EAS 140 First Thematic Paper		Daniel Feit

	The Good Earth (1937) is a morality tale, specifically one centered on humility. Whenever the central character, Wang Lung, exhibits any amount of personal or professional pride, the story takes a turn for the worse.
	Humility is declared a central theme in the movie from the very first title card. We are told this story is set in China and told through its "humblest people." While the story does revolve around lower-class people, such as farmers and slaves, all characters go to extreme lengths to avoid displaying any self-esteem. The best example is when Wang Lung and O-Lan are returning home from the Great House. They start to feel proud about their infant son and the land Wang has just purchased. Suddenly, they turn to sky and berate themselves to the "gods," even deriding their son by saying he was just "a girl child."
	Skip ahead a few years and Wang is feeling pretty full of himself as he has a second son and even more land than before. Soon other people come from the north and warn of approaching famine. Wang laughs it off because he has so much land now he's confident that he'll always have enough to eat, even if famine were to cut into his supply. Sure enough, famine comes, and he is left eating his words along with the very earth he was so proud of.
	Starvation drives Wang Lung and his family to the city for survival, where he must quickly bury even the most basic element of pride: scruples. O-Lan teaches the children to beg for money. One of her sons steals meat and Wang beats him and throws the meat away. O-Lan knows this is no time for morality ("meat is meat") and they eat it. She descends to theft herself when she joins a mob of looters, risking her life in the process, but the jewels she finds allow the family to return to the farm.
	Skip ahead a great many years and Wang is very proud indeed. He has bought the Great House along with more land. Both of his sons are grown and ready to take over the family business. He is so proud he takes a singer as a concubine. He no longer considers himself a farmer, as he has men to work for him whom he treats poorly. When one of his sons suggests joining the Army to fight, Wang ridicules him and soldiers in general. A son of a wealthy man like himself has no business in the Army, he reasons. Soon, his concubine takes a liking to his younger son and Wang catches them together. He throws his son out of the house. Then a sudden plague of locusts threaten all his lands. Only by swallowing his pride and listening to his eldest son does he fight off the locusts, leading him to also forgive all of those people he had wronged, including his son.
	The Good Earth contains a simple message: Be humble at all times. Regardless of whether you believe in a vengeful God (or gods), pride can endanger everything you hold dear. Wang Lung's humility allowed him to live a long and prosperous life, and his bouts with pride nearly killed him and his entire family.