Throughout the narrative, Buck portrays the earth as a living thing and the source of all life. The author describes the faithfulness of the earth: It annually brings forth two harvests that yield more than enough to feed one’s family and survive. Wang Lung’s ability to coax abundance from the earth—enough to educate his children, provide for his servants, and continually acquire more land—is Buck’s way of describing the earth’s ability to offer plenty beyond mere sufficiency. The life that comes from the earth, the author conveys, is cyclical. Early on, Wang Lung stumbles upon a burial place where the bones of former humans gradually return to their natural state. At the novel’s end, Wang Lung finds comfort in the nearness of his own coffin, which reminds him that the earth patiently awaits his return.

Distinguishing between Mother Nature and the earth itself is useful in understanding this message. While nature—which includes wind, capricious temperature changes, rain, and locusts—is often undependable, the earth never is. The weather may make cultivation of the earth impossible for a time. When the weather ends its impetuous behavior—as when a cold snap or a drought ends—the earth resumes its eternal cycle.