OLAN
A
character in Pearl Buck's “The Good Earth”
Common
clues: Pearl
Buck heroine; “The Good Earth” heroine; Wang Lung's
wife; Buck character
Crossword
puzzle frequency:
2 times a year
Video:
The Good
Earth – Wedding Day
A
dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I
saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
– Pearl S Buck
O-Lan
is a character in Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth. She was a slave
of a the House of Hwang and then married to Wang Lung. They start
a family in their small country town, and endure grueling times,
including droughts, floods, and war. Wang Lung and O-Lan work as
hard as horses to ensure their family's survival. The family's
persistence finally prevails, and the land eventually produces
great riches.
O-Lan
is a skilled cook because she worked in the kitchens as slave.
When O-Lan first arrives at Wang Lung's house, she prepares a
deliciously cooked meal. In response to Wang Lung's questions of
her dexterity, she blandly replies, "I have been kitchen
slave since I went into the House of Hwang. There were meats at
every meal." Wang Lung received many compliments from his
family and friends for O-Lan's dinner. She is familiar with the
preparation many different kinds of food, such as corn cobs,
meats, and other varied foods.
O-Lan
is also an experienced beggar. This skill is used in a critical
time. The family is forced to face many adversities during the
drought. Wang-Lung and O-Lan reluctantly decide to move to a
southern city to escape starvation. O-Lan uses her childhood
begging talents to assist the family in surviving the dilemmas of
the city. She knows who to plead to, where to beg, and most
importantly, teaches the children to beg.
Wang
Lung eventually casts O-Lan aside after, deciding she is too
unappealing to be desirable, and becomes enamored with a
prostitute named Lotus. He takes her as a second wife, which
devastates O-Lan; O-Lan becomes especially unhappy when the
second wife brings Cuckoo, a former slave of the House of Hwang,
as her personal servant. O-Lan resents Cuckoo for being haughty
and cold when they were both slaves, and reminds her that while
Cuckoo is still a slave, O-Lan is the lady of a prosperous
household, a first wife, and the mother of sons.
After
giving birth to twins, a boy and a girl, O-lan becomes barren,
saying "There is a fire in my vitals". She repeats this
throughout the years and starts working in the fields less and
less, until one day around the time Wang Lung began to feel guilt
for casting her aside, she can no longer leave her room and Wang
Lung summons the town's doctor who says among other things, that
she has worms in her heart. The doctor says then that it will
cost 500 pieces of silver to help her, but, O-lan refuses saying
good land could be bought with that money. Wang Lung ignores her
and exclaims that he has the money. Upon hearing this, the doctor
says that the color of her eyes are different and treatment will
cost 5,000 pieces of silver. Wang Lung realizes that her case is
terminal, does not answer, and the doctor simply says, "She
will die". Over the next years, O-lan becomes weaker and
begins to fall into fits. She constantly shows how much Wang Lung
has hurt her when she constantly murmurs at the end "I am
ugly and cannot be loved". When O-lan finally died, after
having her second son married, she was buried with her
father-in-law on Wang Lung's land.
O-Lan's
intelligence, talents, and hard work are crucial to Wang Lung's
success. After her death, there is no one in the household to
manage their finances carefully; their oldest son spends money
constantly, while their second son insists on hoarding their
money. Without O-Lan, Wang Lung has difficulty controlling the
household, and eventually retreats from the family altogether.
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Olan".
OLAN
(134) 28
We- >1 09 Pearl Buck heroine
22
We >1 06 "The Good Earth" heroine
15
We >1 08 Buck heroine
7
Tu- >1 03 "The Good Earth" wife
6
We- >1 08 "The Good Earth" mother
6
Fr- >1 05 Wang Lung's wife
4
>1 08 Heroine of "The Good Earth"
4
We CSy 09 Wife in "The Good Earth"
86
Good Earth heroine
3
Tu >1 57 Pearl Buck character
3
Th Rea 06 The Good Earth wife
2
Sa LAT 07 "The Good Earth" role
2
Tu >1 96 "The Good Earth" woman
2
Th NYT 91 Buck character
2
Tu- >1 01 Character in "The Good Earth"
2
Th- >1 05 Pearl S. Buck heroine
2
We CSy 07 Wang Lung's wife in "The Good Earth"
1
Fr LAT 96 "Good Earth" character
1
Th LAT 96 "The Good Earth"
00
"The Good Earth" character
1
Th NYT 92 "good Earth"-ling
1
Fr NYT 07 1937 Oscar role for Luise Rainer
1
Th LAT 96 Buck Heroine
83
Good Earth wife
1
We CSy 05 Heroine in "The Good Earth"
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