Essay - The Significance of the Earth in The Good Earth

The Significance of the Earth in The Good Earth



"And O-lan in the house was not idle. With her own hands she lashed the mats to the rafters and took earth from the fields and mixed it with water and mended the walls of the house, and she built again the oven and filled the holes in the floor that the rain had washed."

There can be no doubt that the symbol of earth in Buck's novel, The Good Earth, is one so potent that it permeates and binds the entire tale. It is presented repeatedly throughout the novel, either through gentle allusion or outright statement. None can dispute that the earth itself is a vital component in the livelihood of any farmer, thus it is not surprising that the farmer Wang Lung places so much value into his lands; however, there is a separate element of the earth that Pearl S. Buck brings forth in her tale about a farmer's prosperous rise in feudal China, that element of regeneration and revitalization that is so apparent within this selected passage from the book.



Many times throughout the book did the earth pull Wang Lung through hardship and difficulty, and it was the one constant factor in his life, even as things changed--people dies, great houses fell, war and famine raged, and inner turmoil plagued his very being. Throughout all of these obstacles the earth was always there, waiting for Wang Lung--whether as poor farmer or as wealthy man of the village--to return to it, and draw from it those ever-present qualities of life and healing. The very words of the selected passage are pregnant with these qualities, as Wang Lung and his family, returning from the south to his land after a great and terrible period of famine, close those horrible years through the almost magical substance of the earth. It is symbolic how O-lan the wife, tending to the structure of the farmland house (a symbol itself in the Wang family) uses the "earth from the fields" to mend the walls of the house--thus the ailments of the "house" are healed by the richness of the land. All the "holes" that the past "rain" created are "filled."



Nowhere in the book is the significance of the earth better presented than in this passage. When taken less literally and more figuratively, one can witness all that the land does for Wang Lung throughout the entire tale. Through the hands of his faithful wife (which are an extension of his own hands, as are all the laborers whom he hires in the latter part of the book) the land is an agent of life, healing, and prosperity.

Bahasa Inggris - Poles Apart

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Many are surprised to learn that Antarctica is nearly twice the size off the united states. Largely because of this difference, the climate of the two areas is very different. Antarctica is the coldest area in the world. At both poles, daily temperatures may drop for below the monthly mean. Partly because of this climatic difference, the land animals and plants of the two regions are very different. Ice is the great feature of Antarctica. More than 4,5 million square miles of ice sheet cover the area. The icecap is very thick, averaging nearly 8.000 feet. If this great volume of ice were to melt, the volume of the world oceans would increase, and sea level would rise.

Bahasa Inggris - Green Revolution

THE “GREEN REVOLUTION”

From 1950 to 1980, the so called “Green Revolution” swept the world. World food production doubled with the introduction of a new approach to agriculture. These features were the cause of the early, enormous success of this “revolution”. However, the “Green Revoluiton” methods no longer appear to be so successful. Thought the population continues to grow, food production has failed to keep up with it. There are a number of reasons for this. One reason lies in the expense of the new farming methods. Erosion is another reason for the lower grain production. Yet another reason for lower production lies in the nature of the chemicals that farmers have used. Finally, the green revolution has brought about social and political conflict that has interfered with food production. The problem lies in the cost of the new agricultural methods. Governments and farmers need to look at the overall picture and long-term effects