Love In The Good Earth

What is love? What in China shaped love in the 1930’s? Love is loyalty, money, yin and yang(balance), and pride. Loyalty is very important in all relationships and it can also be followed by tradition. Loyalty is shown throughout The Good Earth, mostly by Wang Lung because he believes in and values tradition very much. “I cannot cut it off without asking my father!”(11) Wang Lung shouts to the barber referring to his hair being cut off. Wang Lung didn’t want to cut off his hair because he had not gotten his father's permission and it was very important to him to have his fathers approval. Wang Lung’s uncle also shows that he his loyal and respectful to Wang Lung when he his staying in his house by protecting him and his land. His uncle is able to protect Wang Lung and his land from robbers because he his the leader of one of the biggest gangs in the town. Wang Lung wants his good friend and neighbor, Ching to be buried next to O-lan because he very highly valued him even though he was a servant and poor farmer. The only problem was that the sons of Wang Lung would not let that …show more content…
Love also seems to have similar and different concepts in different cultures for example, now in America we are free to find our own love without it being forced upon us but in some middle eastern cultures their spouse is chosen for them and they have to learn to love that person and it does not just come naturally. A way some cultures are the same is paying for love because in most places people may pay for a prostitute or escort and in China in the 1930’s you could buy concubines. The only differences are that prostitution is illegal and concubines were not, concubines also lived with who ever bought them whereas prostituted don’t live with anyone and they don’t belong to anyone, and owning a concubine was a normal thing but paying for a prostitute or escort is now frowned