I just finished reading The Good Earth. I was struck by a theme it addressed about relationships. It was written in a kind of a "this happened, then that happened, which resulted in this, but then this other thing happened" flow, yet the whole book was captivating.
Wang Lung, the main character, was born a poor farmer in rural pre-revolutionary China. He marries a slave woman, O-lan, from the richest family in the area. As with the land, the relationship Wang has with O-lan initially is extremely fruitful, silent, and harmonious. There's a famine that comes to the land so Wang and O-lan are forced to "go south." The family of five live in extreme poverty for a winter and Wang Lung can't wait to get home to his fields. They manage to leave when Wang demands money from a rich man during a revolt. They go back, Wang buys land, his harvests are plentiful, the "Great House" where his wife used to be a slave doesn't have any money so he buys some of their land, this leads to more money and power for Wang...etc etc Wang becomes rich and greedy. There's a lot more to the book but that's the very basics.
I was struck most by the relationship of Wang Lung and O-lan. O-lan is described as an average looking women, very healthy and fertile, big-boned, big footed, with a square face. Wang never describes her as beautiful and neither does the narrator. She's like super-wife for the time, at least as far as I could tell. She bears Wang three sons, two of which are the oldest, plus two other daughters. She'd be working in the fields with Wang, realize she had to give birth, go in to the house, make dinner, and give birth by herself in her room in silence. Non-stop worker, never complained, tough, and loyal. When the family is in the south she secretly finds jewels hidden in the palace wall during the revolt, these ultimately become the means to which Wang reaches his ultimate wealth and power. From the jewels she found, O-lan wanted to keep two pearls for herself, Wang Lung gives these two pearls to her and it clearly represents his love/and or respect for her.
It get's tragic though. Wang get's rich enough that he basically doesn't have to work anymore. So he's sitting around the house bored. For the first time he looks at O-lan not as a wife but as an object and is disgusted with her lack of beauty. Long story short, he buys a pretty whore from the local brothel, builds her a separate house, spends limitlessly on her, and takes the two pearls from O-lan to give to her.
O-lan is obviously crushed. Wang thinks he's been better than average to her as far as providing and not beating her. He also writes it off with a "hey, all the rich guys are doing it." There's a natural guilt Wang feels, but he doesn't understand it. He sees women as good to have around for work and to bear sons, but they're pretty much worthless besides that.
The way the book is written echoes this too. The story never plunges into the thoughts and feelings of O-lan like I wanted it to, it just keeps on trucking with what's happening with Wang. The story acknowledges the interaction between the two of them, but not much more than that. The story was un-phased that O-lan just accepted that she couldn't be loved because she wasn't beautiful. Even after having done everything a man could have wanted, she couldn't be loved because she didn't have good looks.
I wanted to know why. I wanted to hear O-lan's side. I wanted Wang to have a change of heart.
I think the author chose to tell the story this way because it reflects natures perspective. The story keeps moving just like nature doesn't stop for tragic events. It's a kind of neutral observer. Things grow, die, then get turned under so new things can grow.
But it's different with relationships. The reality of growth and renewal in the plant world contrasts love and the way I (and other people I'm assuming) view relationships. In a relationship, like growing plants, there's a planting time, cultivation, fertilizing, nurturing, growth, time for weeding, and eventually fruits. But it's fruit upon fruit with relationships, instead of a death to rising cycle.
There are some similarities: sometimes a relationship is planted on bad soil or sometimes one relationship must die for another to flourish. These, however, mirror with good gardening and weeding techniques rather than it does with some sort of relationship cycle.
A good relationship leads to other good relationships. A good relationship also affects people to nurture more their own relationships or start a new one. Relationships don't have a cyclical pattern where one must die for another to take it's place. There's an endless fertile field for planting.
This was a good thought provoking theme in this book. I still feel bad for O-lan though.
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