How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #10
And as these days went past to the night, the girl Lotus did what she would with him. When she laughed at the braid of his hair, although part of every day he spent in braiding and in brushing it, and said, "Now the men of the South do not have these monkey tails!" he went without a word and had it cut off, although neither by laughter or scorn had anyone been able to persuade him to it before […] When O-lan saw what he had done she burst out in terror, “You have cut off your life!” But he shouted at her, “And shall I look an old-fashioned fool forever? All the young men of the city have their hair cut short." (19.45)
For Wang Lung, the South has now become something more than a physical location: it's now a state of mind. Wang Lung behaves—and now, to some extent, even looks—like someone from the South, even though he's living back in the North.