Essay: Do You Believe in Magic?

When it comes to folklore and mythology, there is an important role that magic and mysterious supernatural influences plays. In my humble opinion, whenever everything in a story is completely realistic within the mythology realm, it really discredits the "myth" part of it. If everything were completely believable, it would just be a story. In The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung this is no different.

First of all, the fact that the Monkey King was born out of an egg out of a magical rock? The story's magical element is starting off strong. He becomes king and eventually goes on a journey to try and gain immortality. He becomes an understudy of a saint, eventually gaining all sorts of magical powers (such as the ability to change himself into a tree, or gaining the ability to fly or even creating hundreds of little monkeys to attack a devil).

In this particular story, I feel like magic plays an irreplaceable role. Whenever someone obtains the ability to perform magic, in this case it is Sun, her or she automatically gains in authority and leadership. People, or apes, will be in awe of your ability to do something they can't. In my opinion, this is true of anything in life- although no I do not believe in magic, for the record. Whenever you possess a talent or an ability that someone else does not, that person will automatically respect you in a new way. Typically, respect is needed in order to have authority and leadership.

Basically, what I take away from the magical element of this story, is that if I possess a talent or a skill that the person next to me does not, I have the choice to use it for good or for bad as a leader. Sun does both in this story. He uses it to protect his ape kingdom in The Devil-King but uses it as a means of entitlement in The Dragon Queen. Personally, I would rather use the gifts or abilities I have to help the people around me!

One of the ways I hope to use my talents for good is to build water wells, or at least help institute sustainable water systems in underdeveloped countries!

Image Creds: Charity Water