“The Good Earth” is set in the early twentieth century, in Anhwei, China. This area is mostly inhabited by peasants with the exception of the House of Hwang.The main character of this novel, Wang Lung, lives outside of this village on a farm. Lung’s land is very important to him because he relies on it for everything. When his land is affected, his life and personality are as well. During most of his life, both Lung and O-lan, his wife, work hard on the land. Lung does backbreaking labor every day outside in the hot climate in the fields, preparing the land each season to be able to make money from each final crop. While his wife. O-lan, would do the same chores such as carrying water from field to field and planting seeds, working side-by-side Lung. She also works inside the house: cleaning, making clothes, and cooking meals. However, Wang Lung is the protagonist of the novel, so the reader learns more about his character, which is an honest, hardworking man, but is not perfect. Although flawed, Wang Lung continues to be the character with whom readers identify and sympathize. Throughout the novel Wang Lung demonstrates both his weakness and his virtues. One of his virtues is his love for the land. Lung loves his land because it is everything to him. This love blinds him of other things he should show importance to. For example, he really wants a wife to help him out in …show more content…
Even though Lung strived for perfection in his life, it is just unattainable for anyone to achieve. Although Lung was not perfect, perhaps it is just these imperfections that draw readers to him. Wang Lung is a character whose actions and feelings readers can understand. Wang Lung, a man that has worked hard his entire life would most likely agree with Liza M. Wiemer who once stated, “For whatever it's worth, I believe we're born imperfect, and perfection, whatever that may be, is unattainable by us mere