Briefly describe the characteristics of Journey to the West, which combines divinity, materiality and humanity to create an image.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was an upsurge of writing strange novels in the field of popular novels. Under the guidance of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, these strange stories are influenced by ancient myths, strange stories of the Six Dynasties, legends of the Tang Dynasty and stories of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, strange stories, witchcraft and fairy tales, and are nourished by Taoist fairy tales, Buddhist stories and folklore. It is different from the historical romance and the legend of heroes, and pays attention to the true meaning. Its main feature is to attach importance to "strangeness" and "fantasy", take the strangeness of ghosts and gods as the main theme, refer to the contradictions and struggles in politics, ethics and religion in real life, weave a series of ghost images, and systematize and complete some scattered and fragmented stories. In this kind of novels, some works are completely aimed at promoting religious superstition and feudal morality, with absurd stories and vulgar words, which are quickly eliminated by history. However, some excellent works represented by The Journey to the West are always cherished by readers with vivid images, fantastic realms and humorous styles, which delight the mind and enlighten the mind. The unity of extreme fantasy and extreme reality, divinity and humanity, and the multi-angle and multi-tone depiction of image paragraphs contain all kinds of fantasy pens. The greatest feature of The Journey to the West's artistic expression is to break through time and space, life and death, break through the boundaries between God, people and things, and create a bizarre and absurd realm with bizarre imagination and extreme exaggeration. Here, the environment is heaven and earth, the Dragon Palace, the underworld, the celestial world, dangerous mountains and bad water; The image is grotesque, human-like, and mysterious; The story goes from heaven to earth, turning rivers into the sea, promoting demons and removing monsters, and offering sacrifices to treasures; The author combines these strange people, wonders and wonders into a furnace to construct a unified and harmonious artistic whole, showing a dreamlike beauty. This fantastic beauty, seemingly "dreamy", makes people feel "extremely real". Because those unpredictable and thrilling stories, such as the shadow of reality or the truth of life, are so reasonable. The magnificent and supreme heavenly palace is just like the comparison of human courts in heaven; The hierarchical, fatuous and incompetent immortal Qing reminds people of the officials of the dynasty; Sweeping up the tyrannical and cruel demons means the desire to eradicate the evil forces in society; Praise the life of ascending to heaven and entering the earth, and also pin the ideal of breaking free from bondage and pursuing freedom. The ghosts and gods in the novel are all human beings and secular. Like "Three-tone Banana Fan", write the pain of the iron fan princess's death; Niu Wangmo likes the new and hates the old; Princess iron fan shows all kinds of helplessness and amorous feelings in front of her fake husband; Princess Yumian is spoiled and jealous in front of her real husband. It's really hard to tell whether she wrote a demon or a person, a fantasy or a photo. This is just as Mr. Li Zhuowu pointed out in his criticism of The Journey to the West: the gods and demons in The Journey to the West are all written "very similar to human feelings", and "Journey to the West only draws a shadow through demons" (seventy-six). This novel contains extremely real feelings in an extremely fantastic text; Among the strangest things, there is a very real reason. Consistent with the "fantasy" and "truth" spirit of the novel as a whole, The Journey to the West's characterization has its own characteristics, that is, it can achieve the unity of materiality, divinity and humanity. The so-called "physical property" means that as the soul of a certain animal and plant, it maintains its original shape and habits, such as fish essence learning water, bird essence flying, scorpion essence stinging, spider essence spinning; Even their personalities are often commensurate with them, such as monkeys are clever, mice are timid, pines and cypresses are poets, and apricot trees are frivolous. Once these animals and plants become monsters, they have magical skills and are "deified" and transformed from "reality" to "illusion". However, the author endowed them with the secular desire of human beings, humanized monsters, made them have "humanity", and integrated "illusion" with human beings and deeper "truth", thus completing the shaping of a unique artistic image. The Monkey King, for example, looks like a monkey, with a hairy face and a tripterygium wilfordii mouth. He is alert, smart and active. He is omnipotent and has the ability to change seventy-two. But ever-changing, it is often necessary to reveal the truth of "red ass" or "tail". He is a monkey, but he is also an ideal human hero. He is brave, selfless, fearless, tenacious, positive and optimistic, but also arrogant, competitive, impulsive and likes to play tricks on people. He has some mortal weaknesses, and even believes in "being a teacher for a day and being a father for life" and abides by the rule that "men don't fight with women", which are deeply branded by society. He is an artistic model of "unreal truth" created by a stone monkey at the intersection of deification and humanization. The reason why the images of ghosts and gods in The Journey to the West can give people a real and cordial feeling is that it is very important to pay attention to putting the characters in the daily civilian society and depicting their complex personalities with various colors. The Monkey King, for example, also has many fatal weaknesses. In his speech, he often sees common slang, Jianghu jargon and merchant jargon. However, as an idealized legendary hero, the author let him transcend the mortal lust. His weakness is generally temperamental, not out of personal sensory greed. Unlike the Monkey King, Pig Bajie, who was born as a marshal, has a long mouth and big ears. He is more like an ordinary person and has a strong human touch. He is simple and honest by nature, and works diligently in Gaolaozhuang, helping the Gaos to "sweep the floor, dredge ditches, move bricks and tiles, build soil and beat walls, plow fields and harrow fields, plant wheat and rice seedlings, and start a family business". On the way to learn the scriptures, he always carries a car full of luggage. He is Wukong's right-hand man in the battle to slay monsters. When I first joined the Buddhist sutra team, I nailed palladium and made nine holes in the tiger monster's head. He "pretended to lose and cheat" when he hit the Liusha River, and he often played a little cleverness when he was brave. Never show weakness in the face of stubborn enemies, even if captured, never give in. Although he was angry, he "didn't fly the flag gun" and was a real hero. 800-mile thorn ridge, fighting day and night to clear his way; Qijue Ridge is a rare persimmon, relying on it to arch out the road against stench. On the way to learn from the scriptures, he had both hard work and credit, and finally he naturally had a positive result. However, his desire for food and color is hard to die out for a while; Lazy, greedy, too concerned about personal gains and losses. It is often a shame to see the offerings of wine, food and steamed bread, because greedy people have been cheated by monsters many times. When you meet a beautiful woman, you tickle, make a fool of yourself and even travel to the west. I also moved my heart, grabbed Chang 'e and said, "Sister, I've known you for a long time. I'll play with you." (ninety-five times) He was lazy and sleepy. He was asked to go to the Chinese residence to inspect the mountains, but he plunged into the grass and fell asleep. At present, regardless of the safety of your peers, you should first consider yourself not to suffer, and sometimes you get cold feet and run away. He also secretly saved "private" money, and sometimes lied, encouraging the master to recite a spell to rectify and drive away the master elder brother, or shouting "divide the luggage" himself and go to Gaolaozhuang. His mistakes are often due to people's instinctive desires, which reflect the universal weakness of human nature. This is undoubtedly backward, selfish and narrow-minded, but at the same time it often gains people's understanding and sympathy. He does not forget the worldly pleasures, but still pursues his own ideals persistently; He is smart and easy to take advantage of, but he is naive and cute; He is greedy for ease, lazy and sloppy, but brave and strong; He is not an unattainable hero, but a real "person". Obviously, The Journey to the West's artistic image of Zhu Bajie, which is depicted from many angles and colors, is closer to real life and therefore more realistic than the emperors and generals in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the heroes in The Water Margin. Undoubtedly, it is an important sign that China's ancient novels have made great progress in characterization. Another feature of The Journey to the West's artistic expression is that he can "combine all kinds of magic pens and jokes" (narrated by Jiao Ren and The Journey to the West), with a lot of game pen and ink in the middle, which makes the book full of comedy and humor. This kind of joke is sometimes handy, which has nothing to do with the theme and characterization of the work, but only adjusts the atmosphere and increases the interest of the novel. For example, in the 42nd time, Wukong asked Guanyin to borrow a clean bottle, and Guanyin asked him to "pull a hair from the back of his head to help me". Wukong just refused, and Guanyin scolded him: "You monkey! Without pulling a dime, this kind of good luck is hard to give up. " This "penniless" is a "funny story" that is conveniently decorated, giving people a relaxed smile. But some jokes can still depict character. It plays the role of finishing touch on the praise and criticism of the characters. For example, in the twenty-ninth time, I wrote that Zhu Bajie was in Baoxiangguo. At first, I boasted "I will be the first to fall down", and when I showed off my tricks, I said that I could "open a big hole in the sky", and the cowhide blew loudly. As a result, after eight or nine rounds of fighting, he couldn't beat the monster. He left Friar Sand and fled first, saying, "Friar Sand, you can fight him and let the old pig come conveniently." "Regardless of Friar Sand, he slipped into wormwood and kudzu vine, for better or worse. The pipe grazed his scalp and hurt his face. He fell asleep and never came out again. But leave half an ear. Listen to the bang. "This drama is undoubtedly a bitter mockery of Pig Bajie who likes to talk big and only cares about himself. In addition, some game pen and ink can also be a weapon to satirize the world. For example, in chapter 44, it was written that King Che Chi persecuted monks, and all counties and counties hung "shadow pictures" of monks who wrote the title of imperial books. Whoever wins the monk will be rewarded and can't leave. At this moment, a sentence was suddenly inserted: "Don't talk about monks, even people with shaved manes, baldness and sparse hair can't escape." There are many faster autonomous driving in the air, and there are many things to do. It's hard for you to get rid of it. " This kind of language seems ridiculous and exaggerated, but it is actually a bloody accusation against the dark society where factories, guards and spies were rampant. In The Journey to the West, some banter words are actually catalysts for the secularization and humanization of ghosts and gods. The sacred Buddha, a ferocious monster, once teased, played down the aperture or ferocious face on his head, shortened the distance with mortals, and even looked ridiculous like mortals. For example, in the seventy-seventh time, I wrote that Tang Priest was trapped in the lion camel city, and Wukong went to Lingshan to cry to the Tathagata; The Buddha said, "I know that demon," and Monkey suddenly mentioned, "Tathagata! I heard that the demon has something to do with you! " When Tathagata explained the origin of the demon, Monkey immediately said, "Tathagata, you are still the nephew of the demon!" This quip brought the Buddha from heaven to earth. Later, the Tathagata explained that Tang Priest and others did not send "personnel" and said: "The sutra cannot be light or empty. At that time, the monks went down the mountain and recited this sutra with Elder Zhao in Pishamen ... only to let him bring back three barrels and three liters of rice gold. I also said that they were too cheap for their children and grandchildren to use. Since you came to pick it up empty-handed, you gave it a blank copy. " (Back to the 98th time) Bajie expressed his dissatisfaction. When he quarreled about being named as the "net altar messenger", the Tathagata added, "There are many people in four continents who pay tribute to my teachings. It is a useful level to teach you how to purify the altar in all Buddhism. Why not? " For the hundredth time, the author made the solemn leader of this statue say a series of fascinating common sayings, which made people feel that he was not so sacred, but so vulgar and close. God was diluted into a man by a funny pen.

Extension:

The Journey to the West, one of the classical Four Great Classical Novels in China, is the first romance novel written by Wu Cheng'en in China in ancient Ming Dynasty. Wu Cheng'en was fifty years old (1550 or so) and wrote the first ten chapters of The Journey to the West. He was interrupted for many years, and it was not until he resigned in his later years and returned to his hometown that he was able to complete all The Journey to the West's creations. Therefore, it can be roughly inferred that it took 32 years for Journey to the West to write from 1550 to 1582. The Journey to the West mainly describes the story of four disciples, the Monkey King, Zhu Bajie, Friar Sand and Bai, who protected Tang Priest's Buddhist scriptures in the West during the reign of Emperor Taizong. They went through hardships along the way (plus the hardships of * * * 81 after the Tang Priest was born to learn the scriptures), and all the way down, saved the day, and finally arrived in the Western Heaven to learn the scriptures. (Records of the Western Regions of Datang and Biography of the Sages of Datang have detailed records on this matter). According to Tang Sanzang's classic poems and folklore.

Since the advent of The Journey to the West, it has been widely circulated among the people, and various versions have emerged one after another, including six versions in the Ming Dynasty. There are also seven versions and manuscripts in Qing dynasty, and thirteen lost versions are recorded in ancient books. After the Opium War, a large number of China classical literary works were translated into western languages and gradually spread to Europe and America. There are already English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish (Swahili), Russian, Czech, Romanian, Polish, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. He published many research papers and monographs, and many people spoke highly of this novel.

The world is divided into four continents: Dongsheng Shenzhou-a continent composed of many fairy islands, where scattered immortals gather and are also the birthplace of the Monkey King; South Station is not the seat of the Tang Dynasty, and Tang Priest also started from here to learn from the scriptures. Xi Niu Hezhou-the location of the Buddha in the Western Heaven and the God Buddha, the prosperity of Buddhism, and the destination of Tang Priest's scriptures; Luzhou, the most desolate continent in the north, is totally naked savages without the popularity of Buddhism.