"He took a great leap and then flew to the end of the world in seconds. Nothing was visible except for five pillars, and Wukong surmised that he had reached the ends of Heaven. To prove his trail, he marked the pillars with a phrase declaring himself "the great sage equal to heaven" (and in other versions, urinated on the pillar he signed on)"
I think that it's interesting that Yang used the plot from Journey to the West to create a comic book that conveys a coming of age story. There are many other interesting parts of Yang's work that are hidden right under the surface
- Jason McCoy
The above picture is a depiction of The Monkey King from Journey to the West.
Awesome! Thanks for putting the wiki link of it. I've seen interpretations of Journey to the West but I'm glad to read about the original version.
ReplyDeleteThe Monkey King is adapted into a lot of films as well. One that might be familiar to all of you is The Forbidden Kingdom with Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Li plays The Monkey King. I haven't seen the movie yet but after reading this book and the wiki I think I'll give it a try to see different portrayals of The Monkey King.
This is so interesting! I had never heard of 'Journey to the West' before and I don't know very much about Chinese culture, so I think it's so interesting that Yang was able to tie in an ancient Chinese story and relate it to her YA novel. Thanks Jason!
ReplyDelete-Katie
I think it is interesting statement in and of itself that the author chooses to use a traditional Chinese text and mixes it with an "Americanized" coming of age story. This is empowering in and of itself and mimics the themes of the work on a textural level.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! I feel like I should go back and read it now knowing that it was adapted from an ancient Chinese story. I always love reading books that try to portray different cultural messages. Even though I don't usually go for graphic novels, this one definitely kept my attention as I read.
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