How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #4
"They cannot take the land from me. The labor of my body and the fruit of the fields I have put into that which cannot be taken away. If I had the silver, they would have taken it. If I had bought with the silver to store it, they would have taken it all. I have the land still, and it is mine." (8.49)
You can trust the earth: it's not going anywhere, and no one can take it from you. But manmade things like silver can always be stolen, even from the toughest vaults.
Quote #5
"I was sold," she answered very slowly. "I was sold to a great house so that my parents could return to their home. “And would you sell the child, therefore?" "If it were only I, she would be killed before she was sold... the slave of slaves was I! But a dead girl brings nothing. I would sell this girl for you—to take you back to the land." (13.21)
Which is more important: human life, or the land? O-lan obviously decides that the land is more important than the happiness of one little girl. Her thinking is that by selling the girl, only one person suffers, whereas if the land is lost, many people will suffer. What do you think of this kind of reason?
Quote #6
Now that he was poor Wang Lung knew full well but he had heretofore blamed it on a heaven that would not rain in its season, or having rained, would continue to rain as though rain were an evil habit. When there was rain and sun in proportion so that the seed would sprout in the land and the stalk bear grain, he did not consider himself poor. Therefore he listened in interest to hear further what the rich men had to do with this thing, that heaven would not rain in its season. (14.30)
Wang Lung's life is so controlled by the seasons and the weather that he can't even begin to understand what rich people have to do with him being poor. He's only poor because it's a famine this year. What's money got to do with being poor?