Pearl S.Buck’s Multiple Social Identities In My Several Worlds

Pearl S.Buck was the first American female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces".In her works,she devoted herself to promoting Chinese culture in a positive way and the development of harmonious cultural relationships between the Orient and the Occident.Unfortunately,she has been misunderstood and underestimated by the academic communities in both China and America,probably due to her multiple social identities,which is vividly described in her autobiography My Several Worlds.Therefore,this paper mainly focuses on exploring Buck’s social identity to approach her more approximately and figure out the reasons why she was treated unfairly in the history of literature,which is different from the study of her cultural identity conducted by former scholars.It’s necessary to have an overview of Buck’s life story,in an effort to further explore her multiple social identities.Moving between two worlds,Buck’s life can be divided roughly into three periods,that is,the early life when she was anxious about her identity,the exile in China when she identified herself,and the relocation in America when she reconstructed her identity.Placed in such a historical context,it may be easier to understand My Several Worlds.In My Several Worlds,four social identities can be perceived.First,Buck was a marginal person in both China and America.In the eyes of Chinese people,she was a foreign devil and an unqualified writer to deal with what happened in China.Similarly,she was regarded by Americans as a stranger,and labelled as the China hand.Second,she was a bridge builder between the two worlds.She facilitated the mutual understanding of each other between Chinese and American peoples with her literary works,social activities,and missionary activities.Third,as a feminist,Buck was concerned with women’s suffering from mistreatment in China and women’s inequality in America.Besides,Buck was also a humanitarian who showed care for children and support for the Chinese people in their struggle against foreign invasion.