Conflict in a story contributes to the development of characters. In Pearl S. Buck's The Good Earth, Wang Lung encounters conflicts that effect change into his life. Throughout the novel, he struggles against fate, nature, and society.

Fate strikes down Wang Lung's good fortune and causes him to appreciate things he had overlooked. During his rise to wealth, Wang Lung begins to lose concern for his wife, O-lan. He buys another wife, and indulges her with whatever she desires, while he forces O-lan to work. His love is transferred from O-lan to his new wife when he takes O-lan's pearls away from her and gives them to his new wife, Lotus. O-lan starts to show signs of sickness and eventually falls ill. Only now, when fate strikes and makes O-lan incapable of work does Wang Lung fully realize her value. His principles shift from being concerned with having...