-lan would be a faithful wife toWang Lung and it turned out I was right. The fact that she wasn’t beautifuldidn’t matter at all. She served her family well. Another meaningfuldescription is Lotus’, Wang Lung’s first mistress, which has an irony to it ifyou compare it to O-lan’s. “If one had told him there were small hands likethese he would not have believed it, hands so small and bones so fine andfingers so pointed with long nails stained the color of lotus buds, deep androsy. And if one had told him that there could be feet like these, little feetthrust into pink satin shoes no longer than a man’s middle finger, andswinging childishly over the bed’s edge--if anyone had told him he wouldnot have believed it.” (p.181) This shows how delicate Lotus is physicallyand you would probably think she is decent and kind, but later on in thebook you would find out that her physical description doesn’t fit herpersonality at all. She is manipulative and greedy. She also complains all thetime. Comparing her to O-lan shows you that it’s not beauty that counts butit’s what on the inside that matters to be able to know a good person.The importance of Wang lung’s land somewhat intrigued me. It’shard to imagine such love a man like Wang Lung has for his land. But thissame land was the one that fed them and made them rich. “And his wife, whohad been a slave in the kitchens of that proud family, would be wife to aman who owned a piece of land that for generations had made the House ofHwang great.” (p.53) This is an important turning point in Wang Lung’s lifebecause he finally came with a goal which helped him strive for a betterfuture for him and his family. “And again the slow smile spread over herface, the smile that never lightened the dullness of her narrow black eyes,and after a long time she said, “Last year this time I was slave in thath...
