(ENGL3201 Literature of Place: final comparative essay of The Good Earth, Things Fall Apart and Of Mice and Men)
The Good Earth, a story about a Chinese farmer’s life – from poor and having nothing to lose to survival problems, creating his own family and owning his land; Things Fall Apart, a story about a Nigerian man struggling to always be “powerful” and witnessing his tribe collapse because of culture invasion; Of Mice and Men, a story about two American buddies, Lennie and George, working in a ranch and pursuing their dream of getting their own farm. Three stories that seem not related at all, actually share a common theme – land. The word “land” can be interpreted in three ways. The first level is that “land” is earth, a collection of the material “soil”. The second level is that “land” is an abstract idea, just like a “place”. We can use “a piece of land” to describe a place, but we will not say “a piece of earth”. The third understanding is that “land” is a special place, it is different than the second level because the third level contains human emotions and the significant meanings that we have given it. “Land” could mean the place that you are born on and where you are nurtured. It can be a specific place like Beijing, Nigeria or California, where we call “homeland”, or it can be the Earth, since we are all “Earthlings” and it is our common home. I am going to talk about each of these levels in the three stories. The theme of land is demonstrated by the protagonist pursuing land as a dream, how land supports life, land as a belief, and finally our relationship with land in reality.
land is life and dream
While I dream about which university I am going to, the protagonists in The Good Earth, Of Mice and Men and Things Fall Apart all have dreams related to land. In The Good Earth, the main character Wang Lung’s dream is to buy his own land and make his family wealthy by working hard in his land. Today, we can live and make money in many different ways: work for big companies, sell things on Taobao and Amazon, become a YouTuber, etc. However, The Good Earth is set in almost a hundred years ago in China, when people barely can support themselves and some would just starve to death. Having a piece of land means having enough food for survival of a family, and by hardworking in the fields, you can sell or trade the crops to get money and become wealthy. For a peasant without any education or family background, farming is the only way to success.
“ ‘Sell their land!’ repeated Wang Lung, convinced.
‘Then indeed are they growing poor. Land is one’s flesh and blood.’
He pondered for a while and suddenly a thought came to him and he smote the side of his head with his palm.
‘What have I not thought of!’ he cried, turning to the woman.
‘We will buy the land!’
They stared at each other, he in delight, she in stupefaction.
‘But the land—the land…’ she stammered.
‘I will buy it!’ he cried in a lordly voice.
‘I will buy it from the great House of Hwang!’
‘It is too far away,’ she said in consternation.
‘We would have to walk half the morning to reach it.’
‘I will buy it,’ he repeated peevishly, as he might repeat a demand to his mother who crossed him.
‘It is a good thing to buy land,’ she said pacifically.” (Buck P.S. 31)
In this paragraph, we can see Wang Lung is determined and eager to buy land, no matter how O-Lan tries to convince him he refuses to change his mind. At the end O-lan compromised and admitted that buying land is good.
In Of Mice and Men, the two protagonists, George and Lennie, work in a ranch to earn money and wishing to accomplish their dream of having their own farm and raise rabbits (Lennie really likes fury stuff and especially rabbits). The story is set in The Great Depression period in California, America, when the whole economy collapsed and the unemployment rate is really high. George and Lennie are the representation of the most ordinary workers, who seeks job opportunities and tries to pursue their American Dream. With Lennie’s mental disorder, George and Lennie’s work is not stable because Lennie always causes trouble, and they always have to run away and find a new ranch to work. The ranch is a piece of land where George and Lennie can work, live and earn some money, but this is not “their land”. Their dream is to earn enough money buy their own farm and live happily. This is kind of like the American Dream, which people think that America is full of opportunities and gold, and anyone can start their life again in America.
In Things Falls Apart, land takes in a different form other than a dream or a life goal. Wang Lung, George and Lennie are the people from the lowest class, but Okonkwo started as a respected person who has a high position in his clan, and because he killed a boy by accident he was exiled. When he returns after seven years, their clan is “cultural invaded” by the white missionaries and many Igbo people became converts. Therefore, for Okonkwo, his dream is to return to his own land and save the Igbo culture. The “land” is here is on the third level of my definition, unlike for Wang Lung and George and Lennie their “dream land” is in the first level, mixed with the second and third level. To Okonkwo, Umuofia is the Igbo culture, and the challenge is to remain their culture under the control of the white missionaries, which implies colonialism and imperialism.
land is belief
While land could be our key to survival and our dream to pursuit, it is also a belief for many people. In many cultures, we refer Earth as our “mother”, because it raises us. There are also gods and goddesses of earth in many beliefs, which shows our appreciation, gratefulness and adore towards earth and land.
“And with this, Wang Lung thought of the two small gods in the temple to the earth, and on his way home he went and peered in at them, and they were piteous to behold, their features washed from their faces with rain and the clay of their bodies naked and sticking through the tatters of their paper clothes. None had paid any heed to them in this dreadful year, and Wang Lung looked at them grimly and with content, and he said aloud, as one might speak to a punished child, ‘Thus it is with gods who do evil to men!’ ” (Buck P.S. 86)
“Looking at the blue heaven above him and the white clouds driving across it, feeling upon his ploughed fields as upon his own flesh the sun and rain in proportion, Wang Lung muttered unwillingly, ‘I must stick a little incense before those two in the small temple. After all, they have power over earth.’ ” （Buck P.S. 86）
These quotes are from The Good Earth, which shows Wang Lung’s belief of the earth gods. Although he seems to be complaining about the earth gods, it still shows that he deeply believes in them, and would stick incense before them for bless on his land. Even today, the Chinese people believes in gods like the god of earth (土地爷), the god of kitchen (灶王爷), and the god of money (财神爷). A little difference for the Chinese culture is that the god of earth is a male figure, whereas in many other cultures such as the Igbo culture, the earth god is also a goddess.
In Things Fall Apart, Igbo people have an abundant culture with their own religion and rituals. One of the most important gods is the Earth Goddess Ani –
“The Feast of the New Yam was approaching and Umuofia was in a festival mood. It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. And what was more, she was in close communion with the departed father of the clan whose bodies had been committed to the earth.” (Achebe C. 29)
Here we are introduced to the Earth Goddess Ani for the first time. She does not only represents a gentle, nurturing mother, but also a severe judge of morality. Although she is responsible for fertility that is producing new life, she also provides a link between the living and the dead, making her an important mediator between generations. Her name “Ani” in Igbo language translates to “ground”, denoting her power over the ground and earth itself. Hence, any offense related to earth will be considered as offending Ani. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo has made some big mistakes and commits evil against Ani three times – breaking the Week of Peace (a ritual celebrating and devoted to respect the Earth Goddess), accidentally shoots a fellow clansman and Okonkwo committing suicide. In both The Good Earth and Things Fall Apart, we can see people strongly believing in the gods of nature and earth, and the gods and goddesses will often punish us for behaving wrong.
In Of Mice and Men, we didn’t see any “earth god” or “earth goddess”, but there is still belief of land. The American Dream can also be considered as a belief, because people believe on the land of America they can get gold, and then become wealthy. For George and Lennie, their American Dream is to purchase their own farm and live happily there.
“ ‘George ain’t got the money in town. That money’s in the bank. Me an’ Lennie an’ George. We gonna have a room to ourself. We’re gonna have a dog an’ rabbits an’ chickens. We’re gonna have green corn an’ maybe a cow or a goat.” He stopped, overwhelmed with his picture. Crooks asked, ‘You say you got the money?’
‘Damn right. We got most of it. Just a little bit more to get. Have it all in one month. George got the land all picked out, too.’
Crooks reached around and explored his spine with his hand. ‘I never seen a guy really do it,’ he said. ‘I seen guys nearly crazy with loneliness for land, but ever’ time a whore house or a blackjack game took what it takes.’ He hesitated.” (Steinbeck J. 71)
our relationship with land in reality
The Good Earth ended with Wang Lung dying and his sons deciding to sell his land and split the money. Things Fall Apart ended with Okonkwo realizing no one is going to stand with him and he hanged himself in desperate. Of Mice and Men ended with George and Lennie escaping the ranch, and George decided to shot Lennie. Three novels about life, dream, culture and land, all ended with a tragic ending. Could this be a message or moral that the authors are trying to convey to the readers?
In The Good Earth, after Wang lung bought his land, he reached his goal, his dream, right? Well, he still need to face challenges like flood and war, in fact when Wang Lung and his family went to the Southern city in China they need to beg for food, and O-lan even encouraged their children to steal. After Wang Lung becomes rich, he had to deal with problems other than survival, which is treating Lotus, a concubine, Cuckoo, and his uncle’s family. In the last minutes of Wang Lung’s life, he warned his two sons and didn’t allow them to sell the land. His sons promised him on the surface, but secretly they decided to sell the land because they want the money. It is sad, because Wang Lung put his entire life into the earth and at the end his sons didn’t understand the importance. However, his sons are not “wrong” either, because they might really need the money, and in reality nothing remains unchanged forever. People die, but the land is always their and will be occupied by generations and generations.
In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo fights against the white missionaries resolutely, he wants war, because he loves his land and he wants to protect the Igbo culture and belief. He killed a court messenger, and realized that his act or resistance will not be followed by other Igbo people. Realizing that his clan will not go to war against the white men, the proud, devastated Okonkwo hangs himself.
In Of Mice and Men, George had no better choice but to kill Lennie, because he knows with two of them together it is very hard to succeed their dream, and his love for Lennie also makes him think it is “good” to kill Lennie because the dangerous world could never harm his beautiful and pure heart anymore.
conclusion
If land is seen as a capital, then we can own a piece of land. However, we can never really “own land”, because it is always there, and when you die it is still there. Our survival is depended on land, but at the end it is not ours, or at least it belongs to you for a period of time in history, and then it gets passed on through generations and generations. While the modern people value the spiritual world so much, we always forget about the physical land, and how lucky we are to live in cities that are safe and warm and comfortable homes.
In conclusion, I think what I learned is that nothing is immortal, and the reality is always more cruel and harsh than we have imagined. Our power is so weak comparing to the nature and the earth’s power, and we really have to respect the nature. With respect and remembering the reality is always cruel, I can still pursuit my dream and the life that I wanted, but do not have really high expectations that the ending will be good.
works cited
Buck, Pearl. The Good Earth. Originally published in 1931
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. First published in 1959
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice And Men. Originally published in 1937