The Good Earth

Power – a sense of strength, and importance – something Wang Lung has been looking for his entire life. However now that he has it is it really worth it? Worth losing your family and friends, worth losing your innocence and being thrown into a state of experience? Throughout the course of the novel The Good Earth Wang Lung gives up on what really matters in life, and turns into something he never wanted to become – a selfish rich man.

“It was Wang Lung’s marriage day…He sprang up and pushed aside the curtains.” (p.1) Wang Lung knew nothing of the importance of women. He did not know that one day they would become so important to him, that when he loses one of them, the well being of his family could be at state. He did not know that they could do more than cook and clean, and be more than the mother of his sons. In the House of Hwang, Wang Lung saw slaves being pushed around; therefore he thought that was the way it was supposed to be. He grew to hate these wealthy self conceited people, and never wanted to be like them. After his first successful harvest though, a sense of power was introduced to Wang and he thought this must be how the House of Hwang started down their road to success. To Wang Lung, this brought a sense of pride, and hope, that someday he too could become as important, and well respected as the people of the great house.

After a few more good harvests a drought came along, once again removing Wang Lung of his power. Fleeing to the south for protection and the reassurance that there would be food for them to eat while his, own, innocent children faced starvation. Being thrown back down to the bottom once again, is yet another tragic symbol in Wang Lung’s tragic life. A man in the city tells Wang Lung he must not take his rice home because “[people] will carry the rice home and feed it to their pigs for slop.” (p.99) Is seeking shelter in the south worth it now, now that the family must act as beggars and eat rice fit for pigs? While in the south, Wang Lung thought only of his land and how much he needed to get back there, for “[Wang Lung] belonged to the land and he could not live with any fullness until he felt the land under his feet.” (p.87) Thinking of only his land and himself, not even the slightest thought of his hungry children represents the greed Wang Lung now possesses, and how he is never satisfied with what he has.

Once back to the land again, Wang Lung realized that O-lan – his obedient, strong, independent wife, who has always been there for him, helped him during his time of need, and who bore him three sons – was no longer good enough for him. He was once again not satisfied with what he had, so he heads off to town to purchase himself a second wife. The fact of being able to purchase a human being is as tragic as the thought of his new wife living with him and O-lan, who could not object to this, since she had to respect Wang Lung’s decisions no matter how much they hurt her. Having two wives was fit for only the rich, providing Wang Lung with even more power and importance throughout the town. Feeling as though the world must do as he says, being able to control his wives, his children, and the townspeople, Wang Lung could never even imagine what was about to come his way.

Barely breathing on her own O-lan must stay in bed all day, and does not have much longer to live. Without O-lan to cook and clean, Wang Lung realizes how much he needs her and he can now visualize that his family is going to fall apart without her help. He tells her he needs her but she knows he doesn’t love her anymore. Marriage is supposed to be filled with love and happiness, but the relationship that Wang Lung and O-lan now share is quite the opposite. The time has come for O-lan to die but she refuses to die until she sees her eldest son wed. Preparations for the wedding begin, and in the meantime O-lan lies in her bed half living, and she will remain that way until her eldest son walks hand and hand with the young maid. Knowing that you are lying in your bed half dying once again shows the strength O-lan has, for she stayed like this for many months, yet never once did she complain.

Wedding to birth, to death, to birth again; Wang Lung and O-lan have been through it all. Now with her gone, Wang Lung is beginning to realize that. He now realizes he needs her back because once again he is losing his power, but not just power on the outside, Wang Lung is losing his power in the inside, in his heart. Feeling as if nothing can cheer him up, living in a state of despair for days, no longer perking up at the sight of Lotus, Wang Lung notices a new slave in his house about the age of his youngest son. It is sickening to think Wang Lung stayed with this young maid who is only about the age of 18. Wang Lung thinks this is an alright thing to do because this is what the lords do in the great houses. “Men in the town are beginning to call us the great family of Wang [his eldest son would remind him].” (p.313) It is now clear that Wang Lung is becoming like the old lord of the fallen House of Hwang; Wang Lung now not only had as much power as he did but now he has as much power as kings and queens have over their kingdom.

With this sense of power now established, with friendships and relationship torn apart; was gaining all this power worth it? Wang Lung – once an innocent so called ‘country bumpkin’ now a spoiled, self centered rich man – lost his innocent mind and was forced into a state of experience, therefore becoming something he never wanted to be. Turning himself into a conceited, rich man, forgetting everything truly important. This sense of power, this feeling of strength, knowing that people thought highly of you – was something Wang Lung looked for his entire life. He did not know greed would come along with it, and even know that he has this greed, he doesn’t realize it, for no rich man ever would.