The Monkey King

698 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Reflection of society in literature

Throughout the history of existence, there have been those individuals who have separated themselves from society, whether that be emotionally or physically, in order to dwell on moral quandaries present inside themselves. In the case of American Born Chinese, the Monkey King does exactly this. In order to prove to himself and others that he is a mighty, powerful deity, he secluded himself from society to gain knowledge and increased abilities, only to succumb to the all powerful Tze-Yo-Tzuh. It is the Monkey King’s redemption arc, beginning with his selfish ambitions, that shows the importance of society and cultural representation throughout the entire novel, beyond the words, and into the real world. At the beginning of the novel, Gene …show more content…

The Monkey King did this, and all it brought upon himself were more trials and suffering. By taking himself outside of his society, it can be inferred that the society he left values selflessness, as well as faith and trust in the almighty, because those are the characteristics he left behind in order to pursue his own interests. His alienation give him the time to think about is selfishness, and all those he left behind. His arc from egotistical, arrogant king, to faithful, selfless servant helped drive the plot of the novel as a whole. The book is about embracing your true identity, and not being afraid to show those qualities. By taking the time to process the Monkey Kings true intentions, he was able to transform, and serve as a conscience for others struggling with the same issues. The problems the King faced are ones that any human being may face, especially those of a minority, so Yang using the King as a metaphor for those issues allows readers to understand how pushing away who we really are, only brings more struggles. The society American Born Chinese brought to life valued authenticity, and it only took lifetimes of being buried under rock for the King to

Show More
Related

  • Knowing Your Place in To Kill a Mockingbird

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    To conclude, it is proven during numerous instances found in Harper Lee’s award-winning novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, that societal pressures and the rigid rules and boundaries that society sets can overwhelm anyone of any class, race or background. It is unjust to assume anyone’s character by their set status but unfortunately, negative after-effects immediately take place as soon as one tries to step out of their preordained place. As Mayella Ewell, Scout and Jem Finch and Atticus Finch were the examples of this bitter truth, there are many other characters affected by the societal impacts on everyday life in the novel.

    Read More

  • Political Messages in The King of Trees

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    The usage of characters, setting, and symbolism in The King of Trees allows Ah Cheng to display his political ideals. In The King of Trees, Cheng utilizes symbolism of nature to show the positive aspects of tradition Chinese customs and the negative aspects of the Cultural Revolution. The characters, most specifically Li Li and Knotty, represent Confucian ideals, which Cheng finds important to emphasize, especially after their eradication during the Cultural Revolution. Overall, the novella is largely affected by the historical background of its author, and Cheng utilizes a variety to different components to disseminate their personal political messages.

    Read More

  • Prejudice In Craig Silvey's Jasper Jones Essay

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    The fear surrounding Communism had a major impact on people’s attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. The Lu’s, a Vietnamese family, has multiple cases of prejudice because of race, the example of when Mrs Lu was violently attacked with boiling water from Sue Findlay after her husband was killed in the Vietnam war and her son drafted, shows these beliefs. Mrs Lu was made a scapegoat for sue but also the town, as nobody helped Mrs Lu but Jeffrey, Mrs Lu’s son. Jeffrey is constantly getting called names, or being ostracised from the cricket team because of his culture. These topics, the stolen generation and racism as seen in the books, opens the reader to a whole new world, in a more story type way and gives a look at what prejudice is evident in

    Read More

  • American Born Chinese Character Analysis

    436 Words  | 1 Pages

    Subsequently there is a big entanglement of characters that represent one another. On pages 204-214 we see that Chin-kee, a cousin of another character, symbolizes the Monkey King. On all accounts in the book Chin-Kee shows all asian stereotypes that we see continuously to this day. Jin is the cousin of Chin-kee, they both go to school with each other, and Jin is ashamed of

    Read More

  • Essay On The Outcast In Lord Of The Flies

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Lord Of The Flies Piggy goes from caring about everyone and getting everyone off the island safely to only caring about getting himself off the island because none of the boys treated Piggy fairly. An outcast is usually ignored for so long that they go away or in the case they are the second kid to die because all the boys turned savage. In society no matter how much we believe we value kindness and intelligence a the end of the day humans will chose evil and

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Gene In A Separate Peace

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Knowles uses Gene to represent humanity as a whole. A flawed, but reconcilable species. The moral reconciliation that Gene goes through in the book, is a necessary psychological progression towards finding peace within himself.

    Read More

  • Cultural Stereotypes And Transformation In The Monkey King

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Transformation is used to deal with the predetermined ideas that their societies have. Jin Wang faces stereotypes that make it hard for him to function in his new neighbourhood. The Monkey King desires to match the others that originally humiliated him. Danny has trouble being tolerated by peers who at first enjoyed his presence. All must transform to handle an unwelcoming society.

    Read More

  • The King of Trees

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...non-conformist attitudes, and in The King of Chess the chess fool defeating the old chess master symbolizes the act of the old culture being defeated by the new. The King of Trees depicts how the belief systems in revolutionary China enforced new social norms on the population. Understanding the power of the social norms that were imposed in China at this time helps the reader understand how individuality in the citizens might have been expressed as well as why the government felt threatened by such behavior. One theme in The King of Trees is that individuality is persistent despite what is socially acceptable, and understanding the concept of social norms allows one to appreciate both sides of the difficulty conforming to social norms.

    Read More

  • Blues Boy King

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Riley B. King better known as B.B. King was born on September 16th 1925 to a family of sharecropping farmers near a small town named Itta Bena in the Mississippi Delta. King's parents Albert and Nora Ella King separated when he was five years old and shortly after his mother moved to Kilmicheal Mississippi where Riley spent most of his time living with is grandmother. By age seven King was now working the field like a grown man. A couple of years later at the age of nine his mother died. King continued to live with his grandmother after his mother had past away. His grandmother was very religious and he attended church services with her. It was in the church where King begins to take an interest in music. He had dreams of becoming a gospel singer and learned how to play basic notes on the guitar from his preacher. In 1940 King's grandmother died and he had trouble making ends meet and eventually went to live with his father. (The King of Blues)

    Read More

  • Figurative Language, And Symbolism In The Stolen Party By Liliana Heker

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Symbolism is frequently used in the story; Rosaura and the magician have the same symbolism. The monkey and the magician symbolize the same thing, and that is the monkey and Rosaura are both servants. The monkey entertains while Rosaura was in charge of the drinks, cake, and some of the magic tricks. What they don 't know is that they are both being used. Also the monkey can also symbolize all of the wonder and mystery of being rich. “You really and truly earned this,” she said, handing them over. “Thank you for your help, my pet” (Heker 4). Rosaura learned the difference between upper and lower classes and the use of symbolism was to show the truth about the upper and middle classes.

    Read More

  • Theme Huckleberry Finn Essay

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    This is also seen in the character Jim. While Jim is with Miss Watson, he is a slave. She isn't the one who made him that way, it was society. She was good to him and never did him any harm, but the fact is that no matter how good she was to him, he still was only a slave. When Jim runs away, he finally sees that there was a way to be truly free and that was to not live within society. When Jim is in the woods on the island, he just starts to realize what it is to be free and what it is like to live on his own. After he meets Huck in the woods he also realizes what it is like to have a friend. Society kept him from having both of these, freedom and friends.

    Read More

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Rhetorical Analysis

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is something that is a big issue in today's society as well as in his and Janies. People today judge, comment, sway, and change people to make them fit into what society or the majority of the population wants. People degrade, categorize, and demote people to find a group of themselves and the demoted work extra hard in order to make themselves “likeable”. People are greatly affected when they transform himself to fit in with the popular crowd. When they transpose themselves, they in a way lose who they are.

    Read More

  • Jungle Monkeys

    1264 Words  | 3 Pages

    The monkeys of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are a very unique group of characters. They are viewed by the other animals of the jungle, or the Jungle People as they call themselves, as outcasts and outlaws. The most prominent chapter they occur in, “Kaa’s Hunting”, shows their lawless, shiftless, and uncivilized way of life. This image in itself does not give off any racist undertone. However, Disney’s adaption of The Jungle Book carries this view of the monkeys, while also giving them strong attributes that are commonly associated with African-Americans.

    Read More

  • The History of Monkey King

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong, which is a main character in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West. Monkey King can be found in many stories and adaptions. The novel Journey to the West or Monkey King tells of a simian’s revolt against Heaven, of its defeat by the Buddha, and of its later being recruited as pilgrim to protect the monk Tripitaka on its quest for scriptures in India (Lai, 1994). So far, Monkey King has become one of the most enduring Chinese literary characters, it has a colorful cultural history and varied background. Monkey King is also considered by some scholars to be influenced by both the Hindu deity Hanuman from the Ramayana and elements of Chinese folklore (Subbaraman, 2002). The original Chinese novel Journey to the West is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It published in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng’en (Babara S, 1994). The achievement of the novel has drawn widespread attention, various reasons support its popularity. This easy will analyse the varied background, cultural history, social environment of Monkey King, the novel Journey to the West and its author Wu Cheng’en. Furthermore why this novel for many years by the world's attention. It is obvious that the historical reasons of this extraordinary achievement are diverse.

    Read More

  • Prequel To The Monkey's Paw

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    Monkey’s Paw Prequel There was once an old fakir who lived in India. He created something that was called “the monkey’s paw.” The monkey’s paw could grant three wishes. The old fakir saw a man walking by who was just staring at the ground looking at the dirt.. The old fakir said “Would you like to buy this monkey’s paw?

    Read More

More about The Monkey King

Open Document