How Does Huck Present Wang Lung's Life In The Good Earth

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck, tells the tale of Wang Lung as he transforms from a struggling farmer to a rich landowner. Despite the numerous struggles Wang Lung endures, his land always remains. Wang Lung’s love for his land come from the mental and physical healing the land gives to him. “Wang Lung was healed of his sickness of love by the good dark earth of his fields and he felt the moist soil on his feet and he smelled the earthy fragrance rising up out of the furrows.” (Buck 212) Wang Lung’s marriage to O’lan also appears to be better when the two work together on the land. However, when Wang Lung is separate from his land he sinks lower into poverty and must beg for his family’s livelihood. “Day by day beneath the opulence of this city Wang Lung lived in the foundations of poverty upon which it was laid… in that part where Wang Lung lived there was not food enough to feed savage hunger and not clothes enough to cover bones.” (Buck 113) Despite all this, Wang Lung returns to his land and prospers. He has an intimate relationship with the land because he labors tirelessly. In contrast, the wealthy Hwang family uses hired labor and become obsessed with worldly possessions.

“’This house cannot stand forever with all the young lords, five of them, spending money like waste water in foreign parts and sending home woman after woman as they weary of them, and the Old Lord living at home adding a concubine or two each year, and the Old Mistress eating opium every day to fill two shoes with gold.’” (Buck 51) Wang Lung’s wealth comes from the only possession he has at the beginning of the