...Analysis of Wang Lung’s Character in The Good Earth as a Typical Farmer Image in China Abstract Pearl Buck, who lived in China for almost 40 years, has formed an in-depth understanding of Chinese society and owned a spontaneous emotion toward Chinese people. With a meticulous and direct observation of Chinese farmers, she accurately grasped “earth” as the survival core and cultural root of Chinese farmers. In her masterpiece, The Good Earth, Pearl Buck brings authentic rural life and vivid images of farmer in China to western readers through her unique perspectives. The Good Earth not only changes distorted stereotype Chinese images in the westerners’ mind in 19th century, but also fully demonstrates various Chinese farmer’s characters. This thesis intends to analyze Wang Lung’s behavior and his hidden characters as a typical farmer in China. Through scrutinizing the text content, the author discovers that both merits of traditional Chinese farmer and backward thoughts under the feudal society are embodied in Wang Lung’s character. On the one hand, Wang Lung, industrious and frugal, simple and kind, has a keen attachment to earth. On the other hand, he is feudalistic, timid and conservative with a strong lust to women. Key Words: The Good Earth Wang Lung image of farmer Contents I. Introduction 1 1.1. Summary of The Good Earth 1 1.2. The Significance of The Good Earth 2 1.3. Relevant Studies of The Good Earth 3 II. Wang Lung’s Merits...
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...Throughout the novel of "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck, no character was more influential than Wang Lung. Wang Lung's story was one of determination, greed, and heartache. Every decision Wang Lung made altered the lives of those around him, for better or worse. Simply put, Wang Lang was a man with two masters, his land and his desire for wealth. And as the saying goes, a man can never serve two masters. From rags to riches, Wang Lung was the eighteenth century Chinese embodiment of the modern American spirit. Born and raised as a poor Chinese farmer, Wang Lang uses hard work, determination, and desire to become one of the richest men in the land. His love for the land is what keeps him morally clean, while also pushing him to become a better worker and a better husband. This is shown when Wang Lung says to his sons "Now, evil, idle sons—sell the land! It is the end of a family—when they begin to sell the land . . . Out of the land we came and into it we must go—and if you will hold your land you can live—no one can rob you of land. . . . If you sell the land, it is the end" (Buck 242)....
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...It was Wang Lung's marriage day. At first, opening his eyes in the blackness of the curtains about his bed, he could not think why the dawn seemed different from any other. The house was still except for the faint, gasping cough of his old father, whose room was opposite to his own across the middle room. Every morning the old man's cough was the first sound to be heard. Wang Lung usually lay listening to it and moved only when he heard it approaching nearer and when he heard the door of his father's room squeak upon its wooden hinges. But this morning he did not wait. He sprang up and pushed aside the curtains of his bed. It was a dark, ruddy dawn, and through a small square hole of a window, where the tattered paper fluttered, a glimpse of bronze sky gleamed. He went to the hole and tore the paper away. "It is spring and I do not need this," he muttered. He was ashamed to say aloud that he wished the house to look neat on this day. The hole was barely large enough to admit his hand and he thrust it out to feel of the air. A small soft wind blew gently from the east, a wind mild and murmurous and full of rain. It was a good omen. The fields needed rain for fruition. There would be no rain this day, but within a few days, if this wind continued, there would be water. It was good. Yesterday he had said to his father that if this brazen, glittering sunshine continued, the wheat could not fill in the ear. Now it was as if Heaven had chosen this day to wish him well. Earth would...
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...www.GetPedia.com History of China: Table of Contents q q Historical Setting The Ancient Dynasties r r r Dawn of History Zhou Period Hundred Schools of Thought q The Imperial Era r r r r r r First Imperial Period Era of Disunity Restoration of Empire Mongolian Interlude Chinese Regain Power Rise of the Manchus q Emergence Of Modern China r r r r r r Western Powers Arrive First Modern Period Opium War, 1839-42 Era of Disunity Taiping Rebellion, 1851-64 Self-Strengthening Movement Hundred Days' Reform and Aftermath Republican Revolution of 1911 q Republican China r r r Nationalism and Communism s Opposing the Warlords s Consolidation under the Guomindang s Rise of the Communists Anti-Japanese War Return to Civil War q People's Republic Of China r r Transition to Socialism, 1953-57 Great Leap Forward, 1958-60 r r r r r Readjustment and Recovery, 1961-65 Cultural Revolution Decade, 1966-76 s Militant Phase, 1966-68 s Ninth National Party Congress to the Demise of Lin Biao, 1969-71 s End of the Era of Mao Zedong, 1972-76 Post-Mao Period, 1976-78 China and the Four Modernizations, 1979-82 Reforms, 1980-88 q References for History of China [ History of China ] [ Timeline ] Historical Setting The History Of China, as documented in ancient writings, dates back some 3,300 years. Modern archaeological studies provide evidence of still more ancient origins in a culture that flourished between 2500 and 2000 B.C....
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...NOTE: This PDF document has a handy set of “bookmarks” for it, which are accessible by pressing the Bookmarks tab on the left side of this window. ***************************************************** We are the last. The last generation to be unaugmented. The last generation to be intellectually alone. The last generation to be limited by our bodies. We are the first. The first generation to be augmented. The first generation to be intellectually together. The first generation to be limited only by our imaginations. We stand both before and after, balancing on the razor edge of the Event Horizon of the Singularity. That this sublime juxtapositional tautology has gone unnoticed until now is itself remarkable. We're so exquisitely privileged to be living in this time, to be born right on the precipice of the greatest paradigm shift in human history, the only thing that approaches the importance of that reality is finding like minds that realize the same, and being able to make some connection with them. If these books have influenced you the same way that they have us, we invite your contact at the email addresses listed below. Enjoy, Michael Beight, piman_314@yahoo.com Steven Reddell, cronyx@gmail.com Here are some new links that we’ve found interesting: KurzweilAI.net News articles, essays, and discussion on the latest topics in technology and accelerating intelligence. SingInst.org The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence: think tank devoted to increasing...
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