Monkey Case

Leslie Tan English 2850

Jeanne Stauffer-Merle

10/26/11

MONKEY

Monkey, also known as Journey to the West, is a popular novel in China written by Wu Cheng’en in 1592 during the Ming Dynasty. Throughout the story of Monkey, the main character Monkey displayed a modification of his behavior. This change in his behavior is what made him succeed in this journey along with his master and the other three disciples. Many examples throughout the story show us how Monkey slowly develops into a more mannered and mature character from a very childish and reckless character. This alternation of his behavior is important because it shows that Monkey is capable of being a team player, as well as being an obedient disciple.

Like the name of the main character, Monkey is a monkey. Monkeys are and intend to be very curious, obnoxious, loud and have many other obvious characteristics. These characteristics and personalities adjust with Monkey as well. In the beginning of the story, the author showed how Monkey is a very curious and reckless character. During the period where Monkey and his companions encounter a beautiful giant waterfall, they decided that whoever jumps and returns alive will become their king. Immediately, Monkey cried “I will go!”(p.11) This shows that at the point, Monkey was unable to see the consequences he will suffer, but only the prize he will get. He did not know if he would survive the fall or not but being the character he is, he plunged into the depths of the waterfall without a second thought. This seems as if Monkey hasn’t developed a human type personality at this point of the story. He does not think abstractly like a human but rather have a mind of an animal. An reasonable person would not jump off a waterfall just to prove himself as a higher being. As he returns, he mentions “I have not only come and gone and come again, but also found you a comfortable place to sleep…why do you not bow down to me as your king?”(p.12) Not only that this shows that Monkey is being cocky, but an unnaturally strong character who wants to claim his rightful position as king as to every other species in the animal kingdom. For example, in reality every species in the animal kingdom such as lions and bears has reputation and feats of strengths. These wild animals that are similar to Monkey have to show their strengths in order to gain respect from others and to ultimately prove that they are better than the rest.

Monkey reveals another type of personality when Monkey and Tripitaka encounter their first obstacle in their journey to find the Indian scriptures. This deadly encounter turns out to be a fearsome tiger that appears roaring savagely and lashing its tail. We immediate assume that Monkey and Triptaka will have a hard time defeating its enemy, but