Protagonist
Wang Lung is the protagonist because he starts out the novel as poor, a farmer forced to marry a slave, then throughout the story to the end he has enough money to provide all of his needs. As he owns this fortune he loses his connection to earth, his faith, his skill to participate in old traditions that give his life meaning. His for fortune is a blessing, yet also a curse. Throughout the novel, Wang’s character is defined by two traits. The first trait is his lust for dignity and money. Wang’s love for the land keeps his heart soft as his desire for dignity overshadows his actions. The second trait is the love of his land, which empowers his faith, his love for his family, his intelligence, his carefulness, and his work. In his elderly age, he is devastated to watch them repeat the mistakes of Hwangs and split their connection from the land the created fortune. In the end, Wang’s sense causes him to be sorry for his separation from the land, he never loses his bias to lust money and dignity, and he passes on this impulse to his sons.
Theme
The overall theme on The Good Earth is the beneficial power of land. In this nivel, land is connected with faith, respect for nature, good impression, and strong work moral, while land is correlated with evil and crime. The Hwang family parted from the
…show more content…
Wang Lung is a young, poor farmer in rural China. When Wang reaches a certain age to marry, his father enters the strong Hwang family to ask if they have a slave to marry Wang. The Hwangs agree to give Wang a young slave named O-lan, who which he marries. Even though Wang and O-lan are more than happy to be with each other, Wang is upset that O-lan does not have bound feet. Together O-lan and Wang create a beautiful and “money making” harvest from their land. Wang is beyond excited that their first child is a
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.
“Now if the water had receded...Wang Lung would never have gone again to the great tea shop.”. “[He] might have forgotten the pointed face on the scroll.” (Buck 176) The waters not receding lead Wang to lust, this idleness lead to lust, and his lust lead to trouble at his home. The biggest problem, however, that Wang Lung contends with comes in chapter 13 when they have to live in the south. “Not food enough to feed savage hunger and not cloths enough to cover bone.”. “Wang Lung lived in the foundations of poverty.” (Buck 113). This was his biggest challenge because no food, no clothes, and horrible poverty as he had not previously known. In conclusion Wang Lung has faced dire hardships, but none compare to his time in the
However, their fortune is short-lived when bad omens rise because of Wang Lung’s insolent behavior towards his uncle’s family. Not only is their third child born a daughter, but a drought begins, preventing the land from cultivating and spreading both poverty and starvation through the North.
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 earth is the foundation of the house, providing the family with shelter. From the earth, Wang Lung grows crops, such as rice, wheat and corn. Not only do these crops feed the Wang family, but Lung can sell them in the market to obtain money. With this money, Lung can buy other necessities, such as fabric for clothing. As time goes on, the earth continues to produce abundant amounts of crops, leading to Lung’s growth in wealth. Just like the earth, O-lan continually provides for the family. She does all of the cooking and cleaning in the house, even when severely ill. She goes above what is necessary and works in the fields with Lung to help cultivate and harvest crops. She bears many children, three of which are sons, for Wang Lung and cares for them all. The Wang family is reliant on what the earth supplies and O-lan’s actions to provide so their needs are
The fact that Wang Lung is caring about a “slave”, as women were commonly referred to, shows that he deeply cares about his family. Even though Wang Lung loves his land, he cannot let go of his own. Wang Lung wants his sons and daughters to have happy
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
Wang Lung and O-lan had a very close connection to their land. He builds this connection to earth of how the earth has done everything for him. And once his life is over he will be part of the earth and he will provide for the next generation.
he author of “The good Earth” shows the readers that nothing can just become a reality through magic but that you have to work hard to make your dreams a reality. The author shows that nothing can just be handed to you easily out in the real world. Wang Lung and his family have to go through a lot of hard times to be able to get the the good ones. Wang Lung and his family's hard work and endless fighting would make them agree with Colin Powell who stated “A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”
The novel begins with O-Lan, Wang Lung 's unattractive first wife, who he married while he was very poor. Wang Lung was looking forward to this marriage because his wife would take over the chore of boiling water in the morning and cooking for his father. A passage in the book stated, "Now father and son could rest. There was a woman coming to the house. Never again would Wang Lung have to rise summer and winter at dawn to light the fire. He could
Firstly for Wang Lung, as farmer, the land is like a supreme being because it controls his wealth. It is what keeps the family from starving and grants them luxuries. The silver he earns is so precious
Both worked hard and bought a great amount of land so they could increase their fortune. To manage all that wealth Wang Lung had to be smart and never forget about his traditional values. Wang Lung was held in his wants and desires as he wasted all his family’s savings to buy more land. By this time in the novel Wang Lung was being a terrible example for his kids. He would make terrible decisions economically speaking, which could lead to very complex and bad situations. Speaking about bad situations the famine in the ancient china begun. "Hunger makes thief of any man." ( Page. 122) The quote above makes it clear that becoming a wealthy man didn’t change Wang Lung completely; he still obtained very important values. With those traditional values in mind he could understand that during the famine it was hard to survive and this could lead to various
Wang Lung is very old now and is always sick. He is like the old man in the beginning of eh book because he is always on the bed, lying around without anything to worry about. Pear Blossom gets him food and drinks whenever he needs to eat, and he also walks to the land everyday and sees his land being good. However, one time he realizes that soon he is going to die and that he won’t be able to survive long enough. That is when the eldest son comes to him, and sees his condition which is getting worse day by day. His eldest son buys a coffin for his father. Wang Lugn also decides upon his will as when he talks to Pear Blossom and the issues that are going on in his family, he says that all the money he owns needs to be divided into sections
In the beginning of the story, Wang Lung traveled to the House of Hwang, a mansion owned by a rich family, to receive the slave he was to marry. He had bought food to celebrate his “marriage” and wanted to keep it hidden from thieves. He was so mentally frantic that “it did not occur to him that all the world might not desire such delicacies as two pounds of pork and six ounces of beef and a small pond fish” (Buck 15). Since Wang Lung had come from the village, he was accustomed to thinking this way. His village was very poor compared to the city, and hence everything was valued much more. Throughout his life, he learned to be frugal with such delicacies, and this is shown when he safeguards the food he had bought. Growing up in the poor village had affected how Wang Lung perceived common luxuries. The idea of the environment affecting choices is also portrayed in the well-known speech made by John F. Kennedy, “We Choose to Go to the Moon”. The goal of this speech was to persuade the Americans to support the national effort of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely. Starting his speech, he says, “We meet at a college known for knowledge, in a city noted for progress, in a state noted for strength…” (Kennedy). Although it is at a larger scale, this is how their environment portrayed them. The way in which the environment perceived the organization, motivated them to do improve
A strong, intelligent, independent boy is what every traditional Chinese family wants. Unfortunately, Sek-Lung is not such an ideal child. In the novel, The Jade Peony, Sek-Lung is a marginal character. He is rejected by the dominant group, first being made to feel insignificant and second to feel uncomfortably visible.