Earth First Half Wang Lung

¶ … Earth

First Half

Wang Lung turns of age and his parents find him a suitable marriage partner by asking the wealthy Hwang family for a slave girl. The girl they find does not have bound feet but otherwise suits Wang Lung's needs as a wife because she is down-to-earth and unattractive enough to ensure that she is most likely still a virgin. She does not have bound feet.

Yet O-lan turns out to be a suitable mate and bears Wang Lung a son as their first and second children. Moreover, the family becomes prosperous farmers and are eventually able to purchase larger tracts of land from the Hwang family. The Hwangs are greedy but live decadently and so do not manage their wealth well. Meanwhile, Wang Lung and O-Lan learn how to equate hard work with financial success. Even though Wang Lung must lend money to his uncle, the family thrives during the first years of the marriage.

As if on cue, the first daughter born to the family precedes a great famine and when the next child is a girl, O-Lan kills her because the family does not have enough food to feed another mouth. The family goes through tough times after the famine. Forced to abandon the land that provided them with sustenance and livelihood, many of the children must beg for food and money; Wang Lung drives a rickshaw to earn a living; and the couple come close to selling their daughter into slavery. The family also resorts to stealing and looting during their time in the South. Wang Lung uses the money they steal to purchase some more land. After they are able to afford the new tract, which was also bought from the Hwangs, Wang Lung and O-Lan have twins and one of them is born with disabilities.

Summary: Second Half

Prosperous once again, Wang Lung can now actually afford to hire help to till the fields. He even lives as if he were as wealthy as the Hwangs and grows bored when he works less on the fields. The idle time changes Wang Lung and his relationship with O-Lan. Whereas the two were once a loving couple, Wang Lung now finds a concubine named Lotus who stays with him for year. Yet Wang Lung also starts to criticize O-Lan for being unattractive because of her big (unbound) feet. O-Lan becomes sick, which devastates Wang Lung as he rekindles his love and affection for his wife.

Wang Lung's uncle, who borrowed money from Wang Lung on several occasions without gratitude or anything to show for it, now moves into Wang Lung's estate. The uncle and his family become opium addicts and Wang Lung enables them, especially because their addiction makes the family easier to control and subdue. When Wang Lung is wealthy enough he buys the old Hwang estate and therefore finds a residence separate from his annoying uncle.