Good Earth Essay

“There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed” (Mahatma Gandhi). This quote is saying how the world has enough to supply for the needs of us humans but there are not enough resources to supply every man’s greed. Greed is almost like a disease, it starts with something small and over time overtakes one’s whole mentality. Those of us who experience this “disease” of greed blindly begin to lose the ethics and integrity that they have learned. This subject is directly related and portrayed throughout the novel The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. The theme of “greed” plays an important role that helps to make the story what it is in the end. Buck included the theme of “greed” throughout the novel to help the reader understand the process and cause and effect of greediness. The idea of greed appears several times throughout the book surrounding the main charter, Wang Lung, with the different challenges he faces experiencing life.
One of the biggest issues dealt with in the novel is women. As Wang Lung grew richer, his actions and perspectives began to line up with the ones belonging to the Hwang Family. He recognized that he was rich and decided that he needed to have the same things the rich had and to act in accordance to how to wealthy act. This caused Wang some later issues in the book revolving around the women in his life. Over time, Wang Lung begins to grow more and more unsatisfied with his wife, O-Lan. On page 179, Wang Lung thinks about how when he looks at her “he saw for the first time that she was a woman whom no man could call other than she was, a dull and common creature, who plodded in silence without thought of how she appeared to others”. After realizing this he begins to treat her differently than before he was rich and doesn’t really pay attention to her much. He begins to yearn for satisfaction from a woman. The ways of the rich influenced him to believe that he must pay a lot to have a pretty girl for the