Temptation and Desire
Temptation is a daily obstacle lurking around the corner for every man, woman, and child. Desire begins with the earliest ages as the toddler reaches for the large piece of chocolate candy. As an adult it is learnt that every temptation has a danger like getting that chocolate candy on the carpet and it is not always probable to take that risk, but there will always be those few desires that cannot be pushed out of thought. The desires that reach so far down into the soul that a person cannot get enough of them so it is as "though a man, dying of thirst, drank the salt water of the sea which, though it is water, yet dries his blood into thirst and yet greater thirst so that in the end he dies, maddened by his very drinking."(183) Some people would do anything or give anything they had in order to acquire these wants even give up their morals and values as seen in The Good Earth by: Pearl Buck.
English: Professor Kang L. Wang
Lung Cheung Road near Wang Tau Hom
Icon for lit-char-stub on en wikipediaAs soon as Wang Lung the originally poor farmer has a little extra money in his pocket he is thrusted into a world of things that once he could not have had in his wildest dreams. This money makes having his lifelong desires a reality but money is not the only thing sacrificed of Wand Lung's. The reality of having something he could never have before causes Wang Lung to do things he normally would not have done. With the increase of his money and power and the aid of tempters Wang Lung slowly disregards his once sacred values only returning to them when his time has almost ran out.
Wang Lung's evolution from the hardworking peasant into the decadent life of an inert lord...