The Good Earth Essay

The Good Earth

" This he did for the sheer joy he had in it, and not for any necessity, and when he was weary he lay down upon his land and he slept, and the health of the earth spread into his flesh and he was healed of his sickness." ( page 214) Buck described this scene to show how fortunate Wang was to have land like he did. Wang became rich enough to have others do work for him. He had no interest in his life anymore and he became bored with his days of nothing to do. He began to work in the fields again for the pleasure of himself not because he needed to. His land was all that he had left that was good to him, and when Buck said, "the health of the earth spread into his flesh..." it represented how nature was a cure to all of Wang's problems that he has been facing. When he set his head on a piece of land that he could call his own, it brought back the feeling of happiness and joy he used to have in his life. He was beginning to realize that the life he had before was better for the health and bonding of his family other than the life he ended up in. Throughout this epic novel, The Good Earth, Wang Lung starts off as a poor innocent farmer not knowing what was coming in his life ahead of him--no guidance in his life, yet he had no fear--until the one thing he loves the most, the one thing he pleasures the most, and the one thing that makes him realize the real meaning of life, throws him a curveball that changes him as a person and how he looks at life.

Wang Lung, a farmer, had a very hard life compared to the lives that we live today. Now, in the 21^st century, we find an easy way out of things by using the modern technology rather than experiencing hard physical labor. In the early 20^th century China—which is when and where this novel took place—there were no short cuts. Wang didn’t have the ability to use the powered machinery for everything to be done for them. Bare hands was the only machine that they had other than animals to plow the field and simple tools such as an axe. Wang may have been a poor man, but he had just enough money to live a mostly healthy life that he was comfortable and content with. “Now it was as if Heaven had chosen this day to wish him well. Earth would bare fruit.” (page 2) Every day Wang would go out into his field and toil from dawn to dusk. Weather, though, has not been cooperating very well, and all Wang could think about and pray about was for rain to come and bring his fields back to life. The rain was going to come and this innocent farmer knew this. Nature is what has been guiding Wang all along, but what he hasn’t realized yet is that it can also throw you curveballs. Wang is going to have to rely on fate to get him through the battles to come.

This young inexperienced farmer, now knowing what it is like to take responsibility for himself, has to deal with a new member in his family. Having a wife is important if a man needs extra hands to work around their home. The way women were treated in the Chinese culture, though, was appalling compared to the freedom opportunities the men get to experience. We have so many rights as women in the United States now, but in China women were known as slaves. The only women that got the same amount or more respect and loyalty that the men did were the women that were wealthy, but most women were not of this high ranking. The House of Whang was the only house of royalty in the town. At this house is where Wang found his “wife”, O-lan. O-lan was not treated by the Old Mistress the way young ladies should be. It was as if O-lan had no meaning or purpose to this place we call Earth. Marriage did not mean much when it came down to just a necessity for another helping hand in the house. O-lan was just given to Wang as if he had bought her. By having O-lan in his life now, he was one step closer in becoming a man of wealth and power.

“And then, almost before one could realize anything, the woman was back in the fields beside him. The harvests were past, and the grain they beat out upon harvests were past, and the grain they beat out upon the threshing floor which was also the dooryard to the house. They beat it out with fails, he and the woman together.” (page 40) At first Wang was nervous and unenthusiastic about having O-lan around, but the idea soon grew to his liking. Wang knew that it was wrong to show passion and love towards a woman such as O-lan, but deep inside Wang started to have feelings for this unattractive lady. “She worked all day and the child lay on an old torn quilt on the ground, asleep…and the sun beat down upon them both, the reluctant sun of late autumn that will not let go the warmth of summer until the cold winter forces it. The woman and the child were as brown as the soil and they sat there like figures made of earth.” (page 40-41) Buck relates many ideas in this novel to natural resources to show how united Wang and his land are. After he and O-lan had their first child together, he began to think that having O-lan around might not be too bad after all. He knew that his family would soon become larger and it would come with more responsibility, but it would lead him and his children to a healthier life. Having children gives them the opportunity to do things greater in life than how you life turned out to be. You teach them from the mistakes you made in life hoping they will learn from those mistakes. Wang is a caring man that treats his children so delicately, but when hardships hit Wang, he becomes selfish and greedy; he only thinks about himself and forgot about his family’s importance.

Once Wang finally starts getting used to his surroundings, things start to go wrong. A famine hits the entire town and everyone is dying of starvation. Wang and his family had no other choice but to leave this lifeless town and head for the city in the south hoping to find a better lifestyle for his family. Knowing it would be a struggle getting there, he still had faith. They all came to this city not knowing what to expect, but praying for good fortune. Once he and his family reached this busy city that they were not used to, Wang seemed confused and lost as to where to go. The only way for them to go was to the Wall. The Wall was a wall that stretched far across the city where all of the poor and less fortunate lived. The only way to earn money was to beg to pedestrians on the street. Wang and his family had little money and were desperate to find more, so every day he had the children, O-lan, and the grandpa do this. From living in the city, Wang’s attitude changed. He had to learn how to adapt to the lifestyle of a poor city man and this was something he was not very used to. The one thing that Wang struggled with terribly was there not being any signs or symbols of nature or earth like things. Wang loved his land he owned back at home. Labor and hardworking was what he was used to. Many people are living the life Wang is right now. You have to learn to live without something you love sometimes, because life is filled with unexpected changes. Wang had to learn how to be without his land; the land that heals him. By being away from it he is slowly dying and fading away.

After realizing that living in the city did not meet his expectations, he decides that it is time to move back to their home back in town. “Out of the land we care, and into the land we must go, for land is ones flesh and blood.” Wang could not bare without going out to visit his land every day. They had to move back hoping that the famine would end and the town would be back to life again. It was a long journey back, but they made it their safe and sound. Just looking at the land gave Wang a feeling that you can’t explain; for he was home again and things would be back to normal, or so he thought. All was well when they reached their healthy home. Wang went to bed one night and noticed that O-lan was keeping a bag of jewels by her chest; jewels that were worth a fortune. Of course these precious items were not hers, but Wand did not care. He knew he was going to be rich and he began to feel a lot better about how things have been turning out so far, except for the fact that the town was still dead and lifeless. Wang went into town to visit the House of Hwang to see if he could get more land with his new riches, but he now had a hard time talking them into giving him land because all who was left in the house was one of the old slaves and the old man. They were poor and desperate for food, but they were not easily talked into about selling land to Wang. Sooner or later he convinced them into letting him pay for the land he wanted, and before you knew it, he had owned all of The House of Hwang’s property. He could tell his wealth and power was increasing, but little did he know that his family was slipping away. As Wang starts to become more like the House of Hwang, the House of Hwang is becoming how Wang’s life was in the beginning. Paradox is resembled throughout this novel. Life is filled with paradox no matter where you are and you may not even notice it. Wang thinks his life can’t get any better, but paradox will soon come up behind him unexpectedly and make him realize his life is more miserable than how it started.

Life, on the outside seems to be at its highest point, but on the inside it is affecting Wang making him act like someone he is not. He becomes self-centered and only cares about himself because that’s all that is important to him anymore; making himself pleased and happy. O-lan and his children were treated like garbage on the side of the road waiting for someone to pick them up and take them to where they belong. Behind O-lan’s back, Wang snuck out every night to go see this young lady named Lotus, whom he said he loved her much. She was a very petite woman. O-lan soon recognized what Wang was doing and she did not appreciate it. Lotus finally moved into Wang’s house, but before she could be part of the family Wang had to make her a whole new section onto his house. Wang now had 2 wives. He didn’t get O-lan’s permission about this, Wang just went ahead and decided himself. Lotus was used for Wang’s needs such as just having someone around to comfort him. O-lan, on the other hand, was used to do all of the physical labor. “And it is not to be thought, poor fool, that one woman is enough for any man, and if it is a weary hard working woman who was worn away he flesh working for him, it is less than enough for him. His fancy runs elsewhere the more quickly, and you, poor fool, have never been fit for a man’s fancy and little better than an ox for his labor. And it is not for you to repine when he has money and buys himself another to bring her in his house, for all men are so, and would my old do-nothing also, except the poor wretch has never had enough silver in his life to feed himself even.” (page 192) The appreciation that o-lan gets for all the hard work she puts into making this family healthy is minimal. Once O-lan is diagnosed with a disease, Wang realizes he has been missing a part of him for so long. That part was O-lan. You never realize how much you love and care for someone until they are gone. After O-lan passed away from her tumor that was not able to be fixed, Wang doesn’t know where to go; he has no guidance anymore. What a rough road it took him to travel to where he is now. It is definitely not the place he had dreamed about ending up in. Everything that he had was now gone except for that one thing her could call his own; his beautiful piece of flourishing land.

Human Nature, you can't predict it and you can't change it. It will through you curveballs when you least expect it. Some for good and some for bad. Throughout the novel, Wang Lung has changed as a person and how he looks at ideas. In the beginning he was sweet and giving and money was not of his importance. His land and family came first. Now Wang has money that was not necessarily his, and he has taken that for granted. He seemed not to care for his first wife O-lan anymore and disciplined his children whenever they did the slightest thing wrong. Cruel and selfish is what you could describe his as. After welcoming his uncle into his wealthy home, Wang began to see reality and what mistakes he has made. O-lan was dying and little did he know that his father and Ching were too. Now his children are growing up, getting married, and having children. This shows that with death comes new life. Others die when there work on this Earth is done and for newcomers to make something out of themselves. This is all apart of the life cycle and paradox. Paradox fills our lives around us and we might not even know it. When Wang became more greety and self-centered, why is it that the water on the land subsided? Paradox. The tragic fall of this novel is not like a traditional tragedy. Wang is dying because he has nothing left in his life, yet he is also being risen up because he still has his number one most important thing which is his land.