The Good Earth Lesson Plan

In the opening chapter, the narrator describes Wang Lung's house and his morning routine. What information can the reader infer about Wang Lung and his life from this section without it being directly stated?

First, the narrator states that the house is made out of "great squares of earth dug out from their own fields, and thatched with straw from their own wheat." This shows, from the beginning, Wang Lung's connection with the earth around him. This connection is not necessarily romantic or fulfilling, it is just the essential fact of his life. He works in the earth and returns to sleep at night in a house made of the same earth; it is all around him. Also, the house...