Reading notes about Journey to the West include main characters, main deeds, analyzing characters and finding out the theme.

Description:

the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand worked together to protect the Tang Priest's scriptures. I went through all kinds of hardships along the way, defeated all kinds of demons and ghosts, and passed through eighty-one difficult, which was a complete success, and finally came to fruition

Events: 1. the Monkey King fought in the Heavenly Palace; 2. Wukong in the cloud stack cave received the Eight Rings; 3. Eight Rings fought against the Liusha River; 4. Sun Walker made a fuss about black wind mountain; 5. The Journey to the West is a ghost novel with a particularly strong fantasy. The novel describes many images of gods, buddhas, demons and demons, and strange and unpredictable stories. What are "Heaven", "Hell", "Dragon Palace" and "Western Heaven" seems absurd and does not exist in the real society, but it has strong reality. Through the cloak of this fantasy, we can see that the contradiction between the Monkey King and the three gods, buddhas and demons is a tortuous reflection of class contradictions and social contradictions in the real society. The Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor and those heavenly soldiers and generals written by the author are essentially the reflections of the emperor and his civil and military staff in real society. Of course, we can't simply equate the characters in literary works, especially romantic works like The Journey to the West, with some specific characters in reality, saying that someone is someone, but we must also point out that if we invest in real life as the basis, we will never fantasize about such colorful contents and plots as The Journey to the West. Because myths are created on the basis of people's life and habits. The mythical God always wears people's clothes and lives a life similar to that of people, and the relationship between God and God is always a reflection of the relationship between people. All this shows that the myth itself has a strong reality. However, we must also know that many things in myth do not exist in real life, and some of them are even absurd. As Comrade Mao Zedong said in On Contradiction, "It is not a scientific reflection of reality". However, some The Journey to the West researchers forgot this basic feature of myth, and simply and stiffly divided the classes and components of the gods, buddhas, demons and demons in The Journey to the West, saying that the gods and buddhas represent the ruling class and the demons and monsters represent the ruled class, while the Monkey King opposed the gods and buddhas, so he was the leader of the peasant uprising. Later, the Monkey King converted to Buddhism, and protecting Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures surrendered to the ruling class, which in turn suppressed his peers. Of course, when we analyze The Journey to the West's work with a particularly strong mythological component, we must also note that The Journey to the West was born not in a society without class and exploitation, but in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, where class struggle and social contradictions were acute. Therefore, the characters' personalities, thoughts and feelings in the work must be branded with the times and classes. Based on the above knowledge, we think that The Journey to the West's theme is to reflect the reality in the form of fantasy through the story of the Monkey King's making a scene in the Grand Palace and protecting Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures in the West, and through the Monkey King's various behaviors and struggles, thus praising the working people's rebellious spirit of opposing power, violence and contempt for the authority of the ruling class, exposing and criticizing the ugly nature of the ruling class, and showing their strong confidence in overcoming difficulties and great boldness in conquering nature.

the heavenly palace, which has always been beautified as a paradise by the ruling class, is supreme and inviolable. However, in Wu Cheng'en's pen, it is full of fraud and hypocrisy. An imposing and well-ruled Heavenly Palace was beaten out of the water by a "demon monkey", and the supreme Jade Emperor panicked with fear, and 1, heavenly soldiers trembled with fear. In the Monkey King's eyes, what is the orthodoxy and etiquette of service, and think that everything is equal. For the first time, he followed Venus Taibai to the Hall of Lingxiao, and Venus Taibai respectfully "worshiped upward" to the Jade Emperor, but he "stood up and worked hard and didn't pay homage". When the Jade Emperor asked "Which is demon fairy", he bowed down and said, "I am!" Later, the immortals shouted, "Thank you!" He just "sings up." It's almost like no one's watching. After the havoc in the Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor invited the Tathagata to rescue him. When the Tathagata asked the Monkey King, the Monkey King replied reasonably. "I am an old ape in the mountain of flowers and fruits. Water curtain cave is a family business, and he worships friends and seeks teachers to realize the mystery. ..... Lingxiao Hall is not his long time, and Wang Youfen of all previous dynasties passed it on. The strong should let me be respected, and the hero only dares to compete first. " Upon hearing this, the Tathagata sneered, "Your fellow is a monkey and a refined man. How dare he cheat his heart and try to seize the jade emperor's throne? ..... "the Monkey King said confidently:" As the saying goes:' The emperor takes turns to do it and comes to my house next year.' Just teach him to move out and give me the Heavenly Palace. If you don't let me, you must stir up trouble and never be clear! "the Monkey King's words and deeds clearly reveal the people's democratic demands and rebellious spirit in the real society.

let's take a look at the so-called paradise in the western world. The pure land of the Western Heaven proclaimed by Buddhism is also a practice of graft and bribery. Buddha's disciples, Ah Nuo and Jia Ye, have repeatedly asked the poor monk who traveled long distances for "personnel". Without "personnel", only a few rolls of white paper were given, forcing the Tang Priest to send the Zijin alms bowl for fasting in order to obtain the "True Sutra". The pious Tathagata Buddha also said that it should not be taken lightly or passed on lightly. In the past, it was too cheap to sell three buckets and two liters of golden rice grains, making future generations have no money to use. It turns out that this supreme Buddha is a greedy and greedy person. Similarly, the old gentleman who lived in the palace for thirty-three days and specialized in alchemy also regarded then as a treasure, while the Monkey King ate his then like fried beans, which was also a mockery and satire of Daozu!

The images of gods and buddhas in The Journey to the West are all human. The Jade Emperor and his civilian military commanders are both opposites of the Monkey King, and they are both the targets of being flogged and mocked. They are as fierce, cruel, fatuous and incompetent as rulers on earth. Xiao Bailong, a sand monk (general of shutter), was tortured or even slaughtered just because he broke a glass lamp or burned a pearl. It was even more cruel to the Monkey King. Not only was it tied to the demon-reducing column, but it was chopped with knives and axes, and the sword was cut off, and it was burned by lightning. Moreover, it was burned in the alchemy furnace of Taishang Laojun for 7749 days. At the same time, they also have the treacherous, insidious and cunning tricks of the rulers of the world. They directed a scam to woo the Monkey King and seal the official position. At first, they only gave the Monkey King a horse-watching official "Bi Mawen". When the Monkey King found out that he had been cheated and made a scene in the Heavenly Palace, they were forced to meet the Monkey King's requirements and named him "Monkey King".

King Li Tian of Tota is an incompetent general, and he is helpless against the Monkey King's rebellion. The giant spirit god is a bluffing general, and he was defeated as soon as he came out; Taibai Venus is a crafty old scoundrel, and he often appears as a messenger of peace. Yan Jun in the Ten Temples and the Dragon King in the East China Sea will only be domineering at ordinary times, but they are poor creatures in front of the Monkey King. All this and so on are the objects of irony and ridicule by the author.

After the seventh time, the description of God in the novel was relegated to a secondary position, because the story was transferred to the West for Buddhist scriptures, so there were more descriptions of Tathagata and Guanyin. This is because they are the initiators and organizers of the scriptures. The Tathagata in the novel seems to be a solemn and powerful leader, but the Monkey King, as a disciple of Buddhism, is not docile. He often makes a fool of himself and satirizes him. When the Tathagata said that he knew the lion camel mountain demon, the Monkey King said, "Tathagata, I heard that the demon is related to you." After the Tathagata admitted that he was related to the Golden Winged Dapeng Carving, he asked, "Is it the father party? Is it the mother party? " He also said, "Tathagata, if you are so compared, you are still the nephew of the demon!" "

However, The Journey to the West's description of Guanyin Bodhisattva is definitely more than satire, basically affirming her great kindness and compassion, and saving the suffering. Because most of The Journey to the West's stories come from the people, there are many beautiful legends circulating among the people about the bodhisattva's mercy and compassion, which are entrusted with the beautiful ideals and aspirations of the broad masses of people. Literature reflects social life, and the author absorbs this legend into his own works.

Wu Cheng'en hates Taoism. In his works, all Taoist priests are bad things, whether they are monks of the bhikkhu or three demons of the Che Chiguo, they are all courting the king, offering flattery medicine, seeking immortality and doing some activities that bring disaster to the country and the people. Even the old gentleman who is too superior has become a vulgar and selfish miser in the author's pen. The author's description is based on reality. Ming Shizong, who lived in the author's time, was famous for "worshiping Taoism and destroying Buddhism", refining alchemy and cultivating immortals, and being a credit Taoist. At that time, from the emperor to the ministers, they were all specialized in alchemy, eating aphrodisiac with mercury, and paying attention to the art of sexual intercourse. Some Taoist priests also became officials and ministers of rites. A progressive writer who is dissatisfied with reality is of course going to criticize these ugly things.

The Journey to the West describes a large number of goblins of all kinds, all of whom are the targets of the Monkey King's direct struggle. Except for a few goblins like Princess Iron Fan and Niu Mowang, they are all evil forces who kill people by nature and endanger people. Except a few of them are illusions of nature, many of them are closely related to the gods and buddhas. Some were originally gods, such as Huang Paoguai, a Kuixing in the sky; Some are relatives of the Buddha, such as the adopted daughter of Li Tianwang and the white-haired mousetrap, the adopted sister of the third prince of Nezha; The other boys are either this one or that one. When the Monkey King tried hard to surrender them and tried to hurt their lives, they were taken away by their respective owners. When describing these goblin couples, the author often endows them with some characteristics of the feudal ruling class or its accomplices. Because the Eighty-One Difficult Story on the way to learn from the scriptures consists of more than forty stories and there are so many goblins, their personalities are not all very distinct, but mostly outline cartoons. But the author, after all, gave full play to his genius imagination, and his writing was so colorful and varied.

From the above analysis, we can say that The Journey to the West is a supernatural novel, but it also reflects some essential aspects of social life at that time in a magical way. No matter whether it is to stir up trouble in the Heavenly Palace or to lift the eighty-one difficulties encountered in learning Buddhist scriptures, all the stories show the spirit of the working people in ancient China who dare to resist, dare to struggle and despise all difficulties. This is the theme of The Journey to the West.

among China's classical novels, "Journey to the West", Water Margin, Jin Ping Mei and Romance of the Three Kingdoms are listed as four wonderful books in the Ming Dynasty, which has been circulated among the people for quite a long time and is also a well-known masterpiece. Journey to the West is the crystallization of myths, fables and comedy novels. Its story is mainly about a group of personified animals and escorting a Buddhist monk to West India to learn Buddhist scriptures, which has also brought some fairy tale interest. These animals, all fairy fetuses with magical powers, are playing between gods and demons in order to escort the Buddhist scriptures.

The fantasy world created by the author Wu Cheng'en is vivid in absurdity, suggesting different faces of human nature. The Monkey King was originally a stone monkey, with the dexterity and playfulness of a monkey, high magic skills, and being good at subduing demons, while Pig Bajie has the heavy and unswerving character symbol of a pig, and often makes a fool of himself, making a lot of jokes.

Because the Buddhist scriptures takers have to go through 81 difficulties and overcome the challenges of Niu Mowang, Spider Spirit and Bai Gujing one by one, they can complete the task of Buddhist scriptures, which also symbolizes that everyone must meet all kinds of difficulties and challenges in the pursuit of ideals. Journey to the West can be loved by ancient and modern readers, mainly in the success of role-building. Readers can not only enjoy the fun of comedy, but also have a profound understanding of human nature and life.

On the surface, Journey to the West is a funny novel, a supernatural novel. Most readers think that the author's purpose in writing is just to make you laugh, but in fact, the author's motivation and purpose in writing are definitely not like this. Some people think that Journey to the West is a religious novel that expounds Buddhism, and this statement cannot be completely summarized. Journey to the West should be a profound satirical novel. We should look at it from the perspective of literature, politics or sociology in order to understand the true meaning of the book and its literary value.

to understand a literary work, it is best to understand it from the author's life and background. Wu Cheng'en, the author of Journey to the West, is a well-read and talented person. However, his life experience was not good. At that time, the society was corrupt and he had to take bribes in exams. Because he didn't have the money to bribe the scholar, he failed in the exam and remained a scholar until he was in his forties.

With regard to the historical background of the Journey to the West, we might as well take a look at the official records of the Tang Priest:

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a master Xuanzang, that is, a monk. He once crossed the desert and went to West India to learn Buddhist scriptures. At that time, it lasted for 19 years, and he always brought back more than 6 Buddhist scriptures to China. This is the backbone of the story of the Journey to the West. Of course, Tang Sanzang, the protagonist in Journey to the West, is also a character created by the author to cater to the folk psychology, which is hard to be associated with the great achievements of Master Xuanzang in the official history.

Tang Sanzang

is tall, elegant, good-natured, and highly accomplished in Buddhism. When he met eighty-one difficult when he went west to learn Buddhist scriptures, he never changed his mind. With the assistance of the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and Friar Sand, he went through all kinds of hardships and finally got back 35 true scriptures from the Buddhist screamo Temple. In the end, it was named "the Buddha of Sandalwood".

Because although Tang Sanzang is a master whose responsibility is to learn from the scriptures, in fact he is weak in personality, hypocritical and afraid of death, and lacks transcendental understanding. Although he is kind and kind, he can't tell right from wrong. Instead, he often listens to Zhu Bajie's provocation and misunderstands the Monkey King who can see through evil tricks. Always shout "Wukong, help me!" after falling into a trap. 」。

In fact, the image of Tang Priest can be said to coincide with the legendary white-faced scholar. Although full of idealism, but helpless, when difficulties occur, always helpless, waiting for foreign aid. And his pedantry and ignorance of the truth seem to show the author's insinuation of the incompetence of the politicians. However, from the perspective of religion or personal cultivation, Tang Sanzang is not a holy monk, but a common man.

the Monkey King

He hated evil, was fearless, persevering and fearless. After learning from the scriptures, he was named "Fighting to Overcome the Buddha".

So the soul of Journey to the West should be the Monkey King. The Monkey King was originally a lingshi on the fairy mountain, which was transformed into a monkey. Because of his courage, he was elected king by the monkeys. But one day he suddenly realized that life was limited. Although the Monkey King lived a happy life in water curtain cave, he could not live forever. So he left everything behind and left home to learn the immortal way, hence the name "the Monkey King".

the Monkey King is gifted, quick in thought and action. He has learned a powerful spell, and he can change seventy-two times with one breath. He also has a magic magic cudgel, which can be reduced as a needle, enlarged as a copper rod and driven by a somersault cloud. Wukong still has monkey nature. He is smart and naughty, and likes to play tricks. He deliberately asked Pig Bajie to patrol the mountains and explore the way, but he became a bug and secretly watched Pig who was lazy. It can be seen that he is thoughtful and naughty.

the Monkey King is not afraid of heaven and earth, so he dares to make trouble with the Sea Dragon King, the Hell House and the Heavenly Palace, and he also makes a bet with the Buddha. This shows his rebellious, unwilling to be bound and unconventional personality. Abundant vitality, fearless spirit, sureness.