Monika Dziubelski August 6th, 2015
Mrs. D’Arco, English 9H The Good Earth
The Good Earth
In The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, the protagonist, Wang Lung, is influenced greatly by the striking evolution from poverty to wealth. He begins the novel as a young farmer, about to marry a slave, and ends up as an opulent patriarch, obsessed with money and women. Wang Lung’s conscience becomes clouded, and he criticizes O-Lan, despite how much she has done for him. He becomes captivated by Lotus, a prostitute, and purchases her to become his concubine. Moreover, Wang Lung plots to have his uncle and his uncle’s wife addicted to opium, to reduce the strain they have put on his family. Wang Lung’s previously traditional values have been …show more content…
He chastises her for her homely appearance. “He saw for the first time that her hair was rough and brown and unoiled and that her face was large and flat and coarse-skinned, and that her features were too large altogether and without any sort of beauty or light.” (page 167). While Wang Lung had to work for everything he owned, beauty was of little importance to him; but now that he is sitting without work in his house, he becomes vexed with his wife’s looks. He is especially bothered by O-Lan’s unbound feet. “It seemed to him that she was altogether hideous, but the most hideous of all were her big feet in their loose cotton cloth shoes, and he looked at them with anger so she thrust them yet farther under the bench.” (page 169). Wang Lung bashes O-Lan for something she cannot help or change, because of his inability to be satisfied. Wang Lung also took two pearls from O-Lan, saying “pearls are for fair women!” (page 186). Because Wang Lung had allowed O-Lan to keep the pearls, she valued them as a symbol of his admiration and respect. When he takes them away and gives them to Lotus, it is as though he is retracting his love. The notion of riches and beautiful women made Wang Lung lose sight of his faithful
Mrs. D’Arco, English 9H The Good Earth
The Good Earth
In The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, the protagonist, Wang Lung, is influenced greatly by the striking evolution from poverty to wealth. He begins the novel as a young farmer, about to marry a slave, and ends up as an opulent patriarch, obsessed with money and women. Wang Lung’s conscience becomes clouded, and he criticizes O-Lan, despite how much she has done for him. He becomes captivated by Lotus, a prostitute, and purchases her to become his concubine. Moreover, Wang Lung plots to have his uncle and his uncle’s wife addicted to opium, to reduce the strain they have put on his family. Wang Lung’s previously traditional values have been …show more content…
He chastises her for her homely appearance. “He saw for the first time that her hair was rough and brown and unoiled and that her face was large and flat and coarse-skinned, and that her features were too large altogether and without any sort of beauty or light.” (page 167). While Wang Lung had to work for everything he owned, beauty was of little importance to him; but now that he is sitting without work in his house, he becomes vexed with his wife’s looks. He is especially bothered by O-Lan’s unbound feet. “It seemed to him that she was altogether hideous, but the most hideous of all were her big feet in their loose cotton cloth shoes, and he looked at them with anger so she thrust them yet farther under the bench.” (page 169). Wang Lung bashes O-Lan for something she cannot help or change, because of his inability to be satisfied. Wang Lung also took two pearls from O-Lan, saying “pearls are for fair women!” (page 186). Because Wang Lung had allowed O-Lan to keep the pearls, she valued them as a symbol of his admiration and respect. When he takes them away and gives them to Lotus, it is as though he is retracting his love. The notion of riches and beautiful women made Wang Lung lose sight of his faithful