and the he [hears] the feeble cry. and there [is] no second cry" (p. 82) and then O-lan shows him a dead baby under the cover. O-lan knows they cannot provide for a baby girl, who will only be a burden to everyone. As a result, O-Lan quietly takes the baby's life. Infanticide is the practice of killing newborn infants, a sin that she commits. Also, Wang Lung hears his youngest daughter crying about the painful foot binding process and wonders why she is weeping and she tells him "[her] mother said [she is] not to weep aloud because [he] is too kind and weak for pain and [he] might say to leave [her] as [she is], and then [her] husband would not love [her] even as [he does] not love her" (p. 252). O-lan teaches her daughter the message "Beauty is pain," because she knows what being neglected feels like. She cares about her daughter's looks because she does not want her to go through the hell that she did. Daughters were seen as a small happiness, because they eventually were sold or traded to become slaves, wives, or concubines.

             Wives tried to make lives for men perfect with all luxuries possible, while they got nothing for themselves and were treated cruelly. For example, in Pang-Mei Natasha Chang's Bound Feet and Western Dress, Chang starts the book off by reminding the reader "a woman is nothing. When she is born, she must obey her father. When she is married, she must obey her husband. And when she is widowed, she must obey her son" (p. 6). The filial responsibility of China is the idea of respecting elders, but women have to listen to men, despite their age. She has to obey her son, even though she gave birth to him. In The Good Earth, O-lan prepares the first big dinner for the family and "Wang Lung [feels] in him a great pride that this woman [is] his and did not fear to appear before him" (p. 23), but he tells his audience "it is poor stuff- it is badly prepared. But in his heart he [is] proud of the dishes" (p.