In the book The Good Earth, the main character is Wang Lung. At the start of the novel, he prepares himself for marriage, and he describes himself as the type of man who washes only for women. He doesn’t usually wash every day, or even once a month. His first wife is O-lan, and she bears him many children. Wang Lung is happy with her cooking and ability to farm well.
When Wang Lung’s family, along with all the families in the village starves from the lack of food, he becomes desperate. O-lan teaches their children how to beg for food, and finds a few jewels in the process. But when Wang Lung finds out that his two sons were thieving from people, he became very angry and started hitting his two sons. Then once, he himself thieves from a helpless old man. Towards the end of the middle of the novel, he becomes greedy and gets himself another wife who is called Lotus Flower. He starts treating O-lan with disrespect, and even took her two special pearls to give to Lotus Flower. Also, he gets mad really easily at practically all the characters in the story. Towards his elder daughter, he calls her a “little fool”, “little slave girl”, or “ugly dark colored girl.”
Personally, I think that Wang Lung is a man who is kind of teetering on the edge of his emotions. When something angers him, he explodes it all out. If he is very sad, he will weep. Though someone of his character traits are at fault, he is still the character that Buck uses as the main character, and to help move the story along.
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