. Pearl Buck accurately portrayed a type of woman one might encounter in a 21st-century corporation. Descriptions such as “even the humor she employed to defuse a stiff atmosphere gave the impression of being deliberately contrived” or “even her cheerful demeanor felt unnatural, as if it had been polished through effort rather than springing from her character” resonate with the subtle feelings we unconsciously harbor toward socially successful women today.
Furthermore, whenever I come across the observation that women who have triumphed over their male competitors increasingly harbor feelings of loneliness and anxiety, I am reminded anew of just how keen an observer she was. Nevertheless, all of Pearl Buck’s criticism stemmed from compassion and deep understanding. She looked upon women—those who achieved great social success yet felt guilty for failing to properly care for their husbands and children, and those whose talents and abilities actually led to unhappiness—with deeper compassion than anyone else.
And by meticulously exposing the barbarity of a society that relentlessly drives women into unhappiness, she reminded us that the reason they feel unhappy is not “because they are women.” She emphasized the need to affirm womanhood itself.
This book was written around the time of World War II, when Japanese militarism and German fascism were at their height. I believe that his writings, which explored how women should live in a world undergoing upheaval, still offer valuable insights to Korean women today who find themselves in the shadow of globalization and under the pressure of endless competition. Therefore, I hope that modern women and future generations of women will affirm their very existence and live lives filled with true happiness.
