(Before I begin I should warn you that there will be some spoilers for the book "The Good Earth." Now this may mean nothing to you, but just in case I wanted to warn you that my rant begins with something from the plot of this book and then moves on into the concepts of beauty in America.)

So, I'm reading "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck, and right now the main character Wang Lung is making me very frustrated. After many years of marriage and six children he has suddenly become tired of his wife, O'lan, and has begun cheating on her with some little painted prostitute.

This makes me very angry! O'Lan has been a very faithful, helpful, caring wife through this whole book, and now Wang Lung is casting her aside for some tramp! And all this because he knows the O'Lan is not "beautiful". What IS beautiful? Can someone tell me, cause really I'm getting confused here.

I've been doing a little bit of research on this particular topic. I wanted to know what aspects do we as humans label as attractive and why. Really, the answers are a little odd. According to some sources I have found it seems to be all about dimensions. And now just one particular measurement. Women don't have to have specific numbers, but it seems that if, when you divide the size of your waist by the size of your hips, you come up with the number .7 then your dimensions are pleasing. (Men, you have to have the number .9.) Apparently such famous figures as Jessica Alba, Marilyn Monroe, and even the Venus de Milo. So what does this mean?

Really, I don't know! I think that with all the research and all the hype about body type, diets, workouts, and what-have-you we are still no where near close to understanding what we as individuals are attracted by someone else. Beauty really SHOULD be in the eye of the beholder, and frankly I don't appreciate anyone trying to set up predetermined mandatory features for the definition of beautiful!

So, yeah, O'Lan may have big feet and a round face, she might be big boned or quiet, but that doesn't mean she isn't beautiful! And if this Wang Lung guy were real I would give him a good slap in the face for his unfaithful behavior and his complete and total thanklessness for this woman who stood by his side through the worst of times. What is that quote? "Thanklessness plagues and dogs hard the heels of affection." Wang Lung should have kept that in mind.

If he were real and not just some made up character.

I really shouldn't get so wrapped up in my books.