"There was only this perfect sympathy of movement, of turning this earth of theirs over and over to the sun, this earth which formed their home and fed their bodies and made their gods?"

I believe this quote is from chapter 2. It illustrates Wang Lung’s and O-lan’s connection to the land.Their lives are tied to the rhythms of the earth. The pattern of “turning this earth of theirs over and over” is really a metaphor for their lives. Life comes from the earth and dies in the earth, this pattern is eternal. THe earth and Wang Lung's connection to it is a recurring motif throughout the book. While generations of people come and go, the earth is perennial.