MonkeyKingPaper

Nathan 												English 8-4												24 September 2008 Super-Monkey Do you know of a monkey that can travel over 100,000 miles in a single somersault or turn into 72 different animals? The Monkey King of Chinese folklore can. The story of the Monkey King originally came from the novel Journey to the West written by Wu Ch’engen in the sixteenth century. According to Gene Yang, the author of American Born Chinese, “Journey to the West is considered one of the Four Great Chinese Novels.” According to Haiwang Yuan on his website The Story of the Monkey King, the Monkey King was born from a rock. Soon after, he was able to master many fighting techniques and magical tricks. However, the Monkey King was extremely cocky with his astounding skills, so the he was sentenced by Buddha to lead a monk named Xuan Zang westward to India. A talking pig and a sea monster were also sentenced to lead the monk for their wrongdoings. In Gene Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese, the pig is named Pigsy and the sea monster is named Friar Sand. Nowadays, the Monkey King’s story can be found in many different places. For example, the Monkey King’s story is in American Born Chinese by Gene Yang. Also, the story can be found in the opera Monkey Journey to the West that premiered in London. The Monkey King’s story teaches valuable lessons. It teaches that being too cocky or demanding too much can end in trouble. Also, it teaches that doing the right thing the first time is better than learning the hard 																									       	way. The story of the Monkey King teaches valuable lessons, while fascinated readers learn about a monkey that is faster than superman.

Works Cited Yang, Gene. Humble Comics Presents Monkey Kingdom: A tribute to Sun Wukong, the Monkey 		King. 2001. 18 September 2008 . Yuan, Haiwang. “The Story of Monkey King.” Welcome to China. 20 March 2004. 18 September                          	2008. 