Wang Lung Quotes

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

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.

All O-lan wants in life is a family, a home and love. After giving birth to her first son, she cannot wait to return to the House of Hwang and show everyone. O-lan knows down to the details how she wants to return, meaning this is something she has been planning and it is meaningful to her. Growing up, O-lan experienced living on the streets and was a mistreated, abused slave in the House of Hwang, never having a true home. To have a home where she can live freely with her own family must also be significant to O-lan. But love, of all things, is what O-lan yearns for most. All her life, she is never shown any true love, and even when married, she still does not receive the love she wishes for or deserves. Wang Lung rarely shows his appreciation for O-lan and does not think she is beautiful, yet she still does all she can for him, in hope of getting any kind of love. As for the earth, its only necessities are water, sunlight and people to work and tend to the crops. If the earth has water and sunlight, it will flourish and produce crops. In order for those crops to thrive, they need people to tend to them, but that is all. Although they may not need the same things, both O-lan and the earth only need a few simple things in

“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.

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 Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on

The literary works of a society contain an abundance of information concerning its culture in regards to the time period that they were written in. Many significant documents written in history have had a vital impact on certain civilizations . An example of this is the Xiao Jing, which is a Chinese treatise that throughly explains the concept of filial piety. The Chinese strictly adhered to and lived by the rules set forth in the Xiao Jing, therefore these written set of rules greatly the influenced the way of life, behavior, and beliefs of Chinese people. A major point covered in the Xiao Jing is the role and position women have in Chinese society. Women were considered slaves, and their purposes in life were to serve the men they belonged to. The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck is a novel that demonstrates the expectations and roles of women in Chinese culture through the characters O-lan and Lotus as their worths are determined by their abilities to work, bear children, and/or please their men sexually like most women in China.

Melissa Cross HIST 3810 September 27, 2017 Examining The Good Earth as an American Narrative When analyzing a Western account of China, the first thing that must be considered is the intended audience. The Good Earth explores China under a distinctly American framework — it is no coincidence that the work is published in English despite Pearl’s fluency in both modern and classical Chinese. After publication, The Good Earth found tremendous success all across the United States (856, Wacker). Biographer Peter Conn even suggests “For two generations of Americans, Buck invented China”.

In pre-revolutionary China, the people were either poor farmers, part of rich families, or busy city-goers. There was a drastic difference between the social classes, but each class placed great value on traditions in the family and in society. For example, the Chinese treated the elder in a family with great respect. People also placed great value on the idols and gods that they worshiped. Just as traditions were changing in China, customs also altered in the Wang family. In The Good Earth Wang Lung’s sons do not grow up worshiping the Earth Gods as their father had done, no longer hold the same positive attitude towards the Earth, and reject filial piety altogether. In The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, Wang Lung’s children are raised in an

The Good Earth is a book written by Pearl S. Buck in 1936. The setting of the novel is pre-revolutionary China, and more specifically in a small village where Wang Lung's house is.

“Well, and I suppose that means you do not want to work on the land and I shall not have a son on my own land, and I with sons and to spare.’ This he said with bitterness, but the boy said nothing” This conversation between him and his son made him finally realize that they wouldn’t carry on their father’s great values, and that is because during the time he was rich he left some traditions behind. Wang lung valued his land and above all he had faith in his gods once again. Traditional values were forgotten by the result of wealthy living, the kids not caring about the farmlands and not understanding the earth gods prove that wealth destroyed ancient traditions.

Unlike its fairy tale counterparts, The Good Earth is not a story of endless success. Wang Lung, the protagonist, receives more than his share of downs, both in and out of his control. Early in the novel, famine strikes Wang Lung’s town, leaving him with no option but to drag his family to the South. With Wang Lung as the “host” of the “leech” that is the famine, he feels that he will never return to his old life.

Mao Dun, or rather his true name Shen Dehong, was a 20th century novelist and later the Minister of Culture of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 to 1965. He is considered one of the most well-known and celebrated left-wing realist writers of modern China and is best known for two of his stories, Ziya and Spring Silkworms, the latter which will be referenced throughout this essay. Spring Silkworms tells the story of an elderly man named Old Tong Bao, his family, and his village as they prepare for the coming silk worm season. Throughout the story, we are able to get a sense of the desperation and turmoil that Old Tong Bao’s village is experiencing. From learning about the debt that his family has, how they had to sacrifice food in

Throughout the Chris Crutcher’s novel Chinese Handcuffs, the idea of a fragile heart in a cold world plays an important role as shown through the protagonist Dillon and his friend Jennifer. Specifically as a setting, when Jennifer had trouble telling her close friend Dillon about her issues and she cautiously says, “my past made me this, I can’t change overnight” (Crutcher 120). As an important aspect of the novel, Jennifer past caused the way she reacts to everyone around her and she knows it’s hard to open up in fear of being hurt by others. Also Jennifer fear of loving a boy adds to the idea of protecting a fragile heart from the world. Relating directly to the painting, a woman is holding a heart in hear hand guarding it from the cold,

The Good Earth is set in early 20th century rural China, where the Earth is a significant part of life. To Wang Lung, the protagonist of the novel, his wife, O-lan, is also a very important part of his life. O-lan, like most women in the country, works diligently to prepare the meals and clean the house. Additionally, she works out in the hot fields with Wang Lung every day. When first married, Wang Lung and O-lan struggled to provide for their family. However, in time, the family begins to prosper; O-lan and the land both help propel the Wang family into a life of security and affluence. This is only one of the ways that O-lan and the Earth are alike, there are many others. In this novel by Pearl Buck, O-lan symbolizes the earth.