"The Good Earth" by Pearl Buck

Wang Lung is a very self-conscience character. Throughout the novel he makes his decisions based upon the thoughts of others rather than his own. Consequently, many characters contribute to Wang Lung's internal struggle between his desires and his traditional values.
In the opening of the novel Wang Lung has chosen a wife he has never laid eyes on. Before he was on his way to pick her up from the House of Hwang, he and his father had a discussion on what his wife should be like. Wang Lung in his heart wanted a beautiful woman and he thought, "It would be something to have a pretty wife that other men would congratulate him upon having" (8). His father did not want Wang Lung's wife to be beautiful, because he felt they were of no use and rarely ever a virgin. …