The Good Earth By. Pearl S. BuckPrepared by Miracel D. Sacil

Characters:Wang Lung- Poor farmer (main character)O-lan-Wife of Wang LungLotus- Mistress of Wang LungChing- Bestfriend of Wang Lung

The story begins on theday of Wang Lung's wedding.

Wang Lung is a poor young peasantwho lives in an earthenbrick house with his father,who has arranged for himto marry a slave girlnamed O-lan from the greatfamily of the House of Hwang.

After Wang Lung brings his quiet but diligent new wife home, she works side by side with him in the fields untiltheir first child is born.

They are delighted with their son,and at the New Year O-landresses him upand proudly takes him to theHouse of Hwang to showhim off.

But soon Wang Lung encountersDifficulties Wang Lung sellshis furniture for a bit of silverto take his family south,though he refuses to sell his land.They ride a firewagonto a southern city,where they live in a makeshifthut on the street. .

They survive by O-lan, thegrandfather, and the childrenbegging for food and Wang Lung pullinga jinrickshaw (or rickshaw) for the rich,or pulling wagonloads of cargo at night.

In the southern city,Wang Lung perceivesthe extraordinary wealthof westernersand Chinese aristocratsand capitalists, and he is interestedin the revolutionaries‘protests of the oppression of the poor.

There follow seven years ofprosperity, during whichthe sons grow and begin school;a third son is born with a twin sister,and the harvest is soplentiful that Wang Lung hireslaborers and his loyal neighbor,Ching, as a steward.

Bored with his plain and coarse wife,he ventures into a tea shop intown operated by a man from the southwhere the rich and idle spend their timedrinking, gambling, and visiting prostitutes.There he begins an affair with Lotus, a delicatelybeautiful but manipulatively demandingcourtesan whom he desires obsessively.

O-lan is deeply hurt and angry,which makes Wang Lungdefensively guilty and cold with her;there are conflicts between O-lan andLotus' maid Cuckoo who had mistreatedO-lan when she was a concubine ofthe old master in the House of Hwang.

Family affairs continue tohave ups and downs. O-lan'ssickness finally overpowersher, and Wang Lung'stender solicitousnessto her on her deathbedcannot fully compensatefor the insults shereceived when Lotusmoved into the house.

She is content to die only afterher first son's marriage isconsummated, so shecan expect a grandson.

His eldest sonpersuades him to buy the oldestate of the House of Hwang in town,both as a means of moving out fromthe place where the disgracefuluncle and his wife live, and asa symbol of Wang Lung'selevated social position.

Finally, Wang Lung returns to the earthenhouse of his land to die. Materialprosperity has brought him superficialsocial satisfaction, but only his landcan provide peace and security.Even his final days are troubled, when heoverhears his two older sons planningto sell the land as soon as he dies.

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