The title of Pearl S. Buck's story "The Good Deed" is a
double entendre because the deed which Mrs. Pan sets out to perform
is both beneficial to her and to Lili Yang, thus giving it a double meaning. While Lili
meets a man to whom she is clearly attracted and will probably marry, Mrs. Pan has found
meaning in the foreign land to which her son has brought
her.
When Mrs. Pan first arrives in New York from her
ancestral village of Szechuen, which rogue local ruffians have occupied since the
government fell, she experiences culture shock. Everything is strange to her; her
grandchildren speak Chinese, but their pronunciation is wrong, and they also do not
behave in the customary way; her daughter-in-law is kind and respectful, but she knows
nothing of life in China, having been born in America. While her son tries to make his
mother feel comfortable in her new home, her sense of alienation grows until she loses
her appetite and becomes listless. Finally, anxious for his mother's health and
happiness, Mrs. Pan's son asks his wife,
"Is there no woman you know who can speak Chinese
with her? ... She needs to have someone to whom she can talk about the village and all
the things she knows."
His
young wife considers his question, then says that she has a friend, a schoolmate whose
parents forced her to speak Chinese at home. Lili Yang is a social worker, too, so she
can easily talk to Mrs. Pan. The next day Mrs. Pan calls her friend, explaining that her
mother-in-law is pining away because of a sense of alienation and isolation. Lili
promises to visit.
From the beginning of her visit, Lili
lifts the spirits of Mrs. Pan, especially when Lili suggests that they talk about Mrs.
Pan's home and village. As she talks about her home with gardens in the courtyard and a
pool of goldfish, Mrs. Pan's cheeks grow pink with emotion and her eyes glow. When Lili
asks her how old she was when she was married, Mrs. Pan replies that she was seventeen.
Then she inquires about Lili's age, and she marvels that Lili is twenty-seven and yet
not married.
Old Mrs. Pan forgot herself for the first time
since she had been hurried away from the village.... Now as she looked at Lili's kind,
ugly face it occurred to her that here there was something she could do. She could find
a husband for this good
girl....
Lili thanks her and
departs. Mrs. Pan now has a cause, and she cannot wait to talk to her son when he
arrives home. She asks him why marriages are not arranged as in China. Her son does not
have the heart to tell her that his "arranged marriage" was orchestrated for his
parents' benefit because he and his wife were already in love. Mr. Pan tries to explain
how courtship is done in America, but Mrs. Pan finds it barbaric. She asks her son to
find someone that he works with, but he laughs. Nevertheless, Mrs. Pan insists, so he
agrees.
One day, old Mrs. Pan hears her son and his wife
arguing, but she pulls a chair up to the window and looks out, an activity that she
continues for days. After one young man smiles and waves, Mrs. Pan finally returns the
wave one day. Then Mrs. Pan asks her son who the man is; her son tells her he works in
one of the China shops, but he will want to choose his own wife. Nevertheless, Mrs. Pan
pursues the idea of this man as a suitor for Lili. So one day she has her grandson help
her cross the street so that she can enter the shop and purchase two bowls. When they
are brought to her, after mentioning Lili Yang, Mrs. Pan begins to speak about the
virtues of women who are not beautiful. The young man listens, his "small eyes twinkling
with laughter." When she finishes, he asks Mrs. Pan if Lili Yang is not beautiful. Mrs.
Pan will not be taken in by this question and suggests that he meet Lili. Then, she
departs as she does not wish to say too much on her first
visit.
When she returns home, her daughter-in-law is
worried that she has crossed the busy street, but Mrs. Pan tells her she was assisted by
her grandson and Mr. Lim. When Mr. Pan returns home, his wife relates what has happened.
He laughs and tells his wife to let his mother enjoy
herself.
On Lili's next visit, Mrs. Pan suggests that they
go to the shop where she can buy some bowls for her kind daughter-in-law. Once there,
Mr. Lim greets them and tells Lili, "She has told me more about you than she knows." As
they talk, Lili asks Mr. Lim about his studies as a doctor. But, he apologizes, saying
that he has customers to whom he must attend. However, they can take a ride on one of
the riverboats next Sunday, he suggests.
"We do not know each other," she said, reluctant
and yet eager.
He laughed. "You see my respectable father, and I know Mrs. Pan
very well. Let them guarantee
us."
Once they are out of the
way, Mrs. Pan leans over and speaks to Mr. Lim, telling him she would like to arrange a
match. He replies, "If you recommend her, Honorable Old Lady, why
not?"
Complacent, they sit silently, waiting on the young
ones.
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