The book Journey to the West, more affectionately referred to as Monkey, is one of the four great classic Chinese novels. While authorship of Journey to the West has not been entirely established, most scholars accept attribution to the Ming dynasty author Wu Chengen. The tale is based on the legendary pilgrimage that the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, sometimes referred to as Tripitaka, takes to India in order to retrieve the sacred Buddhist scrolls. The novel is divided into three main sections. The first seven chapters form a remarkable prologue encompassing the birth of the stone monkey, the failure of the monkey’s unrivaled rebellions against Heaven, and his eventual entrapment by Buddha in a mountain for rebelling against heaven. These chapters bleed political satire with their focus on a rebellious monkey fighting against a bureaucratic government, as do select portions of the rest of the novel. …show more content…
These five chapters describe both the cause and start of Tripitaka’s journey as he seeks the Sutra in the West. Tripitaka’s journey focuses around the Fellowship of the Sutra; contained in the third, and easily longest, eighty-eight chapter-long main body. Through his wit and his varying tone in storytelling, Wu Chengen makes Journey to the West come alive. The majority of Journey to the West concerns itself with the theme of Chinese spiritualism, punctuated by secondary themes of political satire and self-cultivation, to tell an engaging and imaginative tale – one that has helped entertain and enlighten people of all ages for many