" (17). Many times, O-lan is fearful of speaking. When it is the first time taking hot water to the old man, she tells Wang Lung fearfully, "'I took no tea to the Old One-I did as you said-but to you I . . .'" (27). O-lan listens well to Wang Lung, but fears that she is not doing her jobs correctly. O-lan's timidity when she first gets married is only natural for her situation. At the beginning of the novel, she rarely speaks up. A little after the marriage, O-lan gets used to having a husband and begins to act more boldly and also becomes smarter. When O-lan is about to give birth to their first child, Wang Lung tells O-lan that they should get some woman from the House of Hwang to help her give birth, but she says, "'None in that house!'. . . 'When I return to that house it will be with my child in my arms'" (33). She is miserable growing up in the House of Hwang because she has to work hard as a slave and she doesn't like the people there. She is proud that she is away from the House of Hwang and that she has a husband. When the drought hits their farmland, O-lan and Wang Lung are talking about moving to the South and selling their furniture. O-lan tells Wang Lung, "'The land we will not sell'" (87) because the land is precious and will always be worth something. O-lan is beginning to speak her own opinion and she knows how important the land is to her family. The land is the basis of Wang Lung's life and without it he and his family would starve. O-lan becomes braver as she gets used to being around a man and she stops being scared and quiet. As years go by and time progresses, she begins to speak more of her mind. An example of this is when Cuckoo, Lotus' servant comes to Wang Lung's house, he notices that O-lan despises Cuckoo. When asked about it, she replies, "I bore her haughty looks all during my youth in the great house and her running into the kitchen a score of times a day and crying out 'now tea for the lord' - 'now fo...
