The Good Earth Summary

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The novel, The Good Earth, begins with Wang Lung, a poor farmer in China, anxiously waking up on his wedding day. He has not yet met the woman he is to wed, for she is a slave, named O-Lan, whom his father had requested from the wealthy House of Hwang. Wang Lung takes care of his father, despite his father’s constant complaining and rudeness. Wang Lung bathes himself for the first time in a while on his wedding day, despite his father’s complaints of the wasting of water. Wang Lung, excited for his wedding, pays to get his head and face shaved, and purchases food for his wedding celebration and incense sticks to burn for the gods. He makes his way to the House of Huang to retrieve his wife. Upon arrival, Wang Lung is forced to pay in order …show more content…
She cleans the house, prepares meals, and mends damaged clothing. After she has completed her work in the house, she joins Wang Lung and begins working in the field. O-Lan later announces that she is pregnant and refuses to receive help from anyone during her labor. She reveals her plans of how she will present herself and her baby before the Old Mistress. After a long, grueling labor, O-Lan births a baby boy, which greatly pleases Wang Lung and his father.

In the novel, “The Good Earth”, Buck uses the development of the character of Wang Lung, to convey a theme about man’s relationship with the Earth. The author’s word choice, while using great detail to describe Wang Lung’s house, is used to emphasize that Wang Lung cherishes the Earth, because it is the maker of all things. The repetition of the word, “own” is used to show that Wang Lung treats the Earth with reverence and believes that it is his job to care for it as his own.
Wang Lung has inherited from his father a strong aversion towards wasting, for everything that comes from the Earth is precious. Wang Lung’s father uses the simile, “Tea is like eating silver”, to display that both men believe that everything that comes from the Earth is to be valued and not used
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