Why Is The Good Earth Relatable

“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

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.

Even though “The Good Earth” and Things Fall Apart” are set in different cultures and at different periods of time, both books have many similarities with difference being caused mostly by the main character’s beliefs and personality. We will start off looking at the similarities. In the beginning of both books we see the protagonist goals which is basically to achieve greater wealth (especially for Okonkwo). Wang Lung is starting to accumulate land from the House of Hwang which in return gives him more land to farm on. He buys land because he sees it as the most important object in his life. Okonkwo is also trying to get more land and crops to increase his status in clan. As you can see everything is going well for the two, but then disaster struck for them. China has a drought which destroyed harvesting crops for farmers. Unfortunately farming is Wang Lung’s source of income. He also gets raided by his uncle and loses a good portion of property, because he refused to give up his land. Wang

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

Again O-lan proves her work by making a nice little hut. Then throughout the rest of the chapter Wang Lung and his family are getting accustomed to their new life style. Wang Lung is also cheated of his money and only gets

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.

Also as his life goes on, he meets a girl named Lotus and he does things with her, and Wang Lung changes himself for her. In chapter 19, on page 184 Wang Lung buys new clothes and shaves off his hair above his forehead that he was growing out. Awhile later Wang Lung's uncle comes with his family. They find out on page 195 that Wang Lung has a thing going on with Lotus, In the book, Wang Lung’s Uncle’s wife said, “ The thing is complete, The woman who is

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

Pearl S. Buck’s character, Wang Lung, in her novel, The Good Earth, is one who acts and thinks immorally. His morally ambiguous nature is evident through many incidents involving himself and his family, which mirrors the theme of complicated situations brees irrationality and immoral decisions.these desperate and newly found situations in Twentieth Century China allows the audience to easily sympathize with Wang Lung when in current society, many of his thoughts and actions would create an immense hatred for his complex

“Now Wang Lung had chosen a good place in his fields under a date tree upon a hill to set the graves, and Ching had the graves dug and ready and a wall of earth made about the graves, and there was space within the walls for the body of Wang Lung and for each of his sons and their wives, and there was space for sons' sons, also. This land Wang Lung did not begrudge, even though it was high land and good for wheat, because it was a sign of the establishment of his family upon their own land. Dead and alive they would rest upon their own land” (267). Again the novel compares the earth to human life. Very much like the seasons the lives of humans are always cyclical. After the death of O-Lan and Ching there will be another set of people in Wang Lung’s family and this will go on for generations much like the seasons of the

Li’s ruthless childhood experiences taught him to persevere through difficult times. Throughout his life, he had tolerated some enjoyable events like playing in the snow with his brothers, yet some draining events like discovering that his Niang fainted whilst on her trip to the dam. Li’s Niang was his number one supporter. She continually gave him tough love and encouraged him to take this “chance to escape from this cruel world. (and) Go, and do something special with your (his) life!” (p.96). The world of poverty was tough to escape but Li’s mental strength assisted him into doing so. If it weren’t for his Niang, he would not be where he is today. However, Li

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.

people the truth. Although people try to see the good in others, killing done by children,

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.

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