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
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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
“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
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.
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 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
Soon after, the Hwang family, due to overspending, becomes much poorer. This leads to Wang Lung purchasing their fertile rice fields. Wang Lung endures prosperous times for a long period. Until, O-lan gives birth to a girl, their third child. After the birth of the 3rd child, their land produce little crops. Later, Wang Lung and his family have to leave town and relocate for the oncoming winter. While in the southern town, O-lan and the children beg for food and money. However, Wang Lung makes a living by pushing people on a rickshaw. The family earns barely any money. Wang Lung and a group of other destitute people raid a wealthy house. Wang Lung steals a satchel of gold. Now wealthy, Wang Lung returns home and buys nearly all of the land from the once wealthy Hwang's. Wang Lung hires workers to tend to and care for his land. Wang Lung once again endures prosperous times. Due to a flood, Wang Lung is forced to become much more
In the book The Good Earth, the protagonist named Wang Lung changes drastically. He is introduced into the book as a peasant, poor yet caring and a hard working farmer. By the end of the book, Wang Lung is transformed into a wealthy, greedy, selfish lord. His life is a mixture of good and bad fortune and with the chaotic turns he is put through, Wang Lung’s two significant and conflicting traits are shone. Over the course of the book, Wang Lung is faced with many challenges testing him and who he is becoming.
The Good Earth is a novel about China before it’s great revolution which ended the monarchy. The book was written by Pearl S. Buck, the first American woman to be so highly honored. This book has many interesting characters from peasants to lords, and many are very extraordinary, yet identical in various ways. In this response I will be comparing and contrasting the two wives of Wang Lung, O-lan and Lotus. There are many separating factors between the two, but there are also multiple similarities: O-lan was hard working and productive while Lotus was constantly idle, one was suitable for a farmer, unlike the other, which was made for a lord; however both wives were replaced by someone more beautiful in the end. First, let us bring out the what
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