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Character Analysis Of O-Lan In The Good Earth

532 Words3 Pages

O-lan: Virtuous Woman, Wife, and Mother
O-Lan, “the good earth” as Wang Lung called her as she lies dying, is a major character from The Good Earth. But to say she is a major character does not do her justice, O-Lan is not just a major character, she is the major character. The quote “behind every great man there is an even greater woman” almost puts O-Lan’s personality into perspective. O-Lan, although a flat and static character, still greatly impacts the main storyline despite her not being very loquacious. What makes O-Lan the major character in The Good Earth is her control over various situations still without violating her vocal reservation. Her greatest achievement, out of her numerous collection, is the legacy she leaves behind and various examples set for her children and husband. Even though she lived a hard life of servitude, she still remained loving and never adverted away from her family. O-Lan remained selfless and loyal to her family although it is never truly appreciated until after she is gone. O-Lan’s greatest desire was to be noticed and wanted by others, especially those she slaved away most of her life to so altruistically. Sadly, her wish doesn’t really come true until after her untimely death. Wang-Lung and his children slowly …show more content…

O-Lan however has almost an entire life of conflict. Her first and ongoing conflict is being a woman in Chinese society. O-Lan especially suffers from the hardships of being a woman, and being poor on top of that makes her struggle even worse. So from the beginning O-Lan is working and struggling to become someone more than the stigma of society, but to no success. To matter in her time O-Lan had to give birth to sons, be able work, and have beauty. She had given the sons to Wang Lung, she worked endlessly, but to Wang Lung she didn’t have the beauty which was enough to make him loose interest in her. Nonetheless O-Lan remains loyal and

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