Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Week 6 Reading Diary: Monkey King





11.       Handsome King of the Apes-  This is the first fairy tale story that I have read this unit and it starts as any fairy tale should.  Also it seems like there is always hidden behind a waterfall.

22.       The Great Sea-  For a fairy tale, this touches on a fairly serious issue of mortality and coping with eventually dying.

33.       Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name-  Wu Kung has come a great deal from knocking out a fisherman and stealing his clothes.  It seems like many years pass also where Wu Kung does menial things.

44.       The Master- I feel like I am missing something that would come with living in the Chinese culture because a lot of this section did not make sense to me.

55.       Learning the Art-  I chose this unit because I heard that one of my favorite childhood shows, Dragon Ball, was based on this unit.  The resemblance is starting to show up in my opinion.  Also, while I don't know what they mean, I feel like the use of numbers such as three and 72 have significance.

66.       Sun Wu Kung Departs- Banishing Wu Kung is an awfully harsh punishment for turning into a pine tree.  I don't think I would have made it very long under that master because I would have pulled some sort of prank way sooner than that.

77.       The Devil-King- I've enjoyed how this unit doesn't start right off the bat into an action section like this but instead builds into it.  Also that must have been a gigantic cave if the Devil-King was that big.

88.       The Dragon-King-  This section is a little clunky to read as it jumps around very quickly. 

99.       The Dragon-Queen- At first I liked Son Wu Kung but he is turning into a jerk.  I can see now why the synopsis said that the Buddha decides to deal with him.

110.   The Nether World*- Usually trips to the underworld come with some trial and tribulation, but Wu Kung had none.  I don't like stories with a hero that doesn't struggle but this one isn't terrible since it is a bit more entertaining.

111.   The Lord of the Heavens-  Sun Wu Kung reminds me of the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies, where he has no idea what the customs are and just does his own thing.  However, he is becoming more and more arrogant.

112.   The Great Saint- Are the devil-kings there to cause mischief or are they denizens of Wu Kung's island? 

113.   Notscha, Son of Li Dsing-  I keep reading these chapters and get more and more excited for Wu Kung to get smacked down.  However, I do like how the gods aren't all powerful like in Greek Mythology; it makes Sun Wu Kung's tales more enjoyable.

114.   The Queen-Mother of the West-  The more the main gods try to involve themselves in trying to prevent Wu Kung from mischief he only gets into so much more.

115.   Laotzse-  How many times can they become immortal?  It seems that the fruits and pills and such all grant immortality many times over.

116.   Guan Yin-  This is the second time it mentions someone being giant and having a black face, is there significance to this?

117.   Yang Oerlang-  This section reminds me of the fight between Merlin and the witch in the old Disney movie The Sword in the Stone, where the combatants keep changing into things that can defeat each other.

118.   Buddha-  This sections looks like its going to have a neat ending, where Wu Kung is not beaten by force but by someone who is wise.

119.   The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung-  I'm going to have to read up on how Buddha so easily handles Wu Kung because it doesn't make any sense to me that the Buddha is so much stronger than the gods and Wu Kung.

220.   Journey to the West (synopsis)-  I like how this section has a synopsis section for a conclusion for the conclusion of Wu Kung's journey.  I wish other sections (Iliad and Odyssey) had this as well.  Also this was the reason as to why I chose this unit, as many of the described characters here are the basis for many of the Dragon Ball characters.

221.   Journey to the West (conclusion)-  I found this section to be my favorite of all sections because you saw Wu Kung's rise to power, his arrogance, his punishment, and his salvation.  It also flowed very well from chapter to chapter and had a resolution.

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