 |
| O-Lan | |
|---|---|
 Luise Rainer as O-Lan in the 1937 film of The Good Earth | |
| Portrayed by | Luise Rainer |
| In-universe information | |
| Occupation | Cook, Beggar |
| Spouse | Wang Lung |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| O-Lan | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 玉蘭 | ||||||
| |||||||
O-Lan is a fictional character in Pearl S. Buck's 1931 novel The Good Earth . For her portrayal of the character in the 1937 film adaptation,Luise Rainer won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
She is a slave of the House of Hwang who gains her freedom when she marries the novel's protagonist,Wang Lung. They start a family in their small country town,and endure grueling times,including droughts,floods,and war. Wang Lung and O-Lan work hard to ensure their family's survival,and their persistence finally prevails when the land produces great riches.
O-Lan is a skilled cook,having worked in the kitchens as a slave. When O-Lan first arrives at Wang Lung's house,she prepares a deliciously cooked meal. In response to Wang Lung's questions of her dexterity,she blandly replies,"I have been kitchen slave since I went into the House of Hwang. There were meats at every meal." Wang Lung received many compliments from his family and friends for O-Lan's dinner.
Wang-Lung and O-Lan reluctantly move to a southern city to escape starvation. O-Lan is an experienced beggar,which she learned in her youth;she uses her childhood begging talents to assist the family in surviving the dilemmas of the city. She knows who to plead to,where to beg,and teaches the children to beg.[ citation needed ]
Wang Lung eventually casts O-Lan aside when he becomes enamoured with a prostitute named Lotus. He takes Lotus as a second wife,which devastates O-Lan;she is especially unhappy when Lotus brings Cuckoo,a former slave of the House of Hwang,as her personal servant. O-Lan resents Cuckoo for being haughty and cold when they were both slaves,and reminds her that while Cuckoo is still a slave,O-Lan is the lady of a prosperous household,a first wife,and the mother of sons.
After giving birth to twins,a boy and a girl,O-lan becomes barren,saying "There is a fire in my vitals". She repeats this throughout the years. One day around the time Wang Lung began to feel guilt for casting her aside,she can no longer leave her room. Wang Lung summons the town's doctor who says among other things,that she has a tumor in her abdomen and "worms in her heart." The doctor says then that it will cost 500 pieces of silver to help her,but,O-lan refuses,saying good land could be bought with that money. Wang Lung ignores her and exclaims that he has the money. Upon hearing this,the doctor says that the color of her eyes are different and treatment will cost 5,000 pieces of silver. Wang Lung realizes that she will die. Over the next years,O-lan becomes weaker and begins to fall into fits. She constantly shows how much Wang Lung has hurt her when she repeatedly murmurs at the end "I am ugly and cannot be loved". In the end,Wang Lung cannot bear to be in her presence. When O-lan finally dies after seeing her eldest son married,she was buried with her father-in-law on Wang Lung's land.
O-Lan's intelligence,talents,and hard work are crucial to Wang Lung's success. After her death,there is no one in the household to manage their finances carefully;their oldest son spends money constantly,while their second son insists on hoarding their money. Without O-Lan,Wang Lung has difficulty controlling the household.
The Good Earth is a 1937 American drama film about Chinese farmers who struggle to survive. It was adapted by Talbot Jennings,Tess Slesinger,and Claudine West from the 1932 play by Owen Davis and Donald Davis,which was in itself based on the 1931 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. The film was directed by Sidney Franklin,with uncredited contributions by Victor Fleming and Gustav Machaty.
Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for The Good Earth,the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and which won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938,Buck became the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China" and for her "masterpieces",two memoir-biographies of her missionary parents.
East Wind:West Wind is a novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1930,her first. It focuses on a Chinese woman,Kwei-lan,and the changes that she and her family undergo.
Dream of the Red Chamber or The Story of the Stone is a Chinese novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the mid-18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature,it is known for its psychological scope and its observation of the worldview,aesthetics,lifestyles,and social relations of 18th-century China.
The kitchen deity –also known as the Stove God,named Zao Jun,Zao Shen,Tsao Chun,Zao kimjah,Cokimjah or Zhang Lang –is the most important of a plethora of Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family. The Kitchen God is recognized in Chinese folk religion,Chinese mythology,and Taoism. Under different names,he is also celebrated in several other Asian religions.
The Good Earth is a historical fiction novel by Pearl S. Buck published in 1931 that dramatizes family life in a 20th-century Chinese village in Anhwei. It is the first book in her House of Earth trilogy,continued in Sons (1932) and A House Divided (1935). It was the best-selling novel in the United States in both 1931 and 1932,won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1932,and was influential in Buck's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938. Buck,who grew up in China as the daughter of American missionaries,wrote the book while living in China and drew on her first-hand observation of Chinese village life. The realistic and sympathetic depiction of the farmer Wang Lung and his wife O-Lan helped prepare Americans of the 1930s to consider Chinese as allies in the coming war with Japan.
Wong Liu Tsong,known professionally as Anna May Wong,was an American actress,considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood,as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her varied career spanned silent film,sound film,television,stage,and radio.
Mandingo is a 1975 American historical melodrama film that focuses on the Atlantic slave trade in the Antebellum South. The film's title refers to the mandinka people,who are referred to as "Mandingos",and described as being good slaves for fighting matches. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis for Paramount Pictures,the film was directed by Richard Fleischer. The screenplay,by Norman Wexler,was adapted from the 1957 novel Mandingo by Kyle Onstott,and the 1961 play Mandingo by Jack Kirkland.
Menaechmi,a Latin-language play,is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as The Brothers Menaechmus or The Two Menaechmuses.
The Kitchen God's Wife is the second novel by Chinese-American author,Amy Tan. First published in 1991,it deals extensively with Chinese-American female identity and draws on the story of her mother's life.
Sons is a historical fiction novel by American author Pearl S. Buck first published by John Day Company in 1932. It is the second book in The House of Earth trilogy,preceded by The Good Earth and followed by A House Divided.
A House Divided is a historical fiction novel by American author Pearl S. Buck first published by John Day Company in 1935. The story centers on the third generation of Wang Lung's family,focusing particularly on his grandson Wang Yuan. It is the third and final book in The House of Earth trilogy,preceded by Sons.
Letter from Peking is a 1957 novel by Pearl S. Buck. The story is about a loving interracial marriage between Gerald and Elizabeth MacLeod,their separation due to the communist uprising in China in 1949,and their separate lives in China and America.
Wang Lung is the protagonist of The Good Earth,a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Pearl S. Buck and the first volume of her House of Earth trilogy.
Longnü,translated as Dragon Girl,along with Sudhana are considered acolytes of the bodhisattva Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara) in Chinese Buddhism. Her presence in Guanyin's iconography was influenced by tantric sutras celebrating the esoteric Amoghapāśa and Thousand-armed forms of Guanyin,which mention Longnüoffering Guanyin a priceless pearl in gratitude for the latter visiting the Dragon King's palace at the bottom of the ocean to teach the inhabitants her salvific dharani.
Nightjohn is a 1996 American television drama film directed by Charles Burnett and written by Bill Cain,based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Gary Paulsen. It aired on Disney Channel as one of its Premiere Films,on June 1,1996.
L'Escargot is a 2012 Hong Kong television drama inspired by the 2009 Chinese television drama Dwelling Narrowness,starring Michael Miu,Michael Tse,Sonija Kwok,Linda Chung and Ron Ng as the main leads. It is produced by Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) under executive producer Nelson Cheung,and was filmed with a single-camera setup. A costume fitting was held on 20 September 2010. A blessing ceremony was held on 14 October 2010 where production started and ended in January 2011.
O-Lan Jones is an American actress,composer,and theater producer,best known as Rose on Harts of the West (1993-1994).
Prince of Lan Ling is a 2013 Chinese television series that is set during the lifetime of the Northern Qi Dynasty prince Gao Changgong. It starred Chinese actor Feng Shaofeng as the titular Prince of Lan Ling,alongside Taiwanese actress singer Ariel Lin and Hong Kong actor singer Daniel Chan.
The 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the American author Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces." Buck was the first female American to be awarded the Nobel Prize and the third American recipient following Eugene O'Neill in 1936 and Sinclair Lewis in 1930. She was also the fourth woman to receive the prize.