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What are your thoughts on "luck" or "fate," as this novel portrays it? How much responsibility do you think we have over what happens to us? Which character's attitude about luck vs. diligence do you relate to most in this novel?
Luke
9/26/2017 03:33:44 pm
The idea off “luck” and “fate” once this novel is complete trash. One example of this is the uncle and his wife. When his uncle becomes unsuccessful, his wife blames it on bad fortune. Like really??? Bad fortune?? This guy is one if the laziest most incompetent people I’ve ever seen on a novel and she’s trying to say it’s all because off “bad fortune.” I feel like we have 90% responsibility of what happens in our lives. That other ten percent is the uncontrollable stuff that just happens when you’re having a bad day. Or when someone else bring stuff into your life that hinders you; but if you just “don’t feel like” doing good in school and you end up having the peak of your career as manager of McDonald’s, that is not because of “bad fortune.” If you work hard in school and in college and end up getting degrees then your bank account could look like that McDonald’s manager’s phone number! That is definitely not due to good fortune, you became successful because you worked as hard as you could and it paid off. I hope that I will use O-lan as a role model for this characteristic. O-lan throughout the novel barely ever talks, but she works so hard. She gave birth and a couple seconds later was back working in the field like it was nothing. Eventually she’s one of the main reasons her family becomes wealthy. Unlike her uncle in law, she understands that hard work eventually pays off.
Mrs. T
10/3/2017 06:57:33 pm
I like your examples. Remember, just because a character in a story behaves a certain way doesn't mean the author is saying she approves of that character's behavior. It's important to note that the uncle is the villain in the story - that should tell you something about what the author thinks of his claim that he's just "unlucky."
William Taylor
9/26/2017 05:39:37 pm
I think there is zero amount of "luck or fate" in this novel. An example is when the famine comes and everyone is starving in the novel. Another example is when a flood happens and covers all of the land and ruins all of the crops. Wang Lung and all the other characters in the book have absolutely no power to stop the famine or the flood. And also what Luke already mentioned about the uncle and his wife blaming their "bad fortune" on his luck, which is completely wrong. I think we have a good amount of responsibility over what happens to us. But there is always that small amount that we can't really do anything about like if someone lands on you and hurts you in some way even though you were minding your own business and you had no control over what they did to you. But for like the flood or the famine that happens in the novel the people could store up food to be prepared for a natural disaster. People can have the responsibility of preparing for something like a natural disaster even though they can't control it. I relate mostly to O'lan because she doesn't really believe in "luck", like me. And she also knows that working hard will eventually bring success in what she wants to accomplish.
Mrs. T
10/3/2017 07:00:22 pm
That's an excellent point - there are things that happen to us that we have no control over, but we have to be careful even then not to use that as an excuse. Adults should carry life insurance. We buy car insurance. If we live in a place where tornadoes or hurricanes occur we prepare in case of disaster. Not taking care of those things ahead of time is unwise and we can't blame it all on "bad luck."
Jenna N.
9/29/2017 03:24:22 pm
The novel portrays the ideas of fate and luck as important roles. For good luck and a profitable fate, Wang Lung puts incense in a shrine for the “gods.” But the uncle blames his “evil fate” for his bad luck instead of the real problem: his laziness. The idea of petitioning some “gods” for a good fate is, as Luke would put it, complete trash. If they even were real gods, petitioning them with a stick of incense would probably not change their minds. So the characters’ ideas of luck and fate are slightly ridiculous, both basing their life on their luck and blaming luck for everything that goes wrong.
Max Kaplan
10/2/2017 03:16:58 pm
The novel says "luck" as some sort of religious charm, and fate as something that no one can escape. Yet just because that's what it says doesn't mean there is a different truth that's depicted.
Seth Brembeck
10/2/2017 03:33:07 pm
Luck is basically what this is based on besides the earth. they say that it was luck that harmed or handicapped the uncle and that luck was not with him when he had all girls and one boy who was not much of a worker. i feel like they used luck and fate as an excuse for their laziness that they just blamed it on luck and it was just the fate of the uncle or of the person when in reality it was because they were lazy or they spent all their money on useless items. i think we have a lot of responsibility over what happens to us. in the bible is says that God gave us free will, meaning we have complete control over what we do or what we believe and we can choose what we want which may affect are future.
Irene Araya
10/2/2017 04:21:14 pm
The characters in this novel use luck and fate as an excuse for their misfortunes. In their culture, they believed that their fate depended on if the gods were in good or bad mood. From a christian perspective right off the bat it seems ridiculous because I've always been taught that "whatever a man sows, this he will also reap" (Galations 6:7). These people, however, truly believed that they could do nothing to stop what happens to them, like when the locusts come and they all despair and give up blaming it on their bad fortune. Wang Lung is the only one who fights them and therefore is the only one with food that winter. This shows how it does not depend on fate but rather on how diligent a person is. At the same time, it shows that Wang Lung was not a reverent man, and that he had no respect for the gods: he even yells out at them at one point. This is slightly off topic but I'm just trying to say that I do not think all of these people blaming luck were lazy, rather some of them may have been very intent on the wills of the gods. I definitely agree that we have full responsibility over our fates "We are our choices" (J.P. Sartre). I also know that their are things that will happen in life that we can't control that may hurt our futures. Although it may seem hopeless, you can always get of bad situations by constantly working hard to better your life. I relate to Wang Lungs belief in luck the most; he sees right through his uncle and aunt who blame their bad fortune on fate. He understands that to achieve his goals, he must do so through hard work. I also see that to get good grades I have to try my hardest even if I do tend to want to be lazy.
Hannah
10/2/2017 04:50:31 pm
In this book, luck and fate are emphasized greatly. A lot of what happens is blamed on fate, like the uncle being unsuccessful in the beginning or locusts coming and destroying crops. While sometimes this is fair, as people have no control over famine or locusts attacking, other times, for instance in the uncle's case, this has nothing to do with luck. Much of what happens in life isn't luck but the product of our own or other's actions. There are cases, however, where it does come down to luck, but how you respond to a situation will have impact on the outcome. When the locusts attack, most of Wang Lung's crops survive. This is not good fortune, but the outcome of him actually trying to save his crops. So, while much of life is the products of your own doing, when fate does take hand, the outcome depends on what you choose to do in response. I relate to O-lan's response to situations, because she actually does work instead of just leaving it to fate, as trusting "fate" won't get you far in life.
James Roberts
10/2/2017 06:59:02 pm
In this novel, the idea of "luck" and "fate" is a central idea throughout society and this doesn't really make much sense to me. If something extremely bad were to happen to you, you can't really blame it on luck or fate. That was just a result of bad circumstances or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Characters like Wang Lung's uncle assign things like fate to being a "scapegoat". In reality, the real problem to their lives was just the result of laziness. Wang Lung spent all his money on going to see Lotus and then all this bad luck seemed to be springing upon him and he just doesn't want to accept the fact that he was just bringing his own faults down on himself and making the situation even worse. Let's say you were scoring a 5.0 average GPA at school. That's not just pure luck! You had to have worked your tailbone off and in this case it really paid off! In the Bible, God teaches us to "do all that we do in Christ who strengthens us" (Philippians 3:7). All the jobs that were given to us on Earth by God are meant to glorify Him, but also to give us the strength to continue in life until the day of the Second Coming of Christ. I completely relate to Wang Lung though in the fact that he understands that we do have to do actual work in order to get things done properly. I do tend to be lazy a lot of the time because of lack of interest in personal achievement, but I get that if I really want to maintain high grades, I have to hit that benchmark and really work hard to get somewhere in life.
John
10/3/2017 07:38:26 am
In this novel, the ideas of "luck" or "fate". Are totally wrong. An example is when the uncle's wife blames the uncle's downfall of fate. However, it should really be blamed on his laziness. Another example is when Wang Lung gives incenses to the gods even though no matter what he did they would not change their minds. I find that the majority of what affects our future is our actions. We can decide not to get a job at one point which affects our future that you might loose all your money and become homeless. I identify more with O-lan when she is diligent even right after giving birth and comes out to the field and leans of the trust of herself Comments are closed.
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GuidelinesThe whole purpose of this assignment - whether you're reacting to an idea, sharing your own story, or analyzing the reading - is to discuss the ultimate issues of life. With that in mind, make sure that in your response you: Archives
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