Monkey

Are the characters consistent in their actions? 

Throughout Monkey, the Monkey and Tripitaka remain consistent in their traits and actions. Before Monkey joins Tripitaka’s journey to India he caused too much havoc in the Halls of Heaven and was placed under a mountain for five-hundred years. Throughout Monkey, the Monkey remains consistent through his actions. Monkey describes the journey and at every stop Monkey tried to help with the various problems people were having. He would trick, and fight until he solved their problem, even though it was not the most moral thing to do. He is constantly trying to be involved in others’ lives, although this seems good and holy to some, he is meddling in others’ lives and just causes more trouble. An example of this would be when he tried to overthrow the false king and replace him with the preserved king. He didn’t take into account that the Bodhisattva Manijusri and Buddha were trying to punish the King for not being considerate (69-71). Tripitaka also remains the same throughout this work. To me, he seemed kind of like the "side kick" of the story. Monkey was always handling the action to "protect" his Master. Tripitaka just lead the way and tried to keep the Monkey focused on the task, which was to make good decisions and get the scriptures in India. Throughout Monkey, the Monkey remains as a sly, mischevious, meddling character, and Tripitaka also remains consistent in his "behind the scenes," leader character traits throughout this piece of literature.

How is suspense created in the story? Can you find examples of mystery?

Near the end of each chapter of Monkey something along the lines of, "If you do not know how the story goes on, you must listen to what is told in the next chapter" (64). I believe this adds a little to the suspense factor of Monkey. It doesn't really give any insight to how they get out of the situation they are in, so the reader has to keep reading to decide. This is similar to what Sharazad did in "A Thousand and One Nights" so she her life was spared by the King. Also, throughout the story, it is never known which situation the Monkey will get Tripitaka and himself in, so there is suspense and a longing to figure out what and how they are going to be able to manage the situation they are currently in and if they are ever going to make it to India to get the scriptures. On page 61 Pigsy was demanding Monkey bring the dead Emperor back to life just as about as Tripitaka was thinking about giving up. In order to get the Monkey to bring him to life, Tripitaka started reciting the spell that would cause pressure to Monkey's head and the chapter ended. This causes a mystery because the reader has no idea whether the Monkey will cave and travel to the World of Light to bring the Emperor back to life or just deal with the pain. So in order to find out the reader has to read the next chapter in order to continue with the story.