O-Lan, a not so Dumb and Dull Woman
In The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, O-Lan is depicted and seen as by other characters as dumb and dull, but truly she is a smart, thoughtful, and strong woman.
O-lan is an independent and strong woman. Her independence was taken for granted, ane she was always strong in both mind and body. O-lan had all her children alone and even when she was rich, she let no one help her. “She would have no one with her when her hour came”(Buck 35) in the beginning of the book and even later, it said “how alone she had borne him and again sons and daughters and she bore them silently” (301). Wang Lung remembers this after her death while his eldest sons wife is in labor. Her strength in mind and body was shown during the famine when she was pregnant and did not complain at all. She also worked in the fields with Wang Lung if there was no house work. …show more content…
She lives in the Great House of Hwang and learns many things that proved to be useful. For instance, when Wang Lung finds out she has a pouch of jewels and when he asked how she knew where to find them she replies, “Do you think I have not lived in a rich man’s house? Each had a treasure that she thrust into some secret place” (145). She used paper to make soles of shoes “when the paper was forgotten, O-lan took it and sewed it into a shoe sole together with other bits of paper” (124). O-lan even built the hut that the family resided in while in the southern
In The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, O-Lan is depicted and seen as by other characters as dumb and dull, but truly she is a smart, thoughtful, and strong woman.
O-lan is an independent and strong woman. Her independence was taken for granted, ane she was always strong in both mind and body. O-lan had all her children alone and even when she was rich, she let no one help her. “She would have no one with her when her hour came”(Buck 35) in the beginning of the book and even later, it said “how alone she had borne him and again sons and daughters and she bore them silently” (301). Wang Lung remembers this after her death while his eldest sons wife is in labor. Her strength in mind and body was shown during the famine when she was pregnant and did not complain at all. She also worked in the fields with Wang Lung if there was no house work. …show more content…
She lives in the Great House of Hwang and learns many things that proved to be useful. For instance, when Wang Lung finds out she has a pouch of jewels and when he asked how she knew where to find them she replies, “Do you think I have not lived in a rich man’s house? Each had a treasure that she thrust into some secret place” (145). She used paper to make soles of shoes “when the paper was forgotten, O-lan took it and sewed it into a shoe sole together with other bits of paper” (124). O-lan even built the hut that the family resided in while in the southern