How Is Wang Lung's Marriage To O-Lan

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“United we stand, divided we fall. “ -- Aesop. In the book The Good Earth, Pearl Buck uses Wang Lung’s marriage to O-lan to show that as a unified people they make each other whole, and fill the gaps that the other has. Before Olan, Wang Lung had different views on schooling, slaves, farming, and loyalty. As Wang Lung married Olan they started very different because of the different up bringings of both of them.

Neither O-lan nor Wang Lung went to school when they were children, so they didn’t find it necessary for their children too. Wang Lung wasn’t in school as a child because he had to work in the fields for his father. Olan wasn’t in school because she was sold by her parents and raised as a slave in the House of Hwang. They didn’t plan on sending their children to school when they were born because they thought that they would be needed in the field. Then when Wang Lung became rich and tried to go sell something, he couldn’t read what the paper said, and that was when Wang Lung decided that his first son needed to go to school. …show more content…

Wang Lung grew up as a child in the field with his father learning how to do his work. When Wang Lung’s was thinking about selling his daughter as a slave, he didn’t know what it was like so he wasn’t against it. But Olan did know what it was like so she told Wang Lung that they would beat the girl and rape her if she was pretty, so she was completely agaisnt it. They agreed that they didn’t want their daughter beaten and raped so they kept her, and were thankful later on because she was mentally impaired and would’ve been