Wang Lung in The Good Earth - Essay Example

? Number] Moral character Analysis of Wang Lung in The Good Earth Wang Lung is the major character ofPulitzer Prize winning novel The Good Earth penned by Pearl S. Buck in 1932. The novel remained beset selling novel in US for two years. The novel depicts the tale of Chinese village of Anhwel where the protagonist of the novel Wang Lung resides. He suffer various hardship is his life that influence his behaviour and thinking however, in the end he became a successful person having piece of land and other resources. The essay aims to analyse the moral character of Wang Lung in the novel. The essay examines the changes within his character throughout the novel and the chronology of changes in his thoughts and beliefs throughout the novel. The novel depicts Wang Lung as a poor, simple and hardworking farmer. He was born and raised in a small Chinese village. He was around twenty years of age at the beginning of the novel. He possesses great value for the Chinese traditions and gives considerable importance to duties to the family and filial piety. Wang held the belief that land brings happiness and wealth to the people and is great source of prosperity and richness. He was forced to marry a slave after which his life turned and he became owner of a land that made him wealthy patriarch. However, his success could be regarded as a mixed blessing because while achieving the piece of land, wealth and influence he lost his simplicity and values as found him unable to practice the norms calling for love for land and family. The novel shows the character of Wang marked with two important and contrary features. On one hand, he had great love for the land, traditions and family that allow him possessing good sense, work ethics, frugality and family love however, on the other hand, he had great desire for wealth and status in his heart and he want to get over his poverty and lo w social status. The novel depicts the change occurred within his moral and social status that brought several important changes in his life. As he got wealth and status, he lost his connection to the world and also found him unable to participate in the old traditions. These traditions were of great importance in his life and thus losing these values and norms was great setback for him and he experienced major transformation is his moral character. He used to give great value to the land and his live for earth keep his character on right track. Most of the part of the story shows him a person with true heart having great love for the earth however, his character was spoiled by his desire for land and status after which his moral character became a dark feature of his personality. In the end, he regret and decide to rebuilt his connection with the land but his desire for status was not over rather it was transferred to his sons and he saw in his old age that his sons were also making the same mistakes that he made in his life by breaking the connections with the land that actually has the tendency of providing wealth, happiness and status to the people. Wang was living a simple life as a countryman however when his father arrange bride for him he had to go to the town to bring her. He was afraid of facing the people in the town because he was a simple man living a simple life. He goes to the House of Hwang to collect his wife but he was not able to adequately behave with the wealthy people. He suffered from inferiority complex through he does not resent his low status but facing wealthy people made him highly conscious about his social status. This consciousness also compelled him committing certain acts against his nature and character. He was an honest person but he got involved in the stealing of wealth when he got chance to change his conditions. When it became difficult for him to manage livelihood for his family he moved towards south and tries to earn money carrying a rickshaw. During an incident he found that a rich house has been broken by mob where there was large amount of silver present. He steals that silver and returned to his land so that he could use that money for gaining prosperity and status. With the help of the stolen silver, he bought more land and hired people to perform the jobs at land. He also built a bog house and became a known person of the town due to his wealth and status. When he became a rich person the attitude of the people towards him also changed. People started borrowing money from him and used to come to him for taking certain advices and for the resolution of their disputed over the land issues. This change in the status also changed his life style. He was no longer directly involved in the work on the land. He found that he is losing his connections with the world. He spent lot of money on himself and the land but lack of working on the land made him useless and distraught due to which he started neglecting his wife and family life. Wang acquired wealth and social status but these things failed to bring peace and mental pleasure in his life. By the end of the novel he realized that the connection with the land is more important for him and he could not live a peaceful life by neglecting his values and traditions. He then decided to go back to his lands in order to spend the remaining part of his life. The changes in his thinking throughout the novel reflect the thinking of typical Chinese people who used to give great value to the land and traditions in their lives. His main concern was good earth and the happiness that the god earth bestows him. Throughout the novel he encountered different situation but his thinking about the love for good earth remain inside his heart and in the end he realized that he has to go back to the earth from where he actually belongs. The changes in the moral character of Wang in the novel depicts that he was compelled to steal silver from the house because he was suffering from poverty and was struggling to earn livelihood for the family however, as his status changed he lost his peace of mind and real happiness because his close connection with the earth were broken. It gave him realization that he has to retain his relationship with the earth because it is the true connection that could bestow him peace and satisfaction. The analysis of the moral character of Wang in the novel affirms that the land, family and traditions possess great importance in the lives of the Chinese people and they could not live happily and satisfied without following their traditions and norms. Work Cited Pearl S. Buck. The Good Earth, United States: John Day, 1931. Print. Read More