Comparing 'The Epic Of Gilgamesh And Monkey: A Journey To The West'

Unit 1: Journey Historically journeys were seen as the physical movement of a group of people migrating from one place to another. Additionally, journeys were usually only found throughout the history of civilization and religion. Despite this, journeys come in all aspects and are found in a variety of mediums. Specifically, two journeys that are found in the literary works of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Monkey: A Journey to the West are physical and intellectual. These two stories exemplify what a journey consists of by construction the plots around each protagonist participating in both journeys.

The Epic of Gilgamesh and Monkey: A Journey to the West together portrays a physical journey as a journey that an individual goes on that relies

The first destination on this journey is learning the formula of Earthly Conclusions. In page 25, after misinterpreting the information of the Patriarch regarding on how to become an immortal he learns of the Three Calamities that will surely disprove his immortality. The Three Calamities are three natural disasters: lighting, fire, and wind. While these may sound like one can prepare for them, the Three Calamities cannot be overcome by simply using mortal safety procedures. To account for this, the Patriarch gives in to teaching Monkey seventy-two transformations (the Earthly Conclusions) that allows him to perform various tasks and assume any transformation. Learning these transformations are essential since later in the folk novel it serves as a beneficial aid in his intellectual journey. Also, Monkey acquires another aid that helps him on his other journal, his beloved cudgel. In Chapter 3, Monkey considers obtaining a weapon that will help him with his ruling similar to the weapons that previous kings used. He travels to the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea and is taken to the magic iron that pounded the Milky Way flat that weighed thirteen thousand five hundred pounds. Monkey was easily able to pick it up and eventually he used his magic to make it become as small as an embroidery needle that he wore safely and

Nonetheless, Monkey’s intellectual journey shows him how to become humble about this knowledge and effectively use it. On page 75, Buddha presents Monkey a chance to have the Jade Emperor’s position under one task: to jump off the palm of Buddha’s right hand. Although Monkey thinks that the task is absurd and easily doable he fails and even suffers from embarrassment. As Monkey jumped off Buddha’s palm and what he thought was the ground, he only managed to jump to the base of Buddha’s middle finger. Monkey failed to realize that jumping off Buddha’s hand would result in leaving the face of Earth. However, he stated, “This is the end of the World”, when looking at the hands of Buddha. With his knowledge yet not being used effectively, he failed to understand his words that resulted in his embarrassment and shock demonstrated on page 76. He effectively uses his knowledge in the beginning in Chapter XXIV when he comes up with a clever plan to overthrow the Tiger Strength Immortal, Deer Strength Immortal, and Ram Strength Immortal. The three immortals initiate a series of games of replicating various skills that they each possess. In order for Tripikita and his disciples to regain their passports and move on their journey to gather the Scriptures, Tripikita must successfully win every game. Given an open opportunity to use his knowledge and