Literary Analysis Essay on Monkey and Monk & Wizard of Oz

Introduction

'The monkey and monk' and 'wizard of the Oz' are among the popular literature pieces studied since history. The 'monkey and monk' is a folk novel describing a Monkey gotten from the rocks traveling to the West with a Monk to India to retrieve Buddhism sacred scriptures and return to China for the people to learn the religion. The 'wizard of the Oz,' on the other hand, is a film released in 1939 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. It is categorized as a musical fantasy play describing the life of Dorothy and her tiny dog named Toto, who assisted in killing the wicked Witch on the eastern side. The paper compares the two classical literature pieces.

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Both writings involve fictional characters, different from the known human nature. The 'monkey and monk' play begins by explaining the life of a Monkey that was born from a rock. He later became the leader of other monkeys ruling for many years. The character developed the idea regarding mortality and looked for immortals, sages, and Buddha's as they would leave Yama, the place of death. The immortal gotten is named Patriarch, who teaches the Monkey on top global secrets and ways to change his body shape. Monkey is a smart learner, wherein one instance, and he transforms into a pine tree, which makes him proud (Cheng'en 2006). Also, after returning home, Monkey discovered that the demon of havoc had overthrown him. Using the skills given by the Patriarch, Monkey returns to power. Thus, fictional aspects are evident here since Monkey is born from the rocks and interacts with an immortal giving him the capability to transform.

The 'wizard of the oz' film also has fictional aspects, in describing the story. The play begins by describing Dorothy, living in Kansas with relatives and a little dog called Toto. While in the house, a cyclone develops, and they are carried over a long journey, and they land in a magnificent area populated by short humans. After landing, the Witch of the North tells Dorothy that she had killed the Eastern Witch by her house's landing. Afterward, the Northern Witch gives her the dead Witch's shoes advising her to travel to Emeralds City to visit Wizard Oz to help her return home, Kansas. The Witch directs her through a yellow road, and a magical kiss meant to guard during the journey. The description of the house moving a long journey and not hurting Dorothy, as well as killing the eastern Witch by landing on the North's witch house, is fictional, making the piece similar to the other (Douglas et al., 2018).

The other similarity between the texts is that characters suffer before achieving their goals. The Monkey wanted to become immortal and needed weapons for protection. He visited the Dragon King for the armor, who reported to the Jade Emperor that Monkey was greedy. After falling asleep, the body is presented to Yama though he manages to escape as he is still mortal. The Jade Emperor does not grant Monkey his wishes; instead, he makes him a personal worker allocating too many duties, so the does not continue with the plot to become immortal (Ji 2016). Monkey remains focused on the mission, causing troubles regularly to become like the great Suge who is equal to heaven. However, Buddha outdoes Monkey, throwing him in the Mountain of five elements. In the end, Kuan Yin, the leader, promises to free Monkey if he agreed to be the pilgrim's worker.

Dorothy also struggles while returning to Kansas, her land. In the journey with Toto, they interact with Scarecrow, who wanted to have brains, Woodman that wished for a heart and Lion who wanted to have courage. Dorothy has powers as she was given the Witch's shoe and therefore meets the wishes of the three companions. They encounter problems during the journey, but the abilities gained help them overcome. For example, they quickly access Oz, meant to help Dorothy return to Kansas. However, the wish is not granted due to the demand that they have to kill the Western Witch first. They, therefore, travel to the land of Winkies, where the west witch lives. In self-defense, the Witch sends wolves and bees to attack them, but they remain safe. The Witch later uses the cap to make winged monkeys that attack the Scarecrow, Woodman, and lion and presents Dorothy and Toto to be slaves. Dorothy's shoes are also taken as the Witch knew they had powers. The events show that characters in pieces encountered issues while working to achieve their goals despite have supernatural powers. Like in the above play, characters here did not achieve their goals in the end, despite having the powers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the two pieces show how historical literature utilized fiction in narrating. They describe characters having supernatural powers, enabling them to engage in different activities that humans cannot manage. Despite the characters having supernatural powers, they encounter challenges before achieving their life goals. The pieces are thus similar in making the audience understand that becoming immortal does not make one's life easy. Instead, they should remain as they are and face life challenges along the way without getting involved in actions that would cause further harm to them. For example, Monkey would have ruled the land forever, but the greediness of becoming an immortal led to not only losing power but also suffering.

References

Cheng'en Wu. (2006). The Monkey & the Monk: A Revised Abridgment of The Journey to the West. University of Chicago Press.

Douglas, J. G., Kavich, G., Mori, C., Wallace, D., & Barden, R. (2018). Materials characterization of the Ruby Slippers from the 1939 classic film, The Wizard of Oz. Heritage Science, 6(1), 49.

Ji, H. (2016). A comparative study of two major English translations of The Journey to the West: Monkey and The Monkey and the Monk. Journal of Chinese Humanities, 2(1), 77-97.