Okonkwo And Wang Lung From The Good Earth And Okonkwo From Things Fall Apart

The historical classic, “The Good Earth”, revolves around the life of Wang Lung, introducing the average Chinese farmer on his wedding day to the slave O-lan. Together, the newly married couple care for Wang Lung’s father and farm the land, prospering from the fruits of their labor. Their early life continues to bring great fortune when they are able to purchase land from the House of Hwang, who O-lan served, and when their first two children are born sons.

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe employs imagery, symbolism, and themes to reveal the story of Okonkwo. Throughout the novel he weaves in these things to really tell us the tale.

“The Good Earth” book describes the life of a Chinese farmer, Wang Lung, and the struggles he goes through during his life. In the beginning of the book, he marries a young slave named Olan. She is a devoted, selfless, hardworking wife. In my mind, she is the most admirable character in the novel.

In Pearl S. Buck’s novel, The Good Earth, the protagonist, Wang Lung, starts out as a very poor farmer in China. He marries a slave named O-lan and starts a family with her. Famine soon strikes the town and there is no food to be found anywhere. Wang Lung moves his family South in hopes of finding a job there. Eventually, a group of poor people raid the homes of the rich. Wang Lung and O-lan both join in, getting away with enough gold and valuables to get back to their land in the North. Wang Lung uses this stolen money to buy more land and hire laborers. He quickly becomes one of the richest men in his town. Wang Lung, however, does not know that with great wealth comes great responsibility. His wealth corrupts him and his moral judgements become blurred. Wang

In all English literature their are elements for example, Conflict, Theme, Dynamic Character, Static Character, Climax and the list goes on. At the beginning of the story Okonkwo was a strong brave warrior who feared no one. However when the story gets into more depth and the characters faces struggles Okonkwo tend to change in the story. From one strong warrior to someone who killed a child. From someone who never used to listen or respect his wife to a husband who shows a little change in him.

It is true that personality differs from person to person, but to Okonkwo, only certain behaviors and emotions are acceptable for a man. He seems to regard all other emotions and behaviors as too womanly. Achebe characterizes Okonkwo as one who has a fiery temper, and Okonkwo is even given the nickname “Roaring Flame”. Okonkwo strived to “hate everything his father had loved. One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness” (Achebe 11). Okonkwo’s wives are truly terrified of him and therefore they remain very soft-spoken, and do not show their emotions often. Wang Lung also shows his temper, and hides other emotions. Such as when O-lan’s first child is a boy, he is overjoyed but does not outwardly express it. O-lan, being a woman, must hide her true feelings. For example, when Wang Lung demands for her pearls, “But O-lan returned to the beating of his clothes and when tears dropped slowly and heavily from her eyes she did not put up her hand to wipe them away; only she beat more steadily..” (Buck 135). Both novels characterize the male protagonists as angry men, with gentle and quiet wives.

Social rank and relative wealth play great roles in determining a person’s life in Umuofia society. Sometimes a man with sheer force of will cannot change his future through hard work. One of the main conflicts in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the clash between Okonkwo’s determination to succeed, his free will, and fate – which seems to have less appealing things in mind. Okonkwo’s will plays a major factor in determining his future; he chooses to kill Ikemefuna with his own hands, he chooses to kill a government official, and in the end, he chooses to take his own life. However, the pre-destined conditions of his life, his father’s failures, and a series of unfortunate circumstances ultimately lead to Okonkwo’s downfall.

Both worked hard and bought a great amount of land so they could increase their fortune. To manage all that wealth Wang Lung had to be smart and never forget about his traditional values. Wang Lung was held in his wants and desires as he wasted all his family’s savings to buy more land. By this time in the novel Wang Lung was being a terrible example for his kids. He would make terrible decisions economically speaking, which could lead to very complex and bad situations. Speaking about bad situations the famine in the ancient china begun. "Hunger makes thief of any man." ( Page. 122) The quote above makes it clear that becoming a wealthy man didn’t change Wang Lung completely; he still obtained very important values. With those traditional values in mind he could understand that during the famine it was hard to survive and this could lead to various

“Opposites attract.” This is a very cliché quote used by physicists and other scientific personnel, but it rings true in many different ways. In literature, the correct term for a character that sets off or enhances another character by contrast is called a “foil.” Pairs of characters that are foils to each other have very opposing views and personalities, but their presence with each other illustrates the qualities in a better light. The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a fictional novel which includes a main character named Okonkwo. Okonkwo has some very distinguishing features about him, but the fact that he has a foil in the novel

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as a respected and determined individual whose fatal flaw eventually works against him. Throughout the novel the readers are shown that Okonkwo has many of these Characteristics because he is obsessed with the idea of becoming just like his father. This becomes his flaw in the novel that puts him into exile and makes it hard for him to adjust to the changes that were made with in his village.

Fearing that these changes might result his downfall in his social status and destruction of his family, he abhors Christianity. Through this misfortunes, Okonkwo starts to realizes that destiny is more powerful than himself as he mentions, “A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi. The saying of the elders was not true – that if a man said yeah his chi also affirmed. Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation.” (131) Even though Okonkwo does some violent and cruel things, such as beating his wife and killing Ikemefuna, these are what he has to do to pursue what he believes for and obey the gods. These deeds are not that immoral and sinful to bring great calamities to his life. This demonstrates that fate is more powerful than humans’ acts and beliefs. As a result, Okonkwo, is a man who thinks that he can overcome the destiny, however, he begins to laments for his misfortunes and slowly accept the existent power of fate that dominates his life.

The Good Earth is a novel about China before it’s great revolution which ended the monarchy. The book was written by Pearl S. Buck, the first American woman to be so highly honored. This book has many interesting characters from peasants to lords, and many are very extraordinary, yet identical in various ways. In this response I will be comparing and contrasting the two wives of Wang Lung, O-lan and Lotus. There are many separating factors between the two, but there are also multiple similarities: O-lan was hard working and productive while Lotus was constantly idle, one was suitable for a farmer, unlike the other, which was made for a lord; however both wives were replaced by someone more beautiful in the end. First, let us bring out the what

In Things Fall Apart, the main protagonist, Okonkwo and Macbeth share many similarities in their journey as their lives, quite frankly, fall apart. Both of them are lead by their ambition and desire to be seen as powerful. In their stories, they lose themselves and the respect of their people as they try to maintain their status. Macbeth and Okonkwo differ in that Macbeth is driven by his greed, whereas Okonkwo is standing up for his traditions and values. Both of these tragic heroes actions are greatly influenced by other people and things that lead them down dark paths.

Okonkwo lost himself after losing everything he had. He didn’t have a real enough sense of self to adapt to all the changes that hit him like a whirlwind.

Chinua Achebe unfolds a variety of interesting connections between characters in the Novel Things Fall Apart. Relationships with parents, children and inner self are faced differently, however the attitude that Okonkwo gave them determined what kind of outcome he generated from these relations. Okonkwo looks at everything through his violent and manly perspective and is afraid to show his real feelings because he thinks that he may be thought out as weak and feminine this paranoid attitude lead him to self-destruction.