Why Is The Good Earth Relatable

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.

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

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.

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

Wang Lung from “The Good Earth” and Okonkwo from “Things Fall Apart” are both very similar characters. They both have a similar story and beliefs, yet they are quite different in regards to how their stories play out and how they value their beliefs in the end. This paper will look at both of the characters traits and stories to examine how they compare and contrast and how it affect them.

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

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

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.

All the land was dry and Wang Lung could only rely on 1 piece of land. O-lan’s milk “dried up” and Wang Lung had to sell all of his grain right away, but he was still determined. Then came a hug drought with everyone fighting to survive. Then came a day when Wang Lung’s uncle came to ask for food, but was sent empty handed since Wang Lung couldn’t spare any food. After this his uncle “turned against him” and told all of the villagers that Wang Lung had lots of food, but was keeping it to himself.

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

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.

“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

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

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

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