Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth

Every person deals with conflict in their lives. In the novel, The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, Wang Lung, the main character, is a poor Chinese farmer dealing with everyday problems in the form of stress and pesky relatives. The story starts as Wang Lung gets ready on his marriage day and continues with all the ensuing events that affect his burgeoning family. It follows Wang Lung as he navigates the rough waters of life and the arduous decisions to try to do best by his family. Among these events, Wang Lung stumbles into problems with money, identity, and love. Due to this, The Good Earth can be related to “in any age in any quarter of the globe” (New York Times). First, Wang Lung deals with the ups and downs of financial stress. Wang Lung starts off as a poor farmer with a hesitance to spend money, but with hard work, he eventually grows more opulent and finds financial stability. Suddenly, however, a terrible drought strikes and there is an extreme famine. With no rainfall for crops, the Wang family has no source of food or money. As a result, they enter into a state of desperation, where waking up everyday is a struggle; “They scarcely rose at all now, any of them. There was no need, and fitful sleep took the place, …show more content…
He buys her expensive items that “cost money more than he liked to give out” (Buck 220). He also listens to Lotus when she demands that he cuts off his braid, which then causes Olan to exclaim that he has “cut off (your) life” after she sees him. When Lotus complains to Wang Lung about how little she has compared to all the of the other girls in the tea shop, Wang Lung approaches Olan, who has been nothing but faithful to him, and takes away the only two pearls she has to give to Lotus. Wang Lung is blinded by his love and lets it cloud all his logical thinking. People in every corner of the globe can relate to this, as