The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-10-05
american Women Still Lice to
Please Men, Says Pearl Buck
BY HELEN WELSHIMER

NEW YORK. oct. 5.-Pearl
IN Buck, famous Pulitzer prize
novelist, has come back from
China to discover that American
women aren't any more inde-
pendent than they we're when she
was schoolgirl on the campus
Of Randolph-Macon college, in
Virginia, some fifteen years ago.
Il don't think that American
women have grown any more in
dependent" Mrs. Buck says. Per
haps they have gained greater
freedom financially but mentally
they are no different than they
ever have been.
They are just as anxious to
please men as ever, which reveals
this mental independence. No
matter what women do, back of
1t is that fact that there is a
man or men whose approval they
want.
1T is true, I think, that women
in general don't care for home
life in the sense that they used
to. They are branching into more
fields, but they are still depend
ent."
THE woman, whose novel, 1.-The
Il Good Earth" was awarded
Americas highest literary honor
last year, is receiving her impress
sions Of American women from
unbiased observation.
Mrs Buck was born in Amer
lea, but her parents, who were
missionaries, took her to the in
terror Of China when she was
months old.
With the exception Of her COL
1ege years in America and an oc-
casional brief visit, she has spent
her life in China.
Her husband, John Losing
Buck, whom she married when
he came to China as young in
structor, now heads the farm
management department at the
University Of Marking.
Mrs. Buck and her two small
daughters are spending the year
in America with him, while he
does graduate work.
Women can't detach them
selves easily" Mrs. Buck explains.
They can't be impersonal about
business"
Il think every woman should
have some interest outside of her
home" she says. Not all her
activities should center around
her husband and children.
"She may do some special Gre
alive work, take an interest in
civic affairs, or have an outside
job"
"DEOPLE are sharing more than
4 they used to-" she summar-
ICES, speaking of the depression.
The attitude toward money has
changed. 1t seems to me that
every nation has to face the fact
as to whether its capitalism is
enduring, and search for some
constructive ideas.
America is just entering on
that problem, and it is a little
m 1fIIcrA fhn Nf1fnntNNn -
Chinese women are Surpris-
ingly like American women" Mrs.
Buck insists. THE modern, edu-
Gated Chinese woman is we'll
trained in practical affairs.
She isn't as prone to impractical
ideals as American women, either.
Educated women in China do very
much as they please.
I think, too, that Chinese men
are surprisingly liberal toward
women. They accept women
and I'm speaking of the educated
Chinese women, of course as
equals in manner that shows
that women have always been
more powerful in their homes
than the west of the world knew.
MFRS. BUCK is dignihed, quiet
QV1 and keenly observing, but
her eyes show that she likes to
laugh and there is a youthfulness
and wholeSomeness about every
thing she does.
She likes to cook, to read, to
make gardens, and to walk
through the Chinese villages with
her husband.
She's fond of people and mingles
with them not only as an aid in
obtaining laboratory material for
her books, but because she likes
them.