In the beginning on the story we are introduced to a character that is referred to as, “The Magical Monkey King.” With the story beginning the Monkey King’s introduction with, “When his eyes first opened they flashed rays of light into the sky,” and then going on to say, “All of Heaven took notice,” I had the feeling this particular monkey was going to be god- like in the sense he was going to for example be a monkey who had complete power over all humans. A monkey having complete power of humans would be the ultimate whoa god-like scenario I had imagined upon first reading this. However as the story goes on I learn that while this monkey is a king and practices the four disciplines, there was really nothing unexpected from him. He was a king over monkeys who liked food and knew Kung- Fu, which to me seemed like an expected obvious role for a monkey to play. “The Jungle Book,” and “Tarzan,” are the kind of stories I believe deserve introductions with such opening descriptions of the characters.
As a side note, the thing I enjoyed most about this reading was that for a brief time I had no idea the three stories were interlocked, which I thoroughly enjoyed because it wasn’t obvious until it was directly shown. Going on to the second portion of the story what first comes to mind are the transformer toys, the Chinese Herbalist and her creepy words, and the Asians being friends. I thought the Monkey King was rather clever in his transformer toy symbolism, because the monkeys switch their outer appearance to better suit the world they wish to be a part of. I really enjoyed the symbolism there, because like I said I had no idea the three stories were interlocked so it was a pretty special surprise to think back and realize the connection. The creepy thing the Herbalist said that really seemed so out there to me that I knew it had to have a major point was the comment, “It’s easy to become anything you wish… so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul.”
After reading that I was creeped out a bit, and looking back I wonder if maybe that was the Monkey King transformed into another character simply trying to pressure or assure his son, through his son’s only friend, into following in his footprints. I also find it rather interesting that not only was there the whole transformer symbolism with the toy, but that toy was the only reason the two boys became friends. So I am thinking maybe, just maybe, this powerful monkey must have seriously had a knack for seeing the future, or at least up to a certain extent. I’m considering the fact that if the kids hadn’t become friends then the father would never have been able to somewhat stay in contact with his son, his only contact being through his son’s friend.
In the final portion of the story I kind of enjoyed the Monkey King’s sense of humor. He was providing a really stereotypical cousin of Asian descent. The monkey was making comments while still in human form such as, “Such pletty amellican girl wiff bountiful amellican bosom! Must bind feet and bear chinkee’s children!” I admit my family is Filipino, but I know almost nothing of the Asian culture. My idea of the Asian culture would be similar to that statement in the idea that I believe men and women marry without necessarily being in love, and that they may even marry simply for children so that children could help support the family, or to keep the family name growing, etc. I also found humor in the whole dancing in what appeared to be the library, singing the “She bang,” song most of us recall from popular tv show American Idol. Overall, the whole text of the Monkey King while being transformed as the cousin was rather stereotypical and therefore in a sense a bit humorous.
Does the fact that this car transforms into an exotic dancer make us like it any more?
