The Good Earth
Wang lung is a poor farmer who takes care of his sick father. He is honorable and follows traditional Chinese customs. He has just reached the age to marry and his father selected him a slave girl to marry. He goes to the house of Hwang to pick up his soon to be wife. There the woman of the house give him the girl and sends him on his way. Her name is O’lan and she is not pretty but does not have a split upper lip like wang lung requested. When he sees her he is very disappointed she does not have bound feet but is fine with her none the less. She acts like a slave wife by rarely speaking and not showing her face to any man that is in her house. She is hard working and helps a lot around the house and on the farm with Wang Lung. Soon Wang Lung starts to wonder is O’lan likes him. Soon O’lan announces that she is pregnant and Wang Lung is very happy. O’lan does not let anyone take care of her while pregnant and plans to show the Woman of the Hwang family the baby right away when it is born. The baby turns out to be a boy and Wang Lung and his father are very relieve and happy about that. O’lan works just as much as she used to while still taking care of the baby. O’lan and Wang Lung take there child to the House of Hwang for the Old Woman to see. O’lan learns that the house is declining and that they are selling land for money. Wang Lung puchases some of the land and he is happy that they are faring even better than a rich house like the Hwangs. O’lan announces that she is pregnant and Wang Lung is somewhat angry because she wont be able to work suring this time. But he is happy hat the baby was born a boy. O’lan becomes pregnant and sick so Wang Lung has to farm without her help. One day Wang Lungs lazy uncle requests that he give him some money Wang Lung refuses and his uncle threatens to tell the whole village that he is not treating an elder with respect, which seems to be a very bad thing. Wang Lung is forced to give him money. O’lan gived birth to a daughter and Wang Lung is very unhappy about this and he thinks that he will no longer have good fortune. A drought ruins Wang Lungs farm and he buys more land from the Hwang for cheap because of the drought. Wang Lungs village steals his small food storage away because they think he is wealthy. O’lan announces that she is pregnant again. O’lan gives birth to another daughter. She kills it because she know they they can not support it. Wang Lung goes to bury the body but leaves it to a dog to eat. Wang Lung learns that some people have resulted to eating human flesh in the famine. Wang Lung moves his family away to get out of the famine. Wang Lung and his family travel with his father on his back to a train that takes them south. Wang Lung learns how to beg but he prays that he can find a job. Wang Lung and his family build a hut and he finds a job and the rest of his family beg for money. Wang Lungs son steals a piece of meat. He does not eat it and he beats his son for stealing. O’lan is pregnant once again and Wang Lung is desprerate to go home. They think about selling their only daughter but they decide against it because O’lan tells him about how slaves are beaten and raped. Enemies invade there city and riots break out. Wang Lung steals all he can from rich homes and he gathers enough gold to return home. Wang finds that his house has been destroyed by bandits and his neighbor tells him that his uncle lived in his house while he was gone. O’lan also stole things in the city and Wang finds out she has stolen some jewels. She asked to keep two small pearls and Wang is angry at first but he allows her to. Wang sells the rest of the jewels for land. Wangs farm prospers and O’lan gives birth to twins. The girl of the two is discovered to be retarded and Wang is surprisingly fine with that. Showing that he is more caring when he is living a more comfortable lifestyle. Wang sends his two first sons to school. Wang Lung finds himself bored in his luxurious
