What is a common element in many ancient and modern literary works? Why?
In The Story of the Stone, magic played a role in the story, just as it did in many other ancient works. The Story of the Stone demonstrates magic when the stone "having undergone the melting and moulding of a goddess, possessed magic powers" (149). Throughout Chapter 1, the stone is able to talk, and change his size and color. This is similar to ancient pieces like Monkey, when the Monkey is able to disguise himself as Pigsy's wife to try and get him to divorce Mr. Kao's daughter. Magic seemed to be an entertaining aspect of Chinese literature that the Chinese enjoyed reading. Throughout modern times also magic has been seen through many popular fairytales, movies, books, etc. In Cinderella, a popular fairy tale, Cinderella has her fairy godmother change a pumpkin into a carriage and animals into horses to get her to the ball. Also in popular movies and books like Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Nanny McPhee all use magic to help their plot affectively develop. It is evident across many centuries that people still like to be entertained with elements of magic throughout stories.
Your question is a bit broad.
ReplyDeleteYou start out well, but then you just list a bunch of examples without really connecting them.
The use of magic in literature is valid, but you need to delve in deeper to its significance.