O-Lan And Wang Lung: A Comparative Analysis

His moral ambiguity is heavily influenced by outside forces in his life that changes his view upon the world. The most excusable action in the eyes of the readers is when he commits a crime because his family is struggling in the southern city. Other citizens stricken by poverty tell Wang Lung that the riches do not belong to the wealthy, but to the poor. This conflicts with his belief that God determines one’s fate and way in life. Wang Lung goes against his morals and commits robbery because of his influence from others and the situation he was thrust into. This action determines Wang Lung’s wealthy future, but also symbolizes overcoming an obstacle, in this case, overcoming his internal conflict with his morals. The audience begins to notice the shift in Wang Lung’s character which will continue to develop negatively as his values are no longer intact.

The novel ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’ by Li Cunxin explores various themes. Two of the main themes displayed are perseverance and self-discipline. Perseverance and self-discipline are significant themes in the novel because they were the attributes that enabled Cunxin to amount to great success.

In the book each of the Poh Poh’s are seen as old and wise but as well as have a deep sense of culture they are the heart of the home. Suk-Lung and Jung-Sum both had a relatively good relationship with their grandmother as they were cared for dearly”Suk-Lung and his illness. The concept of grandmother was seen throughout all three stories demonstrating their importance in Chinese culture as well as the characters lives.

Nevertheless, out of the darkness in this world, we witness the goodness of human nature. When Master Liang invites Wang into his

In Pearl S. Buck’s novel, The Good Earth, the protagonist, Wang Lung, starts out as a very poor farmer in China. He marries a slave named O-lan and starts a family with her. Famine soon strikes the town and there is no food to be found anywhere. Wang Lung moves his family South in hopes of finding a job there. Eventually, a group of poor people raid the homes of the rich. Wang Lung and O-lan both join in, getting away with enough gold and valuables to get back to their land in the North. Wang Lung uses this stolen money to buy more land and hire laborers. He quickly becomes one of the richest men in his town. Wang Lung, however, does not know that with great wealth comes great responsibility. His wealth corrupts him and his moral judgements become blurred. Wang

The historical classic, “The Good Earth”, revolves around the life of Wang Lung, introducing the average Chinese farmer on his wedding day to the slave O-lan. Together, the newly married couple care for Wang Lung’s father and farm the land, prospering from the fruits of their labor. Their early life continues to bring great fortune when they are able to purchase land from the House of Hwang, who O-lan served, and when their first two children are born sons.

Wang Lung from “The Good Earth” and Okonkwo from “Things Fall Apart” are both very similar characters. They both have a similar story and beliefs, yet they are quite different in regards to how their stories play out and how they value their beliefs in the end. This paper will look at both of the characters traits and stories to examine how they compare and contrast and how it affect them.

The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan D. Spence, paints a vivid picture of provincial China in the seventeenth century. Manly the life in the northeastern country of T’an-ch’eng. T’an-ch’eng has been through a lot including: an endless cycle of floods, plagues, crop failures, banditry, and heavy taxation. Chinese society in Confucian terms was a patriarchal society with strict rules of conduct. The role at this time of women, however, has historically been one of repression. The traditional ideal woman was a dependent being whose behavior was governed by the "three obedience’s and four virtues". The three obedience’s were obedience to

This book started with Wang Lung introducing himself and how his life is like. He lived with his father mostly because his father was really sick and Wang Lung had to take care of him. His father was a traditional and moral man. He did not approve many things that went on in the house. Later on, he went to the house of the Huang’s and got a slave to be his wife. Her name was O-Lan. O-Lan was a slave and she was treated really terribly most of her life, even when she married Wang Lung. Together they had 5 children: three boys and two girls, each with very different characteristics.

From that first day of kindergarten fraught with mothers scraping their loving sons and daughters from the safety of their legs, to those tearful partings between lovers, siblings, and friends as careers, family, and extenuating circumstances fling you two on opposite ends of the state, the country, or the globe, separation is an opportunity at growth often masked with considerable pain and hardship. In Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the Narrator must face a great number of conflicts, from alienation to avarice; the numerous trials and tribulations he faces are troubles difficult to face alone, but chief among them is a conflict he must fight alone: dependency. In this passage, the Narrator must face the mutilated mountain ridge torn apart by recent storms with Luo, whose daily journey to the Little Seamstress’ village has grabbed his attention. Soon we realize there’s more to this journey than Luo’s supposedly excessive fear of heights and come to see that their camaraderie is a crutch the Narrator depends on. Through his experience on that ridge, his attempt at separation and autonomy reveals itself to be no more than a boomerang careening away from dependency on Luo and looping back again.

Despite the multiple decisions that Wang Lung chooses to make, the reader still observes that Wang Lung is a human. This makes it possible to understand Wang Lung’s faults are just him being humanly imperfect. Even if Wang Lung had generated more sound resolutions, perfection would still be unattainable by him. A quote from Liza M. Wiemer states, “For whatever it’s worth, I believe we’re born imperfect, and perfection, whatever that may be, is unattainable by us mere humans.” Wang Lung is comparable to all other mere humans in the idea that no one is perfect and all people make mistakes.

In the book, From Every End of the Earth by Steven Roberts (2009), there are many themes and topics that can be explored in the chapter 1. One theme that is continuously raised is that never give up even in big troubles. Everything began when Bao decided not to leave without Tuyen. He chose love instead of freedom. They met when they were teens but the accident happened. This is in stark description to the example he gives on p. 10 of the communists took Bao for reporting to a local high school. He was taken through the jungle with the inequity treat. But he did not give up. He thought about his wife and volunteered for harsh duty. He copied his personal story and wrote the same one again and again. Tuyen did not live well too. She lived with

The book begins with the main character Wang Lung waking up on his wedding day, preparing to be wed to a slave of the rich house of Hwang. His father is disapproving of Wang Lung’s feeling to impress his soon to be wife. The chinese culture at the time emphasised the role of a wife is to serve the husband, even if the husband is just a poor farmer. As Wang Lung and O-lan progress in their marriage, O-lan works feverishly to help Wang Lung in the fields. This eventually leads to a slight increase in wealth and social class along with the birth of their first born son. Wang Lung and O-lan continue to work the fields, gain wealth and have another son and their first daughter. Soon after the birth of their third child a great famine hits the town of Wang Lung and the entire household decides to trek north in hopes of finding food in the extravagant city. Once reaching the city, O-lan and the children beg and steal for food while Wang Lung works to provide money. After narrowly avoiding seizure because of a war in the region, all the jobs dry up and Wang Lung starts to debate selling his youngest child t pay for travel back to his homeland. Then a fellow beggar announces that the great palace gates are open and Wang Lung rushes in and seizes enough gold to fund his travel back to his land without selling any of his children. When Wang Lung arrives back home, his house is empty but he uses his leftover money from the palace to start tending the fields immediately.

Wang Lung’s uncle’s son returns to the house from the war that he went to in the north to become a soldier. Well now he is the head of his unit and they are assigned to live in Wang Lung’s village for days, months, or even years.

Another injustice women, specifically young women, face is the action of being treated as chattel. During this time period in China, when economic crises, such as famines, would occur, families would sell their daughters in exchange for money. Throughout the novel, Buck portrays this treatment. Wang Lung gives this practice thought and considers selling his own daughter. O-Lan informs Wang Lung that she was once sold by her family in exchange for money during difficult economic times, and therefore she is willing to sell their daughter to buy his land back. Therefore, the treatment of women as chattel in China during this time period is accurate to how Buck depicts the treatment of women.