Reading Notes: The Great Sea, Part A

For week seven’s reading notes, part A, I chose the Asian story that is part of The Monkey King unit, Sun Wu Kung: The Great Sea. A quick overview would be that an ape, King of his kind, faces realization that he has not necessarily lived and seized the day yet on Earth. His objective in the first half of the story is to venture out to find the three kinds of living creatures who are immortal. Throughout the beginning of his travels he runs into a couple obstacles and gets a chance to experience the famous spots that he wandered through.

This story made me think of a relatable feeling that people face during a mid-life crisis. Some want to go and explore into the cracks of the world and intertwine with various cultures while others solve their mid-life crisis with expensive luxurious items. I figured that this snap into reality would be fun to write about. I could possibly keep the topic of the story about a man having a random mid-life crisis and having the need to escape and travel or I could have a similar situation but turn it into a bucket list quest.

In the original of the story they mentioned three important subsections (the three kinds of immortal creatures) that might be touched in the story. In my edited story I could possibly incorporate that as three important places that the main character would want to make it to. Or I could possibly make it three people he or she would like to meet before their death.

The tone and setting of my story would be held in a more modern time with a similar tone of the movie, Up. It is a sad moment when someone realizes how old they are and how fast life is passing before their eyes. For that reason, the tone in the beginning will most be portrayed as sad but hopeful. Later on, in my part A of the story the tone will become more positive and motivational when achieving what the main character is striving for.

Mid-life crisis cat meme 

Link to picture

Bibliography: This story is part of The Monkey King unit. Story source "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).