The Good Earth
Type Two Journal—The Good Earth—Wang Lung, Olan, Lotus, Uncle
“Are we not to see the moth-browed bride?”Pg.24 Tactless- The uncle is tactless because everyone already expects a farmer’s wife to be unattractive and he has no remorse to mock his nephew.
“This woman is well enough!”Pg.28 Content- Wang Lung becomes content with his wife when he learns that she cares for him more than anyone else.
“When I return to that house it will be with my son in my arms. I shall have a red coat on him and red-flowered trousers and on his head a hat with a small gilded Buddha sewn on the front…” Pg.34 Pretentious- Olan is pretentious because she wants to show the great house that she is no longer the slave that they knew, but she is a successful wife that has borne a healthy young son.
“Thus everyone will know I have a son!”Pg.39 Proud- Wang lung is proud to have a son as his first child. It is a symbol of good fortune, and he wants the word of his son and good fortune to be known to everyone.
“I will tell your words to the whole village!” Pg.66 Coercive- The uncle coerces Wang Lung to giving him money by threatening him to tell the village that Wang Lung cursed his whole family, his flesh and blood.
“My nephew there he has silver and he has food, but he will give none of it to us, not even me, and my children, who are his own bone and flesh.”Pg.77 Contemptuous- The uncle is becomes contemptuous after his second visit to Wang Lung asking for money. After he is turned away with nothing he attempts to turn the village upon him their hunger forcing them to scorn him for having food.
“There and there and there!”… “That is for a thief!” Pg.119 Reproachful- He is reproachful of his children for belittling themselves by stealing. He does not know how to be proud of someone that steals.
“There is nothing to sell except the girl.”Pg.124 Truthful- Olan is truthful to Wang Lung by telling him that the only way to get back to the land in their current situation is to sell their only girl to slavery.
“If I had the gold and the silver and the jewel, I would buy land with it, good land, and I would bring forth harvests from the land!” Pg.130 Sincere- Wang Lung is sincere because he would not buy luxuries for himself, but instead he would but land that would sustain all generations to come and could never be taken away.
Feng Menglong continues to illustrate the concept of love in his short story or poem “Du Tenth Sinks the Jewel Box in Anger,” where money is given for exchange of a deep feeling for love. Money and the quantification of Human Relations in terms of silver coins in Feng Menglong's story, Chinese literature, is the profound work generated during the era of Yuan and Ming dynasties of creative narrative. In addition, throughout this spell, popularity of the vernacular narrative outstandingly cannot be overemphasized. As contrasted with the high degree of complex and conventional long-established fiction, vernacular narratives were build with a lot of flexibility and thus could well portray the amazing and sometimes sleazy literature of the Chinese life and cultural aspects of the ages, such as monetization of human relationships that came as a result of Ming dynasty's unparalleled success.
one page 11) this indicates that he is a selfish man and cares for his
One day an old man comes to join the family for supper-- he new Poh-Poh from Old China... the man is odd looking and Liang thinks him to be "the Monkey Man" from the ghost stories her grams is always telling. Regardless Liang and this man she comes to call Wong-Suk become great friends. They go to the movies together and get jeered at (I'm not sure if this is beacause 'Beauty and the Beast' or because they are Chinese); he tells her stories; and she dances for him.
I would like to point out that Wang Lung was never the most filial of men. Early in the novel, we saw him slip up once or twice. However, at a younger age, he felt guilty when this happened and was able to hold his tongue in most situations. Wang Lung’s uncle is able to exploit Wang Lung based on his filial piety. When the uncle, a lazy man who blames his struggles on an “evil destiny”, asks his nephew to borrow money, Wang Lung explodes, saying, “‘If I have a handful of silver it is because I work and my wife works, and we do not…[let our] fields grow to weeds and our children go half fed!’” (65). But right after he lets these words slip, he “[stands] sullen and unmovable” (66) because knows that his outburst is wrong. However, later in the novel, Wang Lungs lack of sense for filial piety grows evident as he becomes more arrogant. For example, when he is nearing the end of his life, Wang Lung asks without a second thought to be buried below his father but above his uncle and Ching. Asking to be buried above his uncle makes the statement that Wang Lung believes he is a greater man than his uncle. Before his rise through the ranks of society, Wang Lung would never have even considered being buried above his uncle, even though he always had a disliking for him. However, because of his power, he feels that he has the right to disrespect his
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...
He uses the money to buy some seeds, a new ox and he is able to return back home. The greed starts to set in when Wang learns that his wife stole some jewels from when there the looting was happening. They talked it over and agreed to buy some more land leaving O-lan with two pearls. The good thing that has come out of Wang looting another person’s home helped him understand why others did so to him and led him to forgive them. He becomes so wealthy that he is able to buy Ching’s land and build enough rooms for him to live in and to also buy laborers. Wang buying laborers shows what wealth does to a once poor peasant man. He is not the one that cares for his land nor is he compassion about his land anymore. Wang hits the biggest turning point when he disrespects his wife and tells her that she is not fit to be a wife of a wealthy man. “Now anyone looking at you would say you were a wife of a common fellow and never of one who has land which he hires men to plow!” (Buck, 168). Wang then starts to “buy” more wives because that is what wealthy men do. In the end Wang ends up like the rest of the wealthy men the he never thought he would become. He got his own uncle’s family addicted to opium, wouldn’t give other refugees seeds without either having high interest or giving up some of their land. This was one of Buck’s main goal, to show the readers what happened to people when they were consumed by wealth and started to become
In the beginning paragraphs of Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Sui Sin Far introduces readers to the Chin Yeuns and their beautiful 18-year-old daughter, Mai Fwi Fan, who goes by her American name, Laura. Sui Sin Far describes the Chin Yeuns as living “in a house furnished in American style, and wore American clothes, yet they religiously observed many Chinese customs, and their ideals of life were the ideals of their Chinese forefathers” (865). Abiding by Chinese tradition, Laura’s parents have “betrothed their daughter” (865) to the son of the Chinese Government school-teacher. Laura confesses to Mrs. Spring Fragrance that she is actually in love with Kai Tzu. Mrs. Spring Fragrance is the only person who knows about the relationship between Laura and Kai Tzu. Unfortunately, for Laura, her betrothal is quickly approaching. Mrs. Spring Fragrance, trying to cheer up her young friend, quotes the famous l...
... to the husband. Yet the reader is presented with woman Wang, who ran away with another man from her husband, Jen. Some of the reasons of her departure could have been neglect from her husband, that she had bound feet and that she had no children. Her actions contradicted any moral wife at that time. After relentless pursuit of happiness woman Wang returned home, there she met her death. The Legal Code justified certain parameters of vengeance on behave of the husband toward his adulterous wife. Nevertheless, Jen was not allowed by the law to simply slaughter his wife. Moreover Jen accused an innocent Kao, for which Jen could have been sentenced to death. Were woman Wang's actions right is for the reader to decide.
to the beloved” (pg. 6). In this he is discussing the absence of moral responsibilities in
In her short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Joyce Carol Oates portrays the loss of innocence into adulthood of a self absorbed fifteen year old girl, Connie, through the demonic antagonist,Arnold Friend, created through internal and external events. The story takes place in a suburban area, in Connie's family home or the local mall where Arnold Friend and Connie meet. Some of the more critical events are internal; these events are given intensity, suspense and climax through the syntax and style employed by Oates.
Wang Lung needs a wife so saves up the little money he has and buys a woman who is a slave named O-lan. O-lan is sold to Wang Lung so she can take care of the home, cooking and bear children. Wang Lung is disappointed when he first sees O-lan because she does not have bound feet which was a desirable quality at that time but he does enjoy when O-lan has the food ready when he comes in a night from the land. Wang Lung is very proud when O-lan makes cakes that no one else in the village knows how to makes and when his family comes to feast for the new year at their house.
Throughout the story, Arnold Friend is portrayed by Oates as a creepy, provocative stalker. When Friend is first brought to the attention of the reader, it is when Connie is out with friends. As she walks by Friend’s car, he “wags a finger” and says “Gonna get you, baby.” This also displays how underdeveloped Connie 's psyche is. This first notion sent by Arnold Friend should have startled Connie, but she payed no attention to it, she was too concerned with the moment of attention she was receiving from Eddie and all the people around her. Arnold Friend comes to Connie 's home, knowing she was alone and attempts to persuade her to get into his car to go for a ride. This is the first time Connie has ever talked to Arnold Friend, but he already knows everything about her. He knows where she lives, where her parents are, who her friends are, and what her interest are. Connie questions how he knows all of her personal information and he replies with “I know your name and all about you, lots of things. I took a special interest in you, such a pretty young girl, and found out all about you” (Oates). This quote is a clear indication that Arnold Friend is a threatening, menacing stalker. All of these scenarios show Arnold friends underdeveloped psyche. He is somewhere around thirty years old, and does not know what is right and what is wrong. From Oates description of Arnold Friend and his
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” by Joyce Carol Oates is a fictional short story about a perverted man trying to take a 15 year old girl from her home. Through setting, characterization and dialogue Joyce Carol Oates successfully achieves the idea of Arnold Friend as a symbolic satan.
She knew from her classical studies that she was the wei wang ren, 'the person who had not yet died.'; Having survived her spouse, she was required to rear his sons and support his parents, but on no account could she revel in her
Connie’s first encounter with her adversary occurs when she sneaks across the highway to a diner instead of going to the movie theater. Arnold Friend is depicted as ‘a boy with shaggy black hair, in a convertible jalopy painted gold.’ (Oates 7.46) After Connie glanced over her shoulder at him a second time, Arnold Friend exclaims that he’s “gonna get you, baby”. Connie thinks nothing of it and ignores him. Little did she know that he wanted ...