Wang Lung's Flaws In The Good Earth

The Good Earth is set in rural China in the early 20th century. During the novel, readers are transported from the fields with Wang Lung, working in the hot and boiling sun, to sitting with O-lan in her bedroom beside her coffin in her final hours. Pearl S. Buck describes how the characters deal with situations including floods,drought,death and much more. For example, readers can picture the struggle and the resilience the Wang family experiences during the period of the drought. Since their land was so parched and the family was so starved, they had to move to the south to make a better life for themselves because what they were experiencing at the time was very difficult.The Wang family began to steal and beg for food and or money because they had nothing left. Readers can imagine Lung as he tries to keep his family alive during these harsh times. Lung always protects and provides for his family. Buck writes Wang Lung with a kind and generous heart but, he is …show more content…
Even though Lung makes mistakes, readers still see him as the most human of all the characters. Although flawed, Wang Lung continues to be the character that readers identify and sympathize. Wang Lung, the main character in The Good Earth, displays both faults and virtues. While reading this novel, Lung demonstrates various aspects about himself, including the fact that he is temperamental and careless, but also kind-hearted and hardworking. An example of Lung being temperamental is on page 243, in the text it states, “Then Wang Lung leaped forward and he fell on his son, lashing him, and although the lad was taller than he, he was stronger from his labor in the fields and from the