The Good Earth

The Good Earth is a novel by Pearl S. Buck. The time frame is in the past. Wang-Lung, the main character, is a poor farmer in China. He gets a wife, O-Lan, and she is considered a slave, hence she is a woman. A war takes place in the north, causing The Great House of Hwang to go into bankruptcy. Wang-Lung is then running into a palace, stealing some gold coins, thus making him very wealthy. O-Lan on the other hand, gets her hands on some jewels, “In the rich man’s house. It must have been a favorite’s treasure. I saw a brick loosened in the wall and I slipped there carefully so that no other soul could see and demand a share. I pulled the brick away, caught the shining, and put them into my sleeve.”[156]. Pearls were handed to her when Wang-Lung “looked for an instant into the heart of this dull and faithful creature.”[157]. Pearls symbolize the actions of O-Lan in many ways.

Wang-Lung had the sack in which O-Lan took from the rich man’s house, filled with many jewels. O-Lan had requested, “If I could have two, only two small ones – two small white pearls even…” [157]. Pearls would symbolize her from saying, “I would keep them – I would not wear them, only keep them.” She wouldn’t wear it, even if she wanted to. “I could hold them in my hand sometimes,” [157] she said to feel as if that she was rich herself, since she was called a slave. She had also wanted to give the precious pearls to her daughter, when she was ready to be wed.

“Wang-Lung, without comprehending it, looked for an instant into the heart of this dull and faithful creature, who had labored all her life at some task at which she won no reward and who in the great house had seen others wearing jewels which she never even felt in her had once.”[157]. Wang-Lung understood why she desired the two with pearls. Wang-Lung spent the rest of the jewels on land. “She took the pearls and she tore a bit of the corner of her coat away and wrapped them and hid them between her breasts and was comforted.”[158]. She kept the pearls in her bosom, since they were very precious to her. Eventually, Wang-Lung finds the pearls, and slips away from O-Lan, and maybe their own commitment.

Lotus is bought from Wang-Lung, since he is rich and desires whatever. O-Lan finds out about Lotus and argues with him. She knew that he took the pears and gave it to Lotus since she shouts, “And to that one you gave my two pearls!” Since O-Lan feels as if she had been ‘replaced’, she ignores the figure that lives in their house, and grows gravely ill. The eldest son has a wedding, but a few moments later, “her head dropped off the round pillow where it lay, and she shuddered and was dead.”[286] As for Wang-Lung, “out of his heaviness there stood out strangely but one clear thought and it was a pain to him, and it was this, that he wished he had not taken the two pearls from O-Lan that day when she was washing his clothes at the pool, and he would never bear to see Lotus put them in her ears again.”[290]

In conclusion, O-Lan had pearls that symbolize her in many ways. It showed how the pearls were near and dear to O-Lan since she never had or received anything because she was considered a slave. I think that in Wang-Lung’s perspective, he should treat other pearls with respect, since to him pearls symbolize O-Lan’s innocent life. Pearls are too powerful with just being things or actions that O-Lan has done in her life, so they should just symbolize her itself, rather than actions or things she has done.