The Good Earth Character Analysis

Many people and families live through the tragedies of life and work to find out where they lay in their society. In Pearl S Buck’s novel, The Good Earth, Wang Lung and his family embark on the long journey through life. Wang Lung and his family face both times of happiness and peace, and challenges and tragedy. Wang Lung, the main character, rose from poverty into wealth through hard work and luck. He faced many difficult challenges, but overcame them with the help of his family. Many others in this novel worked hard, but none has achieved wealth as he has. In this story, Wang Lung’s life gives detailed examples of the hardships and struggles of living in a lower social class. Then, as the story progresses, the novel tells of the luxuries and customs of being wealthy. Many people can relate to this novel because it shows what life was a wealthy man and as a poor man. Nowadays, people in third world countries or are just common laborers
still rely on the land and the weather to survive just as Wang Lung had. The situation Wang Lung and his family are in at the beginning may be similar to how these laborers may be living. This novel may give a better understanding to wealthier people as to how many common people live and what their life is like. The wealthy may now understand what less fortunate people have to deal with daily. This novel may also give common people and laborers a beacon of hope. The story of Wang Lung’s success may inspire others to work harder so that they can escape the restraints of poverty just as Wang Lung had. Wang Lung and his family worked really hard but also had very lucky moments that helped boost him into wealth. The difference between Wang Lung and other wealthy men is that he still understood the value of land. Even after Wang Lung became wealthy, he did not forget where his wealth originated from and even though his sons tried to persuade him to sell it, he wouldn’t budge. His sons never understood why the land was so important because they never worked the fields. Instead Wang Lung sent his sons to school, which causes them to forget their family roots. From another perspective, The Good Earth can be seen as a false representation of what life is like.
People may argue that farmers aren’t capable of becoming wealthy, or that this novel gives readers false hope. Although it is unlikely that poor farmers like Wang Lung will become wealthy, it is possible if people believe that they can achieve it. There was once a quote that can be related to this situation, a professor named Randy Pausch once said, “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” In this situation, the wall can be represented as poverty, and how hard the common people work decided whether they break through the wall into wealth or not. People can decide much of their future based on their actions and their effort while doing
anything. This novel is a fine example of both styles of life, life as a wealthy person, and life as a poor lower class farmer. In addition, there are places in the story where people struggle and suffer, but there are many cases in which Wang Lung and his family are happy and cheerful. The reason that Wang Lung is wealthy is because of his hard work, and people should know that wealth doesn’t come easily. Wanting something but not working to achieve it is a reason for why there are still so many lower class citizens in society. The Good Earth has aspects of life that many people in the world can relate to, rich or poor.