The Good Earth

Danielle Pickett

November 3, 2009

English II H

The Good Earth

      In The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, there is a cycle of life. It was a cycle of dedication, determination, and its successes. Wang Lung and his family experience a lot of changes, like suffering through a drought, adjusting to the South, and then becoming rich. Lung’s dedication to his soil led him to great success, but he soon realized having it all isn’t the answer to everything.
During the beginning of The Good Earth, Wang Lung and his family suffers a severe drought. “The rains, which should have come in early summer, withheld themselves, and day after day the skies shone with fresh and careless brilliance” (70). At first, Wang Lung was just making enough to support his family, and then a drought came out of nowhere. Wang Lung depended on his land for food and most importantly, money. Their lives depended on the earth. During the drought, he lost his daughter because of malnutrition. O-lan couldn’t eat properly because there was nothing to eat, which starved the baby inside her stomach. If the plants starved, then they all starved. Yet, he didn’t give up on his land, he strived for success and that’s what kept him going.
In the meantime, Wang Lung decided to take his family to the South. While he as there, he had to adjust to it. “Now Wang Lung had never in his life begged of any man and he disliked the notion of begging of strange people in the South” (100). To survive in the South, O-lan, the old man, and the kids had to beg for food and money. Prior to the begging, Wang Lung had to pull jinrikisha just about all day. He still made a lot less than he has actually worked. His land made him keep going, he knew that it would all be over soon and he could get back to his land. As soon as Wang Lung felt he had saved up enough in the South, they returned to their land.
Meanwhile, Wang Lung began buying more land. He started to harvest more and more land. Therefore, he was known...