Reading Notes: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung, Part B
Week 7
In addition to the reading yesterday I decided to keep reading The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung, part B from Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book. I have noticed I'm drawn towards the actions of the main character the Monkey King. He was already born powerful and lived that way for many years taking care of his fellow animal kingdom, he had a government system, yet he worried about being immortal. This is also recapped in "The Lord of the Heavens" section. I find it somewhat interesting that he gained immortality but he still wishes to have this overwhelming power. I also get this contradicting feeling that he is also very humble and eager to be apart of different powers, like when he visits the Heavens. I don't find any of his actions to be ill intended but they definitely are to better himself and not exactly for selfish reasons. This makes him a very complex character to me. I also find his fights with Notscha in "Notscha, Son of Li Dsing" to reassure him and all others of how powerful he is. I think what his competition fails to realize has a lot to do with his thinking. He may come off as naive in some ways, but he also takes the time to figure things out and can outsmart his opponent. I see a lot of parallels with the asian culture in this sense that a lot of dynasties were this way. I enjoyed seeing the twist and how this power got to the Monkey King's head in "The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung" as he has gained the great knowledge, but is still naive and the Buddha has to explain to him his powers will only take him so far. He even was the only one who trapped him for many years. I actually really liked the ending because it humbled the Monkey King, and I felt he personally needed that. I liked that it tied back to the Buddha too, his very first journey to power which would also in a way be his last journey with that kind of power. I really liked the complexity of his character and how interesting his encounters with others were.
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