The Good Earth: Summary
Wang Lung was the son of a peasant farmer. When it came for him to marry, his father chose a slave girl from the house of Hwang who was hardworking. O- lan, Wang Lung's wife was a good wife for Wang Lung. She did not waste anything, and made items such as shoes for the family so Wang Lung could save his money for other things.. She worked endlessly for Wang Lung and his father, and even helped Wang Lung plow the field. One day while helping on the field,
O-lan went inside and bore their first child. Luckily, it was a boy. Girls at that time were always slaves, or married to other family's sons. They named him Nung Wen.
Before leaving the house of Hwang earlier, O-lan promised to
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One day, after the rich men left, soldiers came in and fought with the enemy that was approaching them. The poor took advantage of this, and raided the rich man's house. O-lan, knowing the ways of the rich, found a secret stash of expensive jewels, and Wang Lung got a handful of gold after threatening a rich man who was hiding. With this money, Wang Lung returned home with his family.
When Wang Lung got back, he repaired his home which was damaged by weather. Within the next six years, Wang Lung bought much more land from the house of Hwang, his first two sons began attending school, and he hired seven men to work the land including a neighbor Ching, and O-lan had borne him twins, a boy, and a girl. Wang Lung also discovered that O-lan had hidden a pouch full of expensive jewels from him that she found in the rich man's house. When
Wang Lung found the jewels, he took them all from her except for two pearls that O-lan liked.
So the men worked well until there was a great flood. All of the land was flooded and could not be farmed. It was then that his uncle, his uncle's wife, and son came to live with Wang Lung. During this flood, the neighbor's houses were robbed, but Wang Lung's house was not. He found out that his uncle was second to the chief of the robbers. Knowing this, Wang Lung was forced to let his uncle's family live with him, or he would be
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.
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.
The main character of the novel, Wang Lung, was a poor young peasant who lived with his father. He worked everyday in the fields harvesting goods and he enjoyed
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 three men, the only good ones, participate in a ritualistic funeral ceremony. Wang Lifa picks up the death money. Wang ends up committing suicide. And so, good men die, and the corrupt survive and thrive. The Tea House becomes a set-up for spying. The government gets worse. One wonders if Lao She is really predicting the increasing corruption of the communist government which was to
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.
“The Good Earth” book describes the life of a Chinese farmer, Wang Lung, and the struggles he goes through during his life. In the beginning of the book, he marries a young slave named Olan. She is a devoted, selfless, hardworking wife. In my mind, she is the most admirable character in the novel.
Olan is introduced into the novel when Wang Lung purchases her to become his wife. Olan takes care of Wang Lung and his father. She prepares food for them and does the chores around the house that need to be done. It is obviously shown that “day after day she did one thing after another,
Before Wang Lung got O-Lan as his wife, O-Lan was a slave owned by a big house called the Hwang house. She was bought when she was 10 years old and she worked there until she married Wang Lung. She was a respectful, hardworking women and mother of five children. She really respected her husband even though she gets replaced later on in the book.
In chapter 3 on page 32-38, In the book Wang Lung stated, “ It’s a man child!” Wang Lung and O-lan have their first boy child, the boy made Wang Lung feel very lucky and made him feel that throughout his life. In chapter 16 on pages 144-156,Wang Lung says, “Now what is this thing you have on your body?” O-lan took Jewels and brought them back to there house, and Wang Lung found them and took them from her, except for two peals, making Wang Lung wealthy. The money
In this rags-to-riches novel, Wang Lung rises from an obscure farmer living in poverty to a famous landowner living in luxury. As his story begins, Wang Lung is a poverty-stricken farmer who is setting out to collect the slave, O-lan, who has been purchased to serve him as wife. He is so poor that to him drinking tea,”Is like eating silver.” (Buck 4). He was so poor that he has never been asked for money by a beggar till the day he went to
Master Hsing Yun grew up in an impoverished, rural village with his family, but the influence of his maternal grandmother helped develop his compassionate and hardworking nature. While his family was out at work, he would do everything he could, including but not limited to tidying up the house, in the hopes of giving his parents a pleasant surprise when they got home. His hard work
Wang Lung’s son is being influenced and strictly guided by his father to live the way most pleasing to Wang Lung. Giving him a restricted worldview assuming slaves are unacceptable humans to
She marries Wang Lung, whose father paid for the bride, as the marriage goes on she is verbally abused. Wang Lung tells O-Lan how ugly she is and she says nothing in return. She shows little to no emotion throughout the novel and this is seen several times. When the family is low on food they must kill the ox for nourishment, Wang Lung cannot do it, she ends up killing the ox and there is no emotion that the reader can detect in her mood. O-Lan tells Wang Lung she is with child while working in the fields and then continues to work showing no excitement for the birth of a child.
However, the wealth Wang acquired lead to a transition in his values and behaviors. He stopped working on the land, started