O-L The Virtuous Woman

Often in history there are women who are stereotyped as a housewife, who work only in the household and taking care of the children, but for O-Lan this is not the case. Growing up as a slave along with many other slaves, O-Lan was not the typical wife; she helped in the fields, tended to the house, and took care of the children. In the book she is seen as a static and flat character who obeys her husband by working hard on the land. O-Lan is known as one of the protagonists with a static character, who undergoes many obstacles and also compares to the virtuous women in the Bible Proverbs.

In The Good Earth, O-Lan is a static character, who did not change throughout the book. She remained the same “plain” person that Wang lung thought she was. Not only did Wang Lung believe she was a boring person but he also called her “the good earth” in relation to the land. O-Lan was obedient, hardworking, and

Both O-Lan and the virtuous woman were good hardworking women who would do anything for the sake of their families. For Instance, O-Lan worked in the fields alongside her husband while in Proverbs 31:10-31 the woman “worketh willingly with her hands” which relates to O-Lan’s character as a hard worker who tended to the land. Not only did these women work outside but they also cared for their children and tended to the house. The women in the Bible Proverbs “layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff” which means she looked after her household as O-Lan did in The Good Earth. A difference between these two women, among many similarities, is the virtuous woman clothes herself in “silk and purple” as expensive clothes, which in contrast to O-Lan wearing plain clothes, even though she had a wealthy husband. O-Lan may be similar to the woman from Proverbs 31:10-31 but there are also differences between