Finding Fulfillment in The Good Earth
The Good Earth is a novel written by Pearl S. Buck. It is set in China and on the day of Wang Lung's marriage. Wang Lung is a poor peasant farmer whose love for the land sustains him through the difficult times of his life. He married a slave from the great house, and he moves from a poor, humble, country farmer to a wealthy, respected, landowning patriarch. He moves into the house that he bought his wife from, and dies content with his faith in the good earth. The name of the novel is misleading because we have to wonder if the earth is really good to Wang Lung.
"There was only this perfect sympathy of movement, of turning this earth of theirs over and over to the sun, this earth which formed their home and fed their bodies and made their gods...Some time, in some age, bodies of men and women had been buried there, houses had stood there, had fallen, and gone back into the earth. So would also their house, some time, return into the earth, their bodies also. Each had his turn at this earth. They worked on, moving together-together-producing the fruit of this earth." (Ch. 1, pg. 22). People have taken their turn on the earth. The lived and died for the earth; the earth provided them with food and with shelter. "Well and [the children] must all starve if the plants starve." (Chapter 8, pg. 48) There are times of drought and times of flooding. There were times where there wasn't any food and the rains ruined shelter. Wang Lung spent most of his life rebuilding what was ruined, and when it was rebuilt, it was ruined again. But after many years of working hard, Wang Lung gained enough money to own lots of land. The only difference between a pheasant l...
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...h he forgot it for many months together, when spring came each year he must go out on to the land." (Chapter 34, pg. 257) Wang Lung was not aware of his son's interest in selling the land though, and thus died contently. He wished he had done things differently with O-lan and probably would have been happier if he was still a pheasant but we all wish there were things we could have done differently. To Wang Lung the earth was good. He never saw the ending picture and how his faith in the earth wouldn't carry on because of his money hungry sons, but his love for the land ended with him, and peace in his heart.
Works Cited:
Buck, Pearl S. The Good Earth. New York: Washington Square P, 1994.
Kang, Younghill. Review of The Good Earth. Rpt. in The Good Earth. Ed. Peter Conn. New York: Washington Square P, 1994. 367-68.
From the beginning of Wang Lung’s marriage to O-lan, she saved him time, money, and effort without complaint. She offered wisdom when asked and was smart in the ways of the world. During the famine, when the family went south in search of food, O-lan taught her children how to beg for food, “dug the small green weeds, dandelions, and shepherds purse that thrust up feeble new leaves”(p. 128). She raised her children prudently. She knew how to bind her daughter’s feet, and she gave them a better childhood than she had had. O-lan knew that the land was the only consistent thing in her life, so she willingly helped Wang Lung as he bought more and more land. O-lan knew her place in the family was as a wife and mother. As a wife, she fe...
Chapter one, The Observers, in the Death of Woman Wang demonstrates the accuracy of the local historian; Feng K'o-ts'an, who compiled The Local History of T'an-ch'eng in 1673. The descriptive context of the Local History helps the reader to understand and literally penetrate into people's lives. The use of records of the earthquake of 1668, the White Lotus rising of 1622 and rebels rising vividly described by Feng the extent of suffering the people of T'an-ch'eng went through. Jonathan Spence stresses on how miserable the two-quarter of the seventeen-century were to the diminishing population of the county. The earthquake claimed the lives of nine thousand people, many others died in the White lotus rising, hunger, sickness and banditry. P'u Sung-ling's stories convey that after the loss of the wheat crops there were cases of cannibalism. On top of all of this came the slaughtering of the entire family lines by the bandits. The incredible records of women like Yao and Sun in the Local History present the reader the magnitude of savagery the bandits possessed. All of these factors led to the rise of suicides. The clarity of events Spence given to the reader is overwhelming.
In the story, Goodman Brown decides to embark on a night journey, with some kind of evil intentions. He is guided by a man who resembles his grandfather, and despite his hesitancy, proceeds to his destination. Brown is shocked to see religious figures along the way, who share the same evil intentions. He is driven to meet the end when he hears his wife Faith's voice calling out. She is his one strand of good that he struggles to hold on to; when he realizes she might be captured by evil, he fills with fear. At the end is their meeting with the devil-figure, where he calls all people to come together under evil.
Jeff Grogger, Lynn A. Karoly, Jeff Grogger. Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change. New York: Harvard University Press, 2005.
Hasking, Ron. "Work over Welfare: The Inside Story of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law." Brookings Instituteion Press [Wahington, DC] (2006) 364
Halprin, Anna, et. al. Circle the Earth: Dancing with Life on the Line. , 1987. The Power of
...e Earth and Its Peoples, Second Edition. CENGAGE LEARNING, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .
This novel tells the story of Wang Lung. He is a man who rises from being a poor farmer to a very wealthy man because of his faith in the good earth. In the beginning of the story Wang Lung tries to see as little water as possible because he feels safest with his land under his feet. His family is very poor so he must feed his father corn gruel and tea.
The story Young Goodman Brown is about a man and his faith in himself, his wife, and the community they reside in. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before sunrise. The time era is approximately a generation after the time of the witch trials. Goodman Brown's struggle between good and evil is a struggle he does not think he can face. He reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly.
Young Goodman Brown is a holy man, with a repressed wish inside of him to explore the unknown. This wish came to him through a dream and changed the rest of his life dramatically. The story "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us the possible outcomes of Young Goodman Brown's decision to explore into the forest to find the unknown. Hawthorne also uses symbols in the story to represent good and evil. It is a story about a man whose true identity prevailed and destroys him from the inside out.
[] Greg Boyd. n.c. Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" Book Review. Retrieved November 2, 2013. http://gregboyd.blogspot.ca/2008/04/echhart-tolles-new-earth-book-review.html
But when Goodman Brown saw his Faith willing to except the Devils offerings he yelled out to her, to look to the heavens and not to except what the Devil offered. In that moment he came back to his loving and caring husband again. She had brought him back from the Devil just as she had delivered him. When he had awoke he was confused and paranoid at what he saw, the good old minister was getting his sermon ready and Old Deacon Goodkin was in worship. And to see Goody Cloyse catechizing a child broke him, he grabbed the child to keep the child safe from the evilness the women could put in her. Still not able to shake the paranoia as he went around the next corner he saw his wife was so joyful but then he looked away and walked right by her wondering if he had dreamed what happened. At the end he found out …it was a dream of evil omen for young Goodman Brown. A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man, did he become from the night of that fearful dream (Hawthorne 101). After that he became closed off, cowardly, and died a lonely and sad man. He turned away when his family would pray and not even a few neighbors went to his grave …they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone; his dying hour was
"Young Goodman Brown" is about one man's journey through the woods with the devil and his encounters that make him doubt his faith in himself, his wife, and the community in which they reside. The theme of this story is that beyond any intangible evil, the evil that men do is ultimately the more damaging. Throughout the story Hawthorne uses setting and characters as symbols representing different aspects of good and evil and he uses the plot to develop the eventual win-over of evil over "Goodman" Brown's "Faith."
Through means of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne manipulates allegorical dimension in order to lure readers into his writing. He creates doubt and curiosity within the readers’ minds by meshing both the actual and fantasy; furthermore, altering certain truths and consequently creating an imaginary world, which marks the success of Hawthorne’s technique. A definite sense of corruption is seen as Young Goodman Brown converses with the Devil. Hawthorne successfully manipulates the environment within the story to take the form of meaningful symbols, staying true to his influence by the Romantic period. In my opinion the most interesting aspect of the story is when the narrative
The journey to achieve the good life on a personal level has defined human life across all cultures and time periods. Although we human beings have this similar goal in life, what we consider to be the “good life” differs from person to person. The Hindu people, for example, believe that one reaches the good life or enlightenment when he/she finds and truly understands Atman, the inner self or soul. In my opinion the good life involves following one’s internal ideals and values. These values should allow him/her to enjoy the good life in spite of time progression and outside influences such as material wealth. However, this concept of the good life comes with costs that prevent those without a strong will to stray from their values. On the journey to find the good life people often come across social and political barriers much like the civil rights supporters of the 20th century. Still more people struggle with making the sacrifices needed to sustain and ensure the longevity their good life, which is illustrated by Aldo Leopold’s land ethic. The costs may seem overwhelming at first but they are only temporary and the long lasting, internal benefits eventually become dominant.