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The Good Earth

538 statements
105 feature instances
15 referencing feature instances

The Good Earth	type	TVTItem
The Good Earth	label	The Good Earth
The Good Earth	page	TheGoodEarth
The Good Earth	comment	The Good Earth is a novel by Pearl S. Buck, first published in 1931. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, and topped the best-seller lists in the United States for 1932 and 1933. It is the first, and by far the best-known, book in a trilogy which continues in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). Though Buck was an American, she spent most of her early life in China, and The Good Earth is credited with doing much to humanise and demythologise China and Chinese people to Americans. By contrast, the book's unflinching depiction of some of the grimmer aspects of life in China have made it less than popular there.The story concerns Wang Lung, a pre-revolutionary farmer who works his fingers to the bone to become successful with the help of his arranged-marriage wife O-Lan, only to drift away from his roots when he does achieve success.The Good Earth was adapted for the stage in 1932, and a film version was released in 1937. The film, directed by Sidney Franklin, starred Paul Muni as Wang Lung. For her role as his wife O-Lan, Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and was nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture. Despite Pearl Buck's objections, all the leading roles were given to white actors in yellowface.Shaw Brothers made a rather loose adaptation titled Sons of the Good Earth in the 60s.
The Good Earth	fetched	2023-08-19T11:30:16Z
The Good Earth	parsed	2023-08-19T11:30:16Z
The Good Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to AFateWorseThanDeath: Not a Feature - UNKNOWN
The Good Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to Blackmail: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Good Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to Bowdlerise: Not a Feature - ITEM
The Good Earth	processingComment	Dropped link to Foil: Not a Feature - IGNORE
The Good Earth	processingUnknown	AFateWorseThanDeath
The Good Earth	isPartOf	DBTropes
The Good Earth / int_15b2cab3	type	Tempting Fate
The Good Earth / int_15b2cab3	comment	Tempting Fate: Wang Lung starts bragging about his fine sons and his five fields and how everything is awesome. His wife recoils in superstitious fear. Right after this a devastating drought strikes.
The Good Earth / int_15b2cab3	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_15b2cab3	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_15b2cab3
The Good Earth / int_16838478	type	The Disease That Shall Not Be Named
The Good Earth / int_16838478	comment	The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: O-Lan's illness, which she refers to as "a fire in my vitals", which is likely cancer. All but confirmed as uterine cancer, when the doctor refers to "a rock the size of a man's head in the womb".
The Good Earth / int_16838478	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_16838478	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_16838478
The Good Earth / int_174d487f	type	Dull Eyes of Unhappiness
The Good Earth / int_174d487f	comment	Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Wang Lung notices that O-lan has a smile that never reaches her eyes.
The Good Earth / int_174d487f	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_174d487f	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_174d487f
The Good Earth / int_19851b86	type	The Sociopath
The Good Earth / int_19851b86	comment	The Sociopath: Wang Lung's uncle. Wang Lung's nephew is no better.
The Good Earth / int_19851b86	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_19851b86	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_19851b86
The Good Earth / int_1c5002bc	type	The Stoic
The Good Earth / int_1c5002bc	comment	The Stoic: O-Lan. She endures a loveless marriage, famine, poverty, and other perils with a stoic attitude.
The Good Earth / int_1c5002bc	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_1c5002bc	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_1c5002bc
The Good Earth / int_1c512c6c	type	The Swarm
The Good Earth / int_1c512c6c	comment	The Swarm: The big climax has Wang Lung and the villagers setting fires in an attempt to ward off a horde of locusts that threaten to eat their entire harvest.
The Good Earth / int_1c512c6c	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_1c512c6c	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_1c512c6c
The Good Earth / int_1da5941e	type	The Quiet One
The Good Earth / int_1da5941e	comment	The Quiet One: O-Lan, as well as Wang Lung's third son.
The Good Earth / int_1da5941e	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_1da5941e	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_1da5941e
The Good Earth / int_1dfd19f9	type	Papa Wolf
The Good Earth / int_1dfd19f9	comment	Papa Wolf: Wang Lung has ONE moment in his life, when his children sneak into Lotus' room to get a look at her, and she screams and tries to strike them. Wang Lung is PISSED, and tells her off for it.
The Good Earth / int_1dfd19f9	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_1f6983f7	type	Ambiguous Situation
The Good Earth / int_1f6983f7	comment	Ambiguous Situation: It's never made clear whether Wang Lung's oldest son slept with Lotus, or if they really were just talking.
The Good Earth / int_1f6983f7	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_1f6983f7
The Good Earth / int_22071825	type	I'm a Humanitarian
The Good Earth / int_22071825	comment	I'm a Humanitarian: Suspected of Wang Lung's aunt and uncle during a period of famine: They appear much better fed than their neighbors, and some of their children disappear and are never seen again.
The Good Earth / int_22071825	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_22071825	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_2260cfe3	type	Like Father, Like Son
The Good Earth / int_2260cfe3	comment	Like Father, Like Son: Wang Lung's oldest son takes after him the most.
The Good Earth / int_2260cfe3	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_2260cfe3	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_22a27b19	type	Alpha Bitch
The Good Earth / int_22a27b19	comment	Alpha Bitch: Lotus.
The Good Earth / int_22a27b19	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_22a27b19	featureConfidence	1.0
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Good Earth / int_22a27b19
The Good Earth / int_234fa9ba	type	Mayâ€“December Romance
The Good Earth / int_234fa9ba	comment	May–December Romance: Wang Lung and Pear Blossom. Although in an odd way, it seems to switch back and forth between being a romance and a more father/daughter relationship. He loses sexual interest in her quickly, but enjoys her companionship.
The Good Earth / int_234fa9ba	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_234fa9ba	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_246989a4	type	Circling Vultures
The Good Earth / int_246989a4	comment	Circling Vultures: They aren't circling. But vultures are seen perched next to a dead dog during the drought, and they are perched and waiting a couple of shots later after the camera catches dead refugees in various states of decomposition along the roads.
The Good Earth / int_246989a4	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_26d1f65f	type	Verbal Tic
The Good Earth / int_26d1f65f	comment	Verbal Tic: Characters frequently append "and" or "well, and" to the start of their spoken words.
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The Good Earth / int_26d1f65f	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_26fb2f9e	type	Past Experience Nightmare
The Good Earth / int_26fb2f9e	comment	Past Experience Nightmare: O-lan suffers from these thanks to the beatings she received as a slave all her life.
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The Good Earth / int_2764d432	type	Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
The Good Earth / int_2764d432	comment	Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Wang Lung is surprised to hear his second son say that his oldest son's wife is secretly vain and haughty, as he thought she seemed like a perfectly nice, humble, obedient girl during the match-making process.
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The Good Earth / int_27a047a6	type	Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born
The Good Earth / int_27a047a6	comment	Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: The twins.
The Good Earth / int_27a047a6	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_27ab0123	type	Offing the Offspring
The Good Earth / int_27ab0123	comment	Offing the Offspring: A particularly tragic example, when O-lan is implied to have killed her newborn daughter during the famine.
The Good Earth / int_27ab0123	featureApplicability	1.0
The Good Earth / int_27ab0123	featureConfidence	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_2848e7d2	type	Oblivious to Love
The Good Earth / int_2848e7d2	comment	Oblivious to Love: It's strongly implied in the novel that O-Lan has fallen in love with Wang Lung (a rarity in old-fashioned arranged marriages, especially in China) but Wang Lung mistakes her devotion and obedience as slowness and stupidity, and repays her years of faithful servitude — and her having given birth to several sons, especially a first-born one — by falling in love with another woman, which breaks O-Lan's spirit.
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The Good Earth / int_2b851bd4	type	The Scrooge
The Good Earth / int_2b851bd4	comment	The Scrooge: Trying to get Wang Lung's second son to part with money is like trying to get him to part with his fingers.
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The Good Earth / int_2dc0d2bf	type	Hidden Depths
The Good Earth / int_2dc0d2bf	comment	Hidden Depths: Wang Lung assumes O-lan is slow and stupid because she doesn't speak or emote much, and so is often surprised when she displays moments of cunning, prudence, resourcefulness, insight, and passion.
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The Good Earth / int_33d5b7f2	type	Adapted Out
The Good Earth / int_33d5b7f2	comment	Adapted Out: The twins don't appear in the film. Neither does Pear Blossom.
The Good Earth / int_33d5b7f2	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_34dcfc96	type	Kick the Dog
The Good Earth / int_34dcfc96	comment	Kick the Dog: Wang Lung's treatment of O-lan after he starts seeing Lotus; particularly when he makes her give him the two pearls she'd humbly asked to keep (from the bag of gems she'd originally stolen that helped make them rich), and which she'd planned to make into earrings as a wedding gift for their youngest daughter, so he can give them to his mistress Lotus. Lotus has an almost literal case when she strikes the poor fool for trying to touch her.
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The Good Earth / int_3b9b21c9	type	So Beautiful, It's a Curse
The Good Earth / int_3b9b21c9	comment	So Beautiful, It's a Curse: O-lan repeatedly cites how the beautiful servant girls were raped by their masters if not outright sold into prostitution. Indeed, this was Lotus's fate. Wang Lung's second daughter is described as "exceedingly pretty" just a few sentences before her cousin sexually assaults her.
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The Good Earth / int_3d64e6e9	type	Adaptational Comic Relief
The Good Earth / int_3d64e6e9	comment	Adaptational Comic Relief: Uncle is more pompous and less threatening than his book counterpart.
The Good Earth / int_3d64e6e9	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_3f45f1e6	type	Adaptational Heroism
The Good Earth / int_3f45f1e6	comment	Adaptational Heroism: Wang Lung realises he does love O-Lan on her deathbed, and gives her back the pearls he took, something he didn't do in the book.
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The Good Earth / int_3fe2b13f	type	Ungrateful Bastard
The Good Earth / int_3fe2b13f	comment	Ungrateful Bastard: Wang Lung repays years of faithful servitude and child-rearing from O-lan by taking a concubine and bad-mouthing her for not being pretty enough for him. He also makes his fortune off the stash of gems she had the good sense to steal from a noble's mansion (and which he made her give him), but never gives her any nice things in return despite lavishing many jewels and presents on his concubine, Lotus.
The Good Earth / int_3fe2b13f	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_4623b3bb	type	Why Couldn't You Be Different?
The Good Earth / int_4623b3bb	comment	Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Although he's her husband rather than her father, Wang Lung gives a very cruel variant of this to O-lan at one point after he starts seeing Lotus, angrily demanding why she isn't prettier or why her feet are unbound; all things she can't do anything about.
The Good Earth / int_4623b3bb	featureApplicability	1.0
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The Good Earth / int_471a505f	type	Four Is Death
The Good Earth / int_471a505f	comment	Four Is Death: When Wang Lung asks about the recently born fourth child crying, O-Lan emerges from the room and tells him the child is dead.
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The Good Earth / int_479d4e5a	type	Would Hurt a Child
The Good Earth / int_479d4e5a	comment	Would Hurt a Child: O-Lan is strongly implied to have committed infanticide when she bore a baby girl during the famine. Lotus lashes out at Poor Fool when the girl gets too close to her. Wang Lung buys poison and quietly instructs Pear Blossom to mix it into the Poor Fool's food after his death, since he knows that the Poor Fool will probably be abused and neglected without his protection. Pear Blossom never uses the poison, but promises to look after the Poor Fool herself instead.
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The Good Earth / int_4a875876	type	Yellowface
The Good Earth / int_4a875876	comment	Yellowface: The Chinese characters were played by white actors. Chinese American actress Anna May Wong wanted to play O-Lan; however, she was not allowed to play Paul Muni's wife, due to The Hays Code's anti-miscegenation (interracial marriage) rule.
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The Good Earth / int_4e3d253b	type	Downer Ending
The Good Earth / int_4e3d253b	comment	Downer Ending: All the sympathetic characters are either dead or no longer sympathetic, Wang Lung has learned absolutely nothing and is just as much of a Jerkass — if not more — as when the novel started, and it's heavily implied that Wang Lung's sons are no better than he is, and they won't honor his wishes after his death.
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The Good Earth / int_4fa68c72	type	Like Parent, Like Spouse
The Good Earth / int_4fa68c72	comment	Like Parent, Like Spouse: Played with. Wang Lung's oldest son is a lot like him, so when Wang Lung learns of his son's interest in his concubine he finds him a wife who looks just like her. He does this by asking Lotus if she knows of anyone, and she tells him of an old client who stopped seeing her because she looked just like his young daughter. Small world, right?
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The Good Earth / int_52c3c556	type	Blade-of-Grass Cut
The Good Earth / int_52c3c556	comment	Blade-of-Grass Cut: Some closeups of stalks of wheat.
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The Good Earth / int_53136954	type	Book Dumb
The Good Earth / int_53136954	comment	Book Dumb: Most of the first generation characters are either peasants or former slaves, and are thus uneducated and illiterate. A scribe pokes fun at Wang Lung's illiteracy by asking if "Lung" is spelled with the "dragon" character or the "deaf" character. Wang Lung arranges for his sons to receive educations, averting this trope for the sons.
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The Good Earth / int_5313c266	type	Bookends
The Good Earth / int_5313c266	comment	Book Ends: The movie begins with Wang Lung's wedding and ends with his son's wedding.
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The Good Earth / int_580be152	type	Adaptational Modesty
The Good Earth / int_580be152	comment	Adaptational Modesty: The sexual aspect of Lotus is toned down at the request of the censors.
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The Good Earth / int_598513bb	type	Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling
The Good Earth / int_598513bb	comment	Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Downplayed. His eldest son is more concerned with spending money than making it, while his second son is more concerned with making money and saving it.
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The Good Earth / int_5c9ccf46	type	One of the Kids
The Good Earth / int_5c9ccf46	comment	One of the Kids: The poor fool with the twins when they're toddlers, despite nearly being an adolescent at the time, because developmentally she's at the same mental state as them.
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The Good Earth / int_5fcb9ad1	type	Time Skip
The Good Earth / int_5fcb9ad1	comment	Time Skip: Multiple time skips shown by the tree O-lan plants in the yard — first a seed, then a sapling, then a full-grown tree.
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The Good Earth / int_629fa757	type	Perfectly Arranged Marriage
The Good Earth / int_629fa757	comment	Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Subverted. O-lan is indeed the perfect wife to Wang Lung, but since she is not beautiful Wang Lung can't love her. Invoked by his second son for himself. After Wang Lung finds his eldest son a beautiful wife, he assumes his second son will want the same. The kid replies that he actually wants a girl who's sensible, pretty but not so pretty as to be vain, and from a decent family but not so good a family that she's be haughty or arrogant. Confused, Wang Lung carries out his requests, and from all appearances, his second son's marriage is more stable than any other man's in the family.
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The Good Earth / int_66907f54	type	Hourglass Plot
The Good Earth / int_66907f54	comment	Hourglass Plot: The Great House of Hwang and Wang Lung's branch of the Wang family.
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The Good Earth / int_6bda9a30	type	Meaningful Name
The Good Earth / int_6bda9a30	comment	Meaningful Name: Cuckoos are birds that lay their eggs in other birds' nests and push the other eggs out in favour of their own. Cuckoo will do anything for money, and she inserts herself into Wang Lung's household to do so. Lotus flowers are beautiful but grow in dirty, muddy water. Lotus is beautiful on the surface but everything underneath is dirty and disgusting. Pear blossoms are often used as a symbol of hope and lasting friendship. Pear Blossom becomes Wang Lung's companion who he views with affection rather than lust. The Families of Wang and Hwang are spelled almost exactly the same in English, and are at different points on the same trajectory.
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The Good Earth / int_72e0023f	type	Invoked Trope
The Good Earth / int_72e0023f	comment	Invoked by his second son for himself. After Wang Lung finds his eldest son a beautiful wife, he assumes his second son will want the same. The kid replies that he actually wants a girl who's sensible, pretty but not so pretty as to be vain, and from a decent family but not so good a family that she's be haughty or arrogant. Confused, Wang Lung carries out his requests, and from all appearances, his second son's marriage is more stable than any other man's in the family.
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The Good Earth / int_7453bc5b	type	Spared by the Adaptation
The Good Earth / int_7453bc5b	comment	Spared by the Adaptation: Wang Lung dies at the end of the book, but the film ends much earlier in the story when his son gets married.
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The Good Earth / int_75f626a5	type	Nostalgia Filter
The Good Earth / int_75f626a5	comment	Wang Lung is unhappy to learn that his daughter-in-law wants to have a wet nurse in order to keep her breasts nice and pert, fondly reminiscing the days when O-lan nursed their children. He conveniently forgets that this caused her breasts to sag as she got older, which he threw in her face when he left her bed for Lotus's.
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The Good Earth / int_779009b5	type	Beware the Quiet Ones
The Good Earth / int_779009b5	comment	Beware the Quiet Ones: O-Lan is usually quiet, obedient, and absorbed in her work. However, she is also capable of pragmatic violence. She strikes her sons when they laugh about begging, and is strongly implied to have committed infanticide when she gave birth during the famine. When a mob of poor people riots during the famine, she joins them and steals jewels from a wealthy household.
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The Good Earth / int_7a0374eb	type	Impoverished Patrician
The Good Earth / int_7a0374eb	comment	Impoverished Patrician: The House of Hwang, which is forced to sell most of their properties to Wang Lung. The ending implies that Wang Lung's spoiled children will end up the same way.
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The Good Earth / int_7a82c3d2	type	All Love Is Unrequited
The Good Earth / int_7a82c3d2	comment	All Love Is Unrequited: O-lan is implied to love Wang Lung, who loves Lotus, who loves only herself. Later on, Wang Lung's third son is implied to love Pear Blossom, who prefers Wang Lung.
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The Good Earth / int_7c9dcc1	type	THeUnfavorite
The Good Earth / int_7c9dcc1	comment	The Unfavorite: Wang Lung's third son, whom he never even thinks about unless someone asks, "How many sons do you have?"
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The Good Earth / int_80621707	type	Arranged Marriage
The Good Earth / int_80621707	comment	Arranged Marriage: Wang Lung to O-lan, Wang Lung's two eldest sons to their first wives, Wang Lung's youngest daughter to another family... makes sense, given the setting.
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The Good Earth / int_815d5a99	type	The Three Faces of Eve
The Good Earth / int_815d5a99	comment	The Three Faces of Eve: Young and innocent Pear Blossom is the Child, dutiful and diligent O-lan is the Wife, seductive and sexual Lotus is the Seductress.
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The Good Earth / int_863c780a	type	Hopeless Suitor
The Good Earth / int_863c780a	comment	Hopeless Suitor: Wang Lung's third son is implied to be this for Pear Blossom, who can't love him back and is interested in his father because she doesn't like young men.
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The Good Earth / int_88933ad4	type	Parental Favoritism
The Good Earth / int_88933ad4	comment	Parental Favoritism: Wang Lung openly favors his eldest son, since he's a first-born son who takes after him. His second son doesn't mind since he knows how to manipulate his dad into giving him what he wants anyway, but his third son does mind. It goes without saying that he favors his sons over his daughters.
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The Good Earth / int_8a817c2a	type	Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil
The Good Earth / int_8a817c2a	comment	Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: O-Lan tells Wang Lung that the masters of the house where she served would frequently rape beautiful servant girls. Cuckoo recounts a story in which she hid in an urn while bandits raped and pillaged all around her. The book strongly implies that Pear Blossom experienced sexual assault at the hands of at least one man in Wang Lung's household. She prefers the elderly Wang Lung to "cruel" young men. After his second daughter is assaulted by his nephew, Wang Lung knows he must send her away because it's only a matter of time before he rapes her outright.
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The Good Earth / int_8ae880f7	type	Deconstruction
The Good Earth / int_8ae880f7	comment	Deconstruction: Pre-revolution Chinese society placed great emphasis on filial piety and family harmony. The Good Earth deconstructs these values by showing a Chinese household characterized by a selfish patriarch, jealousy between a wife and a concubine, and an aunt and uncle who abuse their nephew's filial piety. The Good Earth also deconstructs traditional assumptions about the ideal wife. O-Lan displays all the qualities of the ideal pre-revolution Chinese wife — quiet, obedient, hard-working, resourceful, and fertile — but none of these earn her Wang Lung's love or her relatives' respect. She bears Wang Lung multiple sons, only to develop uterine cancer for her trouble.
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The Good Earth / int_8af7b342	type	Sibling Yin-Yang
The Good Earth / int_8af7b342	comment	Sibling Yin-Yang: His two eldest sons. His eldest son is lusty, passionate, and a notorious spendthrift, while his second son is shrewd, calculating, and a huge miser.
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The Good Earth / int_90d44f44	type	Karmic Death
The Good Earth / int_90d44f44	comment	Karmic Death: Wang Lung's uncle and aunt die of an opium addiction. Invoked because Wang Lung notices their addictions and makes sure to leave plenty of it around the house.
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The Good Earth / int_91c001	type	Cute Mute
The Good Earth / int_91c001	comment	Cute Mute: The poor fool, who starts out as an impoverished girl, and grows into a young maiden barely suitable for a wife.
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The Good Earth / int_941896b	type	Shaming the Mob
The Good Earth / int_941896b	comment	Shaming the Mob: O-Lan manages to disperse an angry, starving mob who try to steal food from the equally poor and starving Wang Lung household.
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The Good Earth / int_950bbfa7	type	Take a Third Option
The Good Earth / int_950bbfa7	comment	Take a Third Option: When Wang Lung's aunt and uncle drive the rest of the family crazy with endless extortions, his sons seriously plan to kill them and Make It Look Like an Accident. When Wang Lung sees that they both become too lethargic to make demands when high on opium, he opts to have his sons give them as much as they want until they eventually die from it.
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The Good Earth / int_9591377d	type	Heel Realization
The Good Earth / int_9591377d	comment	Heel Realization: After O-Lan's death, Wang Lung realizes that he took her for granted and weeps.
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The Good Earth / int_9a8c7632	type	Dumb Is Good
The Good Earth / int_9a8c7632	comment	Dumb Is Good: The poor fool is too sweet and simple to do much besides smile, and she doesn't give Wang Lung any trouble like his other children. She becomes Wang Lung's favorite child in his old age because she isn't greedy or troublesome like his sons.
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The Good Earth / int_9bca83eb	type	Death by Irony
The Good Earth / int_9bca83eb	comment	Death by Irony: O-lan has many sons like her society says she should, and is implied to get uterine cancer as a result.
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The Good Earth / int_9de7a5d0	type	Fix Fic
The Good Earth / int_9de7a5d0	comment	Fix Fic: Many viewers describe Wang Lung giving O-Lan back her pearls on her deathbed as something they wished he would have done in the book.
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The Good Earth / int_a1841170	type	Generational Saga
The Good Earth / int_a1841170	comment	Generational Saga: Wang Lung and his descendants.
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The Good Earth / int_a1b141f4	type	My God, What Have I Done?
The Good Earth / int_a1b141f4	comment	My God, What Have I Done?: Wang Lung doesn't realize how cruel and unfair he's been to O-lan all these years until she's on her deathbed, but by then it's far too late to make it up to her.
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The Good Earth / int_a3458bf2	type	More Deadly Than the Male
The Good Earth / int_a3458bf2	comment	More Deadly Than the Male: While both Wang Lung's uncle and aunt extort him for money and favors after he becomes wealthy, he soon notes that his uncle usually just asks for simple pleasures and then lets him be, while his aunt keeps making incessant and increasingly unreasonable requests.
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The Good Earth / int_a3912d0e	type	Sexy Discretion Shot
The Good Earth / int_a3912d0e	comment	Sexy Discretion Shot: Wang Lung arrives at Lotus's room in the brothel and piteously declares, "I do not know anything! Teach me!"
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The Good Earth / int_a39d6056	type	Nice to the Waiter
The Good Earth / int_a39d6056	comment	Nice to the Waiter: Subverted. When Wang Lung pulls a rickshaw, he gets a generous payment from a foreigner, but he soon realizes that she doesn't know how valuable the payment she gave was.
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The Good Earth / int_a8357dc2	type	No Woman's Land
The Good Earth / int_a8357dc2	comment	No Woman's Land: The trials and tribulations of the novel's female characters remind readers that pre-revolution China was a scary place to be female. Men had absolute authority over their wives, concubines, and children. The social acceptability of polygamy and concubinage meant that a wife's status in the home was never secure. The absence of contraception meant that women could expect to bear large numbers of children and suffer reproductive health problems as a result. Girls born to impoverished families could be killed as infants or sold into slavery, where a life of servitude, physical abuse, and sexual violence awaited them. Middle and upper class girls were subjected to foot binding and child marriage.
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The Good Earth / int_aabe2fb	type	Deliberate Values Dissonance
The Good Earth / int_aabe2fb	comment	Deliberate Values Dissonance: Though Buck was a die-hard feminist, she depicts traditional Chinese practices (such as polygamy, concubinage, child marriage, and foot-binding) fairly straightforwardly. Buck also depicts physical abuse of children in pre-revolution China very matter-of-factly. O-Lan was regularly beaten during her youth as a slave. Later, O-Lan repeatedly slaps her sons when they laugh about begging during the famine. Wang Lung beats his son for stealing meat during their time in poverty. Played with to some extent with polygamy. Wang Lung never questions his right to take a concubine, and never thinks about the impact it has on O-lan until the day that his young daughter accidentally drops a Truth Bomb on him. The soft-hearted Wang Lung feels sorry for his daughter, who is having her feet bound, and she mentions that her mother has told her that it must be done or that she will never be loved by her future husband; "even as you do not love her". Later, after O-lan's death, Wang Lung can't bring himself to look at Lotus for a while, and he respects O-lan's wishes that Lotus should never come into her rooms or touch her things. Also, when she was alive Wang Lung sometimes found himself wondering about her past, thoughts, and opinions, but then chastised himself for wondering because it was not socially meet for a man to think such things of his wife. Also played with in terms of slavery. O-Lan and Lotus were sold into slavery as children. O-Lan's description of the beatings and rapes endured by house slaves are chilling, and she warns Wang Lung that such a fate would await their children if they were sold into slavery during a famine. However, when Wang Lung becomes wealthy, his household includes several slaves. No one bats at eyelash at his sexual relationship with Pear Blossom, even though Pear Blossom is a slave and a minor. The characters' attitudes toward people with disabilities are harsh to 21st century western readers. Poor Fool's intellectual disability is treated like a calamity. She is ignored by the other household members, with the exception of her parents and Pear Blossom. Lotus is enraged when Poor Fool gets too close to her. Wang Lung is considered odd for loving the girl and spending time with her. Wang Lung instructs Pear Blossom to mix poison in Poor Fool's food after his passing, believing that death would be a kinder fate for the girl than a life of abuse and neglect without his protection. Fortunately, Pear Blossom intervenes, sparing Poor Fool's life.
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The Good Earth / int_af94cf6d	type	Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis
The Good Earth / int_af94cf6d	comment	Hollywood Mid-Life Crisis: Wang Lung has a massive one.
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The Good Earth / int_b5dded87	type	Gossipy Hens
The Good Earth / int_b5dded87	comment	Gossipy Hens: Lotus and Cuckoo spend their time gossiping.
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The Good Earth / int_b8e3f20a	type	Demoted to Extra
The Good Earth / int_b8e3f20a	comment	Demoted to Extra: Wang Lung's cousin features more prominently in the book as a constant source of tension. In the film he has just one scene at the beginning.
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The Good Earth / int_bac9f95d	type	Sweet Tooth
The Good Earth / int_bac9f95d	comment	Sweet Tooth: Lotus, as she ages. She ends up getting fat.
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The Good Earth / int_bb18a227	type	It's All About Me
The Good Earth / int_bb18a227	comment	It's All About Me: Wang Lung rarely thinks of anyone but himself. The few times he does he worries about whether he looks good in the eyes of other men, or whether his family makes him look bad to the neighbors.
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The Good Earth / int_bc03c871	type	Child Hater
The Good Earth / int_bc03c871	comment	Child Hater: Lotus is implied to be this, since she's disgusted when Wang Lung's children come near her.
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The Good Earth / int_bc74ef27	type	Berserk Button
The Good Earth / int_bc74ef27	comment	Berserk Button: O-Lan is enraged when her young sons laugh about begging during the famine. She slaps them and shouts at them because they fail to understand the gravity of the situation. It's the first time readers see her show strong emotion. Wang Lung furiously beats one of his sons for stealing a chunk of meat during the famine. O-Lan is livid when Wang Lung takes Lotus as a concubine and Cuckoo as a servant. She angrily recounts her youth in her master's house, where Cuckoo berated and bullied her. In general, the House of Hwang is one for O-Lan. Nearing the birth of her first child, Wang Lung asks her if she would like him to arrange a midwife to help her, and tentatively suggests maybe someone from the House of Hwang? She rails at him with more emotion than we've ever seen from her and practically hisses, "None in that house!"
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The Good Earth / int_c772e7c5	type	Rags to Riches
The Good Earth / int_c772e7c5	comment	Rags to Riches: Wang Lung and his family start the novel as peasant farmers and end as a wealthy family.
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The Good Earth / int_ca87e3ec	type	No Name Given
The Good Earth / int_ca87e3ec	comment	No Name Given: Most characters in the narrative are not named, including all of Wang Lung's relatives and their spouses.
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The Good Earth / int_ce70175b	type	Sociopathic Soldier
The Good Earth / int_ce70175b	comment	Sociopathic Soldier: Wang Lung's nephew after he joins the army, as he seems to revel in a job that allows him to rape, plunder and kill without consequence. When quartered at Wang Lung's mansion, he even threatens to do the same to Wang Lung and his family unless he gives him his way in everything.
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The Good Earth / int_d52d28b6	type	Hypocrite
The Good Earth / int_d52d28b6	comment	Hypocrite: Wang Lung doesn't like women with unbound feet, but objects to O-lan binding their daughter's feet even though failing to do so would make her unattractive in her own future husband's eyes. O-lan indirectly calls him out on this. Wang Lung is unhappy to learn that his daughter-in-law wants to have a wet nurse in order to keep her breasts nice and pert, fondly reminiscing the days when O-lan nursed their children. He conveniently forgets that this caused her breasts to sag as she got older, which he threw in her face when he left her bed for Lotus's. Wang Lung (noticing a pattern, here?) is enraged when Lotus mistreats his youngest daughter, conveniently forgetting that he had callously taken the pearls O-lan had planned to save for her as a wedding present to give to Lotus. Earlier, when living on the streets during the famine, Wang Lung beat his eldest son for stealing some meat, calling the boy a thief. He later has no problem taking money from a rich man who had assumed Wang Lung to be part of a mob of looters ransacking his house. Nor does he mind O-lan stealing a cache of jewels. Lotus herself is jealous when Wang Lung takes Pear Blossom as a mistress, despite starting off as Wang Lung's mistress to O-lan.
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The Good Earth / int_d786481	type	Top Wife
The Good Earth / int_d786481	comment	Top Wife: Played extremely realistically and dramatically as part of the protagonist's moral decline. After living for years in poverty with his devoted wife O-Lan, Wang Lung later becomes a wealthy man and uses that wealth to buy two concubines — including a former prostitute named Lotus. Lotus becomes the clear favorite to the point that Lung takes two pearls he knew O-Lan loved and fashions them into earrings for Lotus. It's only on O-Lan's deathbed that he gives her attention again.
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The Good Earth / int_d7fc9fd0	type	Vitriolic Best Buds
The Good Earth / int_d7fc9fd0	comment	Vitriolic Best Buds: Lotus and Cuckoo. Lotus was her slave at the brothel, then Cuckoo was taken in to be Lotus's servant in Wang Lung's house. Despite the constant trading of power, they remain friends.
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The Good Earth / int_d9cf40fa	type	Screw This, I'm Outta Here
The Good Earth / int_d9cf40fa	comment	Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Wang Lung's third son, after he finds out about his dad's relationship with Pear Blossom, whom the book implies he was in love with.
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The Good Earth / int_e0140e6c	type	From the Mouths of Babes
The Good Earth / int_e0140e6c	comment	Wang Lung doesn't like women with unbound feet, but objects to O-lan binding their daughter's feet even though failing to do so would make her unattractive in her own future husband's eyes. O-lan indirectly calls him out on this.
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The Good Earth / int_e3b0cd87	type	Morality Pet
The Good Earth / int_e3b0cd87	comment	Morality Pet: Wang Lung develops some affection for his mentally handicapped daughter.
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The Good Earth / int_e5fd8bc2	type	Hate Sink
The Good Earth / int_e5fd8bc2	comment	Hate Sink: While Wang Lung himself is no prize, he's not necessarily a bad guy, so much as he is a bit selfish and overly ambitious. His uncle, on the other hand, is a monster — he speaks cruelly towards both Wang Lung and his family, is implied to have eaten his own children during a famine and before his death of opium addiction, he's stated to have joined (and implicitly be leading) a gang that steals, kills, rapes and pillages.
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The Good Earth / int_ea8de006	type	Traitor Shot
The Good Earth / int_ea8de006	comment	Traitor Shot: In the ending, Wang Lung's sons pretend to agree to his Last Request, but look at each other over his eyes and smile, indicating that they intend to go back on their word.
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The Good Earth / int_eb8e4fa8	type	Jerkass
The Good Earth / int_eb8e4fa8	comment	Jerkass: Wang Lung to variable degrees, particularly his treatment of O-Lan. Many of the characters are none too kind.
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The Good Earth / int_ed874c14	type	Self-Made Man
The Good Earth / int_ed874c14	comment	Self-Made Man: Wang Lung.
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The Good Earth / int_f0a6a09d	type	Mistaken for Servant
The Good Earth / int_f0a6a09d	comment	Mistaken for Servant: Wang Lung realizes that he, in all respects still a peasant despite his great wealth, would look like a servant next to his well-dressed son. He doesn't like this realization.
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The Good Earth / int_f16da697	type	Undying Loyalty
The Good Earth / int_f16da697	comment	Undying Loyalty: O-Lan to Wang Lung. Not that he appreciates it.
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The Good Earth / int_f26d5e66	type	Brainless Beauty
The Good Earth / int_f26d5e66	comment	Brainless Beauty: Lotus is attractive, but not terribly bright or practical. The poor fool is an almost literal case, as she's so mentally handicapped that she can't do much but smile.
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The Good Earth / int_f6b2bfb7	type	Gold Digger
The Good Earth / int_f6b2bfb7	comment	Gold Digger: Lotus refuses to agree to be Wang Lung's concubine until he's able to guarantee he can provide the luxurious lifestyle to which she's become accustomed.
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The Good Earth / int_f829585a	type	Beauty Is Bad
The Good Earth / int_f829585a	comment	Beauty Is Bad: Wang Lung's father specifically denies Wang Lung a beautiful woman, saying that a beautiful woman would not make a good wife to him and would only think of material things. He is ultimately right: a pampered, beautiful woman like Lotus with her bound feet would not have been able to work the fields with him. However, the pampered and beautiful Pear Blossom is a kind character who genuinely cares for Wang Lung and the "poor fool" in his old age. Wang Lung's father also points out, probably fairly, that no pretty girl raised as a slave in a large household would be allowed to grow to maturity as a virgin. He tells Wang Lung that it is better to be the first with an ugly girl than the thousandth with a beauty. O-lan later, tragically, confirms that this is true. When discussing her upbringing, she reported that she was beaten every day. Wang Lung asks if that was the case for all the girl slaves, and she responds "Aye, beaten or carried to a man's bed". Downplayed by his second son, who wants a wife who's pretty but not TOO pretty, as he doesn't want a wife who's vain or selfish.
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The Good Earth / int_f85354eb	type	Attempted Rape
The Good Earth / int_f85354eb	comment	Attempted Rape: Wang Lung's nephew assaults his beautiful younger daughter. He's able to separate them before it can go any further, but the man's complete lack of remorse spurs him to marry the girl off as soon as possible.
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The Good Earth / int_f9c77812	type	Childhood Brain Damage
The Good Earth / int_f9c77812	comment	Childhood Brain Damage: The poor fool is implied to have this, as she was born during a terrible famine and was malnourished as an infant that her brain never developed properly.
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The Good Earth / int_fab3235a	type	Easy Evangelism
The Good Earth / int_fab3235a	comment	Easy Evangelism: Subverted. When handed a pamphlet with a picture of Jesus nailed to the cross, Wang Lung and his family marvel at it... because they're trying to figure out what a wicked deed this man must have done to deserve such a punishment. They then use the flyer to line the soles of their shoes.
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The Good Earth / int_fd94c4ac	type	Theme Naming
The Good Earth / int_fd94c4ac	comment	Theme Naming: The pretty girls are given flower names — Lotus and Pear Blossom.
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The Good Earth / int_ff2ceef1	type	Old Maid
The Good Earth / int_ff2ceef1	comment	Old Maid: Wang Lung feels lucky to have landed such a beautiful concubine until his relatives laugh that Lotus' looks are starting to fade, thus it's obvious she only agreed to be his because her days at the brothel are numbered.
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The Good Earth / int_ff7f34c5	type	Pet the Dog
The Good Earth / int_ff7f34c5	comment	Pet the Dog: Wang Lung's sons protest his plan to bury Ching in the family cemetery because he was a servant. To shut them up and to honor Ching's years of service and friendship, Wang Lung buries him just outside the entrance and gives orders that his own grave should lie as close to that spot as possible. When the female slave that the family gives Wang Lung's nephew (to keep him from assaulting the other girls) gives birth to a girl instead of a boy, thus they are not obligated to welcome her into the family, Wang Lung gives her a decent settlement anyway. Wang Lung is kind to Poor Fool, who is ignored by almost everyone in the household. For example, he takes delight in Poor Fool's love of sticky barley candy.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

The Good Earth	hasFeature	Beautiful Slave Girl / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Bury Your Disabled / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Imperial China / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Mayâ€“December Romance / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Minority Show Ghetto / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Mistaken for Servant / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	No Woman's Land / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	So Beautiful, It's a Curse / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Disease That Shall Not Be Named / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	The Swarm / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Top Wife / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Traitor Shot / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Traumatic Haircut / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born / int_8e5b0ea9
The Good Earth	hasFeature	Yellowface / int_8e5b0ea9

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