Within “The Good Earth,” there are many apparent themes that give us insight into lessons we should take away about life. One of these themes is mans relationship to the earth. Humans were created to inhabit the earth, to build it up and make it their own but over the centuries, we have neglected our purpose for our own selfish desires. Today, our world faces adversity after adversity such as climate change, air pollution, our oceans becoming trash lands, and much more. We look to the land to provide us with the necessary resources and supplies but we lack the contribution of giving back to the earth. Our relationship to the earth is two-sided- it provides us with nourishment and we must take care of it to the best of our abilities. But today, we struggle more than ever with this. Trash fills our oceans, killing all the sea life, toxic chemicals fill our air which is decreasing bird populations, and unknowingly kills millions of people every year.
In “The Good Earth”, Wang Lungs connection to the land is connected to his identity and his worth ethic. He harvests and cares of it himself, with no help from laborers. By him taking care of his own land with his own hands, this causes a stronger bond between him and the ground. In contrast to Wang Lung, the Hwang family, a local wealthy family that is held high on a pedestal, has laborers who take care of their land, they have absolutely no connection. Wang Lung, although a poor farmer, in the beginning, he created his wealth by means of his land that he looked over and harvested. During the famine when Wang Lung and his family had no food to eat, they literally ate the dirt off this ground, just another symbol of what it provides. As Wang Lung grows older and starts to enter into more of the city life, he misses his land and returns often to visit it but the connection between him and his land is not the same and continues to grow weaker and weaker. Continually, his uncle asked to buy his land, even when Wang Lungs family was on the brink of starvation, he refused to give it up to anyone. At one point, he even considered selling his own daughter in order to have money to pay for the land. His undying love for his land caused him to do crazy things sometimes. Wang Lung’s identity is tied into this land, and he believes that it is a piece of wealth that nobody can take away from him no matter how hard they try. As political events began to take a turn and people began to riot against the wealthy, Wang Lung paid no attention to this and never felt that desperation to riot against the wealthy because his land was his wealth. Once Wang Lung hires his own workers to take care of the field and he starts to hang out at the Tea house, eventually falling head over heels in love with Lotus the prostitute, his connection to the land begins to wither.
The final act of Wang Lungs sons looking at him and telling him they won’t sell the land but eventually do undermines everything that Wang Lung worked for. This land gave him his wealth over time, and it was tied in with his identity. The title of this book says it all- this earth that we live on is in fact so good. It provides us with life and without it we wouldn’t be able to live and evolve.
Great American Novels 