Good Earth: Moral vs. Immoral

Good Earth: Moral vs. Immoral

The Good Earth: Moral vs. Immoral

In Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth, the main character, Wang Lung starts out as a poor farmer with a not-too-pretty wife, and a few kids.   His dream is to one day possibly be rich.   When drought makes him almost destitute, he is forced to move to a city to find quick work so his family can survive.   While in the city he catches a glimpse at the rich and lavish lifestyle.   He decides right then that he wants to be rich soon.   But he does not realize that with money comes immoral temptation that can tear a family apart.   He will be faced with a big moral vs. immoral decision involving his family as his wealth increases.

Wang Lung path to becoming rich starts with an immoral action.   He steals gold from a rich man during a riot in the city.   “And the fat man rose to his knees, sobbing and gibbering, and feeling for the pocket of the robe, and he brought forth his yellow hands dripping with gold and Wang Lung held out the end of his coat and received it.”   (Buck, page 99)   From this point on, he is intent on becoming rich.   He goes back to the land and aquires his wealth honestly through good land investments and planting more crops than he has ever planted before.  

To his credit, Wang Lung makes a moral decision when he decides to help out his neighbor, Ching, who has been deeply affected by the drought.   He is now starving, close to death, and has already lost his wife.   Wang Lung gave him seeds to start over with, which he could not afford.   Ching would have died if Wang Lung had not been kind to him.   He shared his newfound fortune to save a friend’s life.

As Wang Lung aquires more wealth, he becomes curious about wealthy ways of living.   He caught a glimpse when he lived in the city, and now wants to live like a rich landowner, rather than a farmer.   He visits a new teashop in town.   At first he just drinks tea, but he is soon introduced to a new way of spending his money: whores.   He meets a whore named Lotus, to...