Dearden,+Bobby

__//**FINAL BLOG!!**//__ Wang Lung is the main character in this story. He starts out the book as a poor Chinese farmer trying to make enough to sustain his family, which in the beginning was his father and him. He marries O-Lan and they begin work together in the fields and on their home. She gives birth to his children and run the house. O-Lan is another main character. The wife of Wang Lung, it is her duty to raise his children and tend to the house. Another character in the story that I analyzed later on was the second son. He takes time to care for the expenses of the family and other things that are generally overlooked. The final character I looked at was Wang Lung’s daughter. She is disabled. I examined her because she plays a big role in Wang Lung’s life in her early life. In the end, he asks that she be poisoned after he dies because he does not want her to be hurt and unwanted without him there. I think it takes a great man to keep and raise a daughter that is worth nothing but yet symbolizes a lot. This book starts off really slow and boring, with the introduction of characters and the situation they are in. Wang Lung and his family pray to their gods to give them good years and during a time of great profit there is a drought that consumes all the land. All begin to go hungry because they depended on the crop to pay for the food they eat and the crop itself for the food they need to survive the winter. Eventually it gets bad enough that they must go south, where there is plentiful food and places to make a little money. There Wang Lung discovers a new side to his wife, because she has had to do this before. Eventually they make their way back to their farm land and begin farming again, with the help of one of their neighbors. Wang Lung becomes very rich and gains enough money to make it through the rough years. This book is basically a “rags to riches” type of story. I would give this book a 4. But I give the end a 2. The book itself starts out hard to read, but soon becomes very interesting and captured me. The end I thought wasn’t the greatest for the book, but it has a little closure for the book. I would have written it differently, though, making I go on a little longer. Using the wiki is definitely better than taking a test over every so many chapters. But there are the select few who choose not to read the books and/or just don’t like using the blogs. I like being able to express my feelings about the book and not having to memorize the book for a test that I will ultimately fail. But ultimately I think the wikis are a good thing and we should continue to use them to our advantage.
 * Characters**
 * Summary**
 * Rating**
 * Wiki Reflections**

Blog #4 9-18-11 Page 70(was up reading late last night)

O-Lan and her husband have figured out that the House of Hwang, where O-Lan is from, is faring much worse than they are. Wang Lung have purchased some of their land and at this point they have 2 children. Times seem to be rough for the House of Hwang because they spend too much. The Old Mistress is addicted to Opium. For the first time in years they do not have new coats for the new year.

So far my prediction for Wang Lung an his family has not come true. In fact, the exact opposite right now. They have extra silver each year. Wang Lung can be a little tempremental, but he quickly gathers himself and goes back to what he was doing.

I still like my choice of book because it is what I am not used to reading.

Blog #3

I have found little time to read both this week and weekend helping at pufferbilly days. I have read up to page 35, though.

My favorite passage from the book is "she took their ragged clothes and with thread she herself spun on a bamboo spindle from a wad of cotton she mended and contrived to cover the rents in their winter clothes." Pg. 30 by narrator, the chinese farmer.

I chose this because it reminds me of the play we are reading right now, how Linda has to mend her own stockings. Also because it shows just how poor this chinese family is.

Blog #2

So far i have read 30 pages, plus some pages describing the book and the way the author wrote it, his ideas on the book, etc.

One of the main characters in this book is Wang Lung. He is a chinese farmer during the time of the last dynasty of China. He just got married to O-lan. Wang Lung's mother died six years before and he has been stuck taking care of his poor aging father. I predict that there will be a famine or a drought that will ruin their crop and put them in economic hard times

Blog #1

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

I think that this book will be dramatic and different than that of which I am used to reading.