Wang Lung was a traditional man; however his greed and over ambition made his life worsen, showing readers that he had forgotten his values. Although Wang Lung took care of his father reluctantly, he followed the tradition of putting elders before younger generations. That was how devoted and accustomed Wang Lung was in his tradition. As a poor farmer, Wang Lung valued money and land greatly, since he knew that would make him wealthy and make life better for his family. Wang Lung grew too ambitious, however, instead of just looking forward to a good life, and although he grew successful, middle class wasn’t enough for him. Wang Lung grew greedier and more materialistic;he lost his roots and kept wanting more than he had. Although Wang Lung …show more content…
The Good Earth tells us about Wang Lung, and how he changed from a traditional man to a greedy and over ambitious man, and how it sometimes ruined his life. Wang Lung was a very traditional man from the beginning of the book. Wang Lung always valued his father over himself, as was tradition because they had to respect and obey the people of older generations. He did what was custom, even if that meant that his family starved or that his children had to be fed food of less quality than of Wang Lung’s father or uncle. That did not mean that he had to like it; Wang Lung had to do it because it was the way things were done. If he didn’t follow the norm, the town would judge him for not following that practice. It is clear that societal pressure can play a key role in people’s decisions, at any point in …show more content…
At first, Wang Lung’s ambition and zeal helped him and pushed him toward his goal of becoming rich and powerful. It is clear that Wang Lung had ambition to make more money, bring pride to his name, and help himself and his family. That ambition got him and his family very far, because after a short time, they were making a good amount of profits. Wang Lung takes his oldest son out of the fields and tells him that he is going to be a scholar. As Wang Lung’s son intelligence grows, the son thinks himself better than the teacher. Then, he is sent to the south “to learn,” but he becomes something far from a scholar. While the son was very smart, instead of becoming scholar like his father said, the son then had to manage the wealth of the household and sign his father’s name, for Wang Lung was uneducated. Wang Lung had high hopes for himself and his oldest son, but then he remembered that he had a second son and he started to find a job for his son to work at. As soon as he finds a job for his son, Wang Lung determined that his son would be great at his job and not fail his mentor saying, “...this boy will make a good merchant...he can be apprenticed in the grain market…[he will] tip the weight in my favor.” Wang Lung is already counting a chicken that hasn’t hatched in saying that no one is better than his son and this will be his profession. That was Wang Lung’s good ambition