Their education made them haughty, taking money for granted. The old man’s sons have lost their respect and sense of worth for the land. “But the old man heard only these words, “sell the land,” and he cried out and he could not keep his voice from breaking and trembling with his anger, “Now, evil, idle sons – sell the land!…Out of the land we came and into it we must go – and if you will hold your land you can live”.” But his sons slyly console him saying they would never sell it, all the while winking at each other behind their father’s back. When their father grows near death and can barely hear, the two elder sons discourse about selling the land. Soon his sons forget all that the land does for them and come to take for granted a copious supply of money. Meanwhile, their father was left in managing the hired men on the land, settling disputes between his sons, and cleverly satisfying the lazy and greedy, family of his uncle. His sons soon grew haughty with their knowledge, desiring to go fight in wars, spend more and more gold for fine clothes and food, and argue, bicker, and go out with many women. But in the long run, the good benefits of education were far outweighed by the disadvantages that came from having na?ve sons. “I will take my elder son…and he shall go to a school in the town and he shall learn, and when I go into the grain markets he will read and write for me so that there may be an end of this hissing laughter against me.” Wang Lung never actually learned to read and write, but the knowledge of his sons did contribute to his household’s capability. He pondered, “ot one of those town fools has a foot of land and yet each feels he can laugh a goose cackle at me because I cannot” read and write. When he brought grain to market, he, who was a landowner, must ask common clerks to sign his name for him. He was unsure of whether the Lung character in his name referred to “the dragon character Lung or the deaf character Lung”. There are advantages to being educated as Wang Lung finds out. The book does not try to show that education is worthless, but rather that it is not necessary if one has motivation and perseverance.

The good earth book