Essay/Term paper: The journey for inner and outter desire

Essay, term paper, research paper:  English Term Papers

Have you ever realize that there is something incomplete in your life, both on the outside and from within? Whatever that may be, you have something in common with the main character from each of these works: The Little Prince, Siddhartha, and The Monkey God. All three works are about someone sensing something is missing and thus sets forth on a "journey" to fill in that hole. The Little Prince, from The Little Prince, sets on a journey to find out how to love and what he learned was more than love, it was the aspect behind taming. Siddhartha, from Siddhartha, left his life filled with riches and pleasure to seek nirvana and riddance of the "Self." And finally the half human, half monkey, from The Monkey God, sets on a search to learn how to respect and maturity to fully utilize the powers he held as a god. All three works are totally different in environment, characters, and time setting, but they all have one similar goal; to find and complete their quest.
The Little Prince's journey to find out how to love grows from the missing link between his flower and him. But he learns that love comes from taming which he has never heard of. Starting from the comfort of his home on Asteriod-612, he left to travel far and wide to seek the meaning of love. Having the opportunity to meet many people, he learns something from each and one of them. The king represented the evil of totalitarianism, the conceited man represents one of the evil aspects of human, the tippler showed the sorrow and pain a person can hold, the businessman showed how a person can possess greed, the lamplighter represents loyalty, one of the good sides of human being, finally meeting the geographer, the Little Prince learns curiosity and hard work. But meeting all these people still haven't gave the Little Prince what he wanted yet. He finally trampled upon Earth, where he will soon find what he is looking for. The first person he met on Earth was the snake, a symbol of evil and deceit. But the Little Prince was not alone as he also finds the narrator who will be his friend. Encountering the fox, the Little Prince was given what he was yearning for. The importance of taming, which brought about love, showed the Little Prince that though something may be abundant, the fact that there is a link to that something is what makes it important. Obtaining what he has wanted, the Little Prince sets back to his home exactly a year later to utilize his new wisdom, but not without first bestowing some knowledge upon the narrator. Passing what he learns from the fox to the narrator, he departed back to his home, now not a mere asteroid similar to a billion other, but a planet, a home.
Very similar to the Little Prince, Siddhartha talks about a man named Siddhartha who goes on a journey to find true wisdom. Siddhartha was born into a life filled with riches and pleasure. But having all the physical objects one could ever want, Siddhartha felt he is missing something. A voice from within cried out to him and soon Siddhartha left his home like the Little Prince to join the Samanas. With the Samanas, Siddhartha learns how to temporarily rid the "Self." But Siddhartha wants to permanent let his "Self" die so he left the Samanas to further enlighten himself. Govinda, a best friend and companion, also left his life to follow Siddhartha. Govinda parallels to the narrator as he accompanies the main character to a certain point. Siddhartha's quest brought him to encounter Buddha, the almighty himself. But yet he was unsuccessful in feeling complete and thus sets forth again, now alone without Govinda. Siddhartha's goals were not threatened by enemies or physical danger, but by the evils of human beings. Thinking he had approached the quest a wrong way, Siddhartha soon found himself trapped by greed, lies, and riches. These evils took a part of Siddhartha's life and before Siddhartha could escape its wrath, he learned the pleasure of love from the bearer of his child, Kamala. Loosing Govinda, Siddhartha met not only a friend, but also a teacher, the ferryman named Vesadeva. The simplicity of his life interested Siddhartha which brought him to live by the river as a ferryman. Learning much from Vesedeva and the river itself, Siddhartha finally realize he has reached his ultimate goal, the power of love and life in everything. He also learned that knowledge can be taught, but wisdom must be obtained. This is represented by being dissatisfied even hearing the teaching of Buddha. Similar to the Little Prince, Siddhartha met Govinda again and bestow what he learned upon him with knowledge but not with wisdom.
Similar to the two preceding novels, the Monkey God sets on a journey to not find love or wisdom, but how to respect and to be mature. This is an ancient Chinese tale about the gods, heaven, and hell. The Monkey God has no parents as he was born from a rock on a stormy night. Possessing special abilities such as martial arts and magic, he traveled from Earth to the heavens at will. This, besides from the fact that he causes problems up in heaven, angered the gods. On one occasion, he encountered Buddha in heaven. Buddha, being all wise and powerful, tricked the Monkey God into a bet. Losing, the Monkey God was thrown back down onto Earth with a mountain crushed upon him. Having an eternal life span, the Monkey God had to wait till the day he would be released by his master. A Buddhist monk travels across the mountain on a journey to receive an ancient scripture from the temple to the west. Releasing the Monkey God, their fate soon met as they will later be master and student. Being disrespectful and immature, the Monkey God would never help the Buddhist monk. But another one of the gods put a helmet on the Monkey God's head, which will cause him great pain when the Buddhist monk recites a verse. Thus the Monkey God was forced to accompany the Buddhist monk on his journey, as it was full of dangers and harsh terrain. By contrast to the other two works, the Monkey God was forced to seek this journey with his master. But the rest is very similar. Encountering evil enemies who wanted to eat the flesh of his master, the Monkey God used his powers to defeat his foes and save his master. Soon the master taught his discipline the importance of respect and maturity. Denying it at first, the Monkey God soon understood what his master meant. Also learning the importance of friendship, the Monkey God and his master got out of many situations from help of other friendly gods and fellow human beings. When the harsh journey that lasted over several years was met, the Buddhist monk got his scripture and was further enlightened and the Monkey God's human side triumph over his monkey side. Though a very fictional story, it is another good example of a hero's quest.
Although different on their objectives and problems, all three characters represents a classic story about seeking something they desire. But each does not complete their task alone, each had a companion to share their problems and help them through. A symbol that everyone needs someone sometimes.