The Good Earth With every passing minute there are teenagers growing into adults who think they might want to get married someday. In a matter of time, some of these couples will then want to start a family of their own. These children will become their responsibility and there will be no way of knowing if they will accomplish their life dreams or if they will have to fight to keep their family together. In the novel, The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck tells a story of a farmer that fights to make a financially stable life for his family. In China, there are limited portions of land to be cultivated therefore, each farmer must be unconditionally devoted to his land if he wants to prosper. In retrospect, it is difficult for those that have been accustomed to the American domesticated society to relate to a culture that depends solely on self-produced resources. The resources a farmer grows on his private acre of land must be used not only to raise his family, but also to develop a promising future for the generations to come. Throughout all of the hard work and dedication that is put into the land, one must not waste the wealth on meaningless personal gain that could possibly demolish future goals. As demonstrated in the novel, a young farmer in late 1920’s rural China desires to surpass his poverty-stricken life for the benefit of his family until he realizes the true power of his wealth. As a result, the protagonist of The Good Earth reveres the acquisition of money until it proves to be destructive. At the beginning of the novel, Wang Lung accepts his peasant lifestyle, but still yearns for financial stability and happiness. Initially, Wang Lung’s life consists of two priorities; he must aid his aging father and tend to ... ... middle of paper ... ...the land. “Out of the land we came and into it we must go, and if you will hold your land you can live, no one can rob you of your land”(Buck 357). Works Cited Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. New York: Washington Square Press, 1931. Conn, Peter. Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography. New York: Cambridge UP, 1996. Doyle, Paul A. Pearl S. Buck. Ed. Kenneth E. Eble. Rev ed. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980. Hayford, Charles W. The Several Worlds of Pearl S. Buck. Ed. Elizabeth J. Lipscomb, Frances E. Webb, and Peter Conn. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1994. “Pearl Buck.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Sharon R. Gunton. Vols 7,11, and 18. Detroit: Gale, 1977,1979,1981. Thompson, Dody W. American Winners of the Nobel Literary Prize. Ed. Warren G. French and Walter E. Kidd. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.
This story follows Wang Lang a poor young farmer in rural China that is forced by his father to marry a slave that belongs to the powerful local Hwang family. The Hwangs sell Wang a 20-year-old slave named O-lan who becomes his wife. O-lan and Wang Lung are pleased with each other, although they exchange few words and although Wang is initially disappointed that O-lan does not have bound feet. Together, Wang Lung and O-lan have a cultivate, beautiful and profitable harvest from their land. O-lan becomes pregnant, and Wang Lung is overjoyed when O-lan’s first child is a son. Meanwhile, the powerful Hwang family lives decadently the husband is obsessed with women, and the wife is an opium addict. Because of their costly habits, the Hwangs fall
I would like to point out that Wang Lung was never the most filial of men. Early in the novel, we saw him slip up once or twice. However, at a younger age, he felt guilty when this happened and was able to hold his tongue in most situations. Wang Lung’s uncle is able to exploit Wang Lung based on his filial piety. When the uncle, a lazy man who blames his struggles on an “evil destiny”, asks his nephew to borrow money, Wang Lung explodes, saying, “‘If I have a handful of silver it is because I work and my wife works, and we do not…[let our] fields grow to weeds and our children go half fed!’” (65). But right after he lets these words slip, he “[stands] sullen and unmovable” (66) because knows that his outburst is wrong. However, later in the novel, Wang Lungs lack of sense for filial piety grows evident as he becomes more arrogant. For example, when he is nearing the end of his life, Wang Lung asks without a second thought to be buried below his father but above his uncle and Ching. Asking to be buried above his uncle makes the statement that Wang Lung believes he is a greater man than his uncle. Before his rise through the ranks of society, Wang Lung would never have even considered being buried above his uncle, even though he always had a disliking for him. However, because of his power, he feels that he has the right to disrespect his
Throughout the book The Good Earth written by Pearl S. Buck, it shows the evolvement of the main character Wang Lung and how owning or not owning land in the 1920s is affected by peasants in China. It also shows the struggles of a peasant’s life, going through poverty and what happens when wealth enters their lives. Owning land as a peasant is an important aspect of their living style, simply because they live off of what they are able to grow that season. They depend on their land for resources to provide for themselves and family; and also selling crops or trading crops in order to make money. The peasants of China exemplify how important their crops and land are to them throughout the whole book by showing love and compassion for them; but,
...h he forgot it for many months together, when spring came each year he must go out on to the land." (Chapter 34, pg. 257) Wang Lung was not aware of his son's interest in selling the land though, and thus died contently. He wished he had done things differently with O-lan and probably would have been happier if he was still a pheasant but we all wish there were things we could have done differently. To Wang Lung the earth was good. He never saw the ending picture and how his faith in the earth wouldn't carry on because of his money hungry sons, but his love for the land ended with him, and peace in his heart.
nature. After the uncle moves his lazy family into Wang Lung’s house, Wang Lung gets to
As a child I remember hearing stories about a lost family fortune from my father’s side of the family. I never put a lot of stock into those stories, but evidently they were true. My father’s side was comprised of farmers for many generations. The Owens family owned thousands of acres of land in Kentucky, on which they farmed tobacco and raised horses and cattle. My father, Leland, blames his grandfather’s generation for whittling away the family’s money. Even with the loss of prestige of owning such an abundance of land, the family continued to farm. I suppose it is all they knew. They became good, working class farmers and small business owners, working on their modest-sized farms. But they did own the land which separates them from the working poor. The sizes of the farms dwindled over the generations; my father’s father, Harlan, owned about 30 acres in northern Kentucky. Harlan’s brother Ralph has expanded his wealth over time and now owns about 600 acres of land in Kentucky.
Annie Dillard, in her excerpt, “Heaven and Earth in Jest”, supports that nature has an alluring quality but can also be quite morbid. Dillard explains how nature is beautiful but also scary. She supports this claim by using vivid imagery and extremely descriptive language, in order to portray that innocence can be removed by the most common things. Her purpose is to expose that the littlest thing can alter a person’s life.
There are eight planets in our solar system, and only one can sustain life, Earth. The documentary film “Earth 2100" written by Ned Neufeld demonstrates, portrays, and illustrates the drastic impact that human adaptability is having on the planet, and how we’re destroying our future of our next generation. The author focuses on the behavior patterns that will ultimately result in the demise of civilizations. The author includes the following rhetorical modes narration, description, and cause and effect to present the probabilities of what might become of the earth if don’t wake up and smell the coffee. Ned uses Lucy, a fictional character to infer what might be the colossal result of ignoring, and disregarding small changes within the environment.
In Of Mice and Men, Cry, the Beloved Country, and All Quiet on the Western Front, the respective authors present the idea that land and all the things humans do with it varies and stand as a high goal, because all people want material possessions of a sort to call their own. Land is a connecting theme through not just these books, but all books throughout history. Whether over beauty, laws, or simply a higher goal, land is an integral part of all human's lives and conflicts. All people want material possessions, and
When his wife, O-lan sees this drastic change, she is horrified and rebukes her husband, telling him he “cut off his life”. O-lan’s criticism leaves Wang Lung regretful about his decision to cut his hair. Buck emphasizes the mutation of the symbol of hair in this passage, as Wang Lung’s hair no longer represents his loyalty to tradition, but rather his yearning to be modernized. O-lan emphasizes Wang Lung’s conversion to modernism when she exclaims that he “cut off his life”, which indicates that Wang Lung is ditching his traditional lifestyle by modernizing his hair. While Wang Lung does assimilate more to modern culture, he does experience guilt, realizing that he is being controlled by Lotus. Wang Lung’s regret proves that while his hair represents mostly modernism, it also of a bit of traditionalism. Therefore, Buck utilizes hair to highlight Wang Lung’s shift in
The economic status of the main characters is poor, without hope of improving their condition, and at the mercy of a quasi-feudal system in North America during the late 1800's. Being a sharecropper, Ab and his family had to share half or two-thirds of the harvest with the landowner and out of their share pay for the necessities of life. As a result of this status, Ab and his family know from the start what the future will hold -- hard work for their landlord and mere survival for them.
Together, Wang Lung and O-lan grow a profitable harvest from their land. O-lan becomes pregnant, and there first child is a son. Meanwhile, the powerful Hwang family is falling apart. Wang Lung is able to purchase a piece of the Hwang family's rice land. He enjoys another profitable harvest. O-lan gives birth to there second son. Wang Lung's new wealth catches the attention of his uncle. Custom says that Wang Lung must show the utmost respect to the elderly especially relatives. So obligated he loans his uncle money despite knowing that the money will be wasted on drinking and gambling. The Hwang family's finances continue to fall apart, and the Hwangs sell another piece of land to Wang Lung.
On the other hand, traditions play an entirely different role in the the Chinese society of “Plight of the Little Emperors”. Unlike the closely knit Czech family of Hampl’s account, Chinese families emphasize success rather than unity as parents “bemoan their only child’s desire for instant gratification, excessive consumption, and a life free of hardship” (Psychology Today 45) in order to complete the “parents’ own dreams [which] had been dashed during China’s Cultural Revolution” (43). Presenting the goals of Chinese society, the writers depict how the past experiences of older generations impact the expectations set in place for younger generations and the negative outcomes, such as mental crises, that result from superimposing success. In her essay “What is Poverty?”, which displays the harsh realities of an impoverished life, author Jo Parker convinces the reader of the difficulty involved in breaking out of traditional cycles established by the values of society. Parker understands that her presence in the world of poverty will
Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s This Earth of Mankind is an allegorical novel describing the growth of protagonist Minke during the pre-awakening of colonized Java. Set in 1898 during the period of imperial Dutch domination over all aspects of Javan life, the novel provides a clear image of the political and social struggles of a subjugated people through the point of view of a maturing youth. Using several of his novel’s major characters as allegorical symbols for the various stages of awareness the citizens of Java have of Indonesia’s awakening as a modern nation, Toer weaves together an image of the rise of an idyllic post-colonial Indonesia with modern views of Enlightenment ideals.
Wang Lung’s father is a very practical and traditional old man as he comes from a long line of fathers. He is very stingy and hates when Wang Lung wastes water or tea leaves. He has lived his whole life in poverty, but was able to enjoy the final years of his life in a wealthy family. He was very smart and was a very good role model that wang lung should have followed. He was ethical and moral, and he did not sin or fall under the influence of money.