Money to the Brain

Pearl S. Bucks, “The Good Earth”, has one central theme throughout the novel trying to show, specifically through Wang Lung, how as a person acquires more money, they begin to become more selfish, loosing their identity in consumerism and the material of money itself. Wang Lung has lived off the land that has been passed to him and not much else for the majority of his life. Even in the beginnings of his marriage to O-lan and throughout the birth of their children, their economic state continued to decrease, leaving them on the bring of starvation. At one point, Wang Lung even debated selling his daughters in order to be able to keep his land, saying, “I might have done it, if she had not lain in my bosom and smiled like that.”Once the rebellion occurs and everyone breaks into and steals from the wealthy class, Wang Lung has more money than he could ever asked for. By feeding his Uncles Opium addiction, he continued to acquire more and more money. With this newfound experience of being wealthy, Wang Lung is able to hire laborers to work on the land he fought so hard to keep. He also begins to focus his eyes on other women rather than O-lan, believing he can do whatever he wants because he is now considered to be “rich” in societal views.As their children continue to grow up, they take after their father in this sense- greedy and self serving. They loose all respect for the land, their religion, and their historical and societal culture.