Pearl S. Buck depicts the real picture of the materialistic world in the story where three sons have come to their father who is on his death bed but no one is worried about him. All the family is worried about is the property that it would inherit after the death of Wang Lung. A noteworthy thing is that the three sons are not financially bankrupt.
One of the hopes of becoming a landlord and the other one is a general, the third one is all in for business. With this position in life, they still want a big share from the property for their father which he has made after a hard struggle. None of them is emotional about the property; all of them have agreed to sell it after the death of their father. Thus Wang Lung can see in their eyes i.e they are waiting for his departure from the world and from their lives too. Quite sadistic to see the real face of family members in the present era as everyone wants the lion’s share.
Teachings of the father and his love and care did not affect the original mentality of his sons. The pain of death does not pinch Wang Lung at this stage as much as the greed of his three sons. If the book is sandwiched between The Good Earth and A House Divided during listening then Adam Verner’s voice will present a better show. Adam’s voice just grabs your mind during this trilogy, there are sentiments in the voice along with a natural touch which makes it look more real. Characters, situations, and story everything is borrowed from the real world for this book.
