The following is a summary of the author's online analysis of>, some of which are very refined. Hereby reproduced:
The Monkey King is the most glorious image in the book. Making a scene in Heaven highlights his love for freedom and his courage to resist. "Introduction of Western Learning to the East" praised his spirit of seeing evil and eliminating evil. After the Monkey King failed to make a scene in Heaven, he was released by the Tang Priest, and after 500 years of repression under the Five Elements Mountain, he went to the Western Heaven together. He is no longer the image of a rebel, but a hero who wears a tight hoop and a tiger skin skirt and is committed to lifting the magic disaster on earth. On the premise of acknowledging this change, the author praised his fighting spirit on the other hand, that is, the struggle with the devil. Perseverance and resourcefulness are the main characteristics of the Monkey King who plays tricks in the face of difficulties. Hong Haier clenched his fist and spat "samadhi is the real fire", which made him die. He is still full of energy and forced to fight. The gods of George W. Lei Yin were all captured, but the Monkey King went deep into the sea alone and was still fighting the devil. He is also good at changing, confusing the fake with the real, and fooling the goblins into knowing nothing. He often turns into a moth and a fly, and goes into the demon cave to find out, or turns into a demon mother and a demon husband to deceive them. He got into his stomach several times and turned defeat into victory. For example, when the lion demon opened his mouth to swallow it, he immediately pushed the boat forward, "smashed his feet" and "dangled a dragonfly" in its belly, and the lion demon rolled around in pain and begged for mercy. When he decided to get away, he knew that the demon was going to bite, so he used the golden hoop to explore the road first and told it to knock out its front teeth. The longer he pesters goblins, the richer his experience and the higher his morale. Compared with Bajie and Friar Sand, the Monkey King is the most effective disciple to protect the law.
However, the Monkey King's character is consistent. This is not only manifested in his brave and tenacious resistance to demons, but also in his unruly attitude towards deities and buddhas. To participate in the Buddhist scriptures, he first talked about the conditions, and Guanyin Bodhisattva promised him "to scream every day, to call the local spirit." On the way to learn Buddhist scriptures, I often drive away the land of mountain gods, the Dragon King of the Four Seas and the Gongcao on duty to serve. If he is a little rebellious, he will "stretch out five sticks to pick me up and have a good time with me"! Just to deceive two little demons, he told the Jade Emperor to close the sky. "If Tao refuses, he will go to Lingxiao Temple to use his sword!" ! Therefore, even the Jade Emperor had no choice but to "be glad that he had nothing to do and finally went to heaven safely" and finally agreed to his threat of "crime". For the merciful Guanyin, the Monkey King dared to call her "lazy" and curse her "I have no husband"; For the solemn Buddha, he dares to call himself a "delicate nephew". His way of fighting directly violated the Buddhist precepts. The Monkey King, a monk, is always proud of his history of "causing havoc in Heaven", but he is most afraid that others will mention his old name "Bi Marvin". So we can think that the Monkey King's fate is contradictory, but his personality has its own consistency.
The Tang Priest in Journey to the West kept the pious and ascetic side of the historical figure Xuanzang. In order to pursue the truth in his heart, he resolutely moved forward, knowing that Journey to the West was "boundless and unpredictable". The daughter country was forced to match, and the destruction of France was blocked. The priest in Diling County ... The eighty-one difficulty did not defeat his belief in learning from the scriptures, and his beauty and wealth could not shake his determination to go west. Only in this way, the three unruly disciples can unite as one, and will not break up this small team of Buddhist scriptures.
Wu Cheng'en's Tang Priest, on the other hand, is more creative than the images in the stories he has always learned. In the Tang Priest, the pedantry of feudal Confucian scholars and the piety of Buddhist believers are ironically unified. When I met a demon, I was so scared that I rolled off my saddle and exchanged tears. After leaving his apprentice, he couldn't even eat a vegetarian meal, so that Wukong called him "pustule" when he left. When he meets big and small gods and buddhas, he worships them, whether true or false; Appearing in front of kings of various countries, he will shout for a long time, whether he is virtuous or not. Bajie's high-pitched and cordial singing in Tianzhu surprised the prince; With a straight face, the Tang Priest said, "There are several things, and there are several people." How can you be high and low? "He also wants to show mercy to the demons who keep saying that they want to eat the meat of Tang monks. And the Monkey King, who protects him, is called "a person who has no intention of doing good and intends to do evil" as long as he actively seeks evil. It turned out that he himself was afraid of goblins, afraid that others would fight and kill and get into trouble. In order to prevent the Monkey King from resisting magic, he often closed his eyes and recited spells, which made Wukong suffer greatly and brought disaster to himself. However, this monk, who is very good at "stubborn followers", is always helpless in front of goblins. Confessions of the Tang Priest in Xuan Ying Cave once wrote that he was bullied by goblins and forced to "kneel down trembling and call him' Your Majesty for mercy'"! He answered questions without delay, revealing the bottom of Wukong. In order to please the demon, he even called Wukong "ungrateful" on the spot. It is through this contrast of personality that the author greatly affirmed the Monkey King's fighting spirit and criticized Tang Priest's weak attitude of giving in to evil forces. This kind of thinking height is beyond the reach of any previous story.