The value of hard work is expressed in the character of Hsiang-tzu, the protagonist. He works hard when he first gets a job pulling rickshaws in the city; he attempts to save to buy his own so that the work can be both more profitable and on his own terms. Through hard work, he is able to buy a rickshaw. Later, he saves to purchase another. He is always willing to work hard and use what he has to make life better for himself. This is in contrast to other rickshaw coolies who are lazy, sneaky, and shiftless.

The cruelty of the world inexorably takes its toll on Hsiang-tzu and the other characters. Hsiang-tzu repeatedly loses his rickshaws and money through circumstances he himself did not create. He loses his wife and child when she dies in childbirth. He loses the other woman he cared about when she kills herself after being forced into a brothel. Other characters in the novel lose things as well. For example, Hsiang-tzu refuses to tell his deceased wife's father where she is buried because he was cruel to them in the past. The father lost the rest of his daughter's life and the comfort of knowing where she was laid to rest.

The way the world treats Hsiang-tzu changes his character. At the beginning, he is a good man who is willing to work hard and follow the rules. After he loses his first rickshaw, he starts to bend the rules while still working with a rickshaw and trying to save money. After he loses his wife and the other woman he loves, he becomes sneaky, works outside the law, and gives up on rickshaws and building a good life for himself. The world beats each character in the novel down and does not allow them respites from cruelty.