Magical Realism and the Sublime in The Monkey

his meal. The man recognized the tail and shot the monkey, so he could retrieve

“The Monkey’s Paw” is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in 1902. In the story, three wishes granted to the owner of the monkey’s paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. I agree on how some occasions the events are giving away as you can see in this sentence, how the friend gives Mr. White a magical wish granting monkey paw, now we all know what happens next something always goes wrong on granting wishes. It gives most of its story away before it happens such as his son saying something like he will not see what happens to the monkey paw.

During this class, I have learned much that I was surprised of some of the information that was delivered. While I slightly knew what I might have expected to see during the course, the concepts that were introduction were fascinating and I was shocked that I didn’t know a few beforehand. One such important concept was the idea of the sublime.

David Kherdian’s novel Monkey: A Journey to the West, begins with the creation story of Monkey. On the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, a magic stone is fertilized by the seeds of Heaven and Earth and is impregnated by divine inspiration. Following the embryonic stages of development, a stone egg is revealed. The stone egg instantly undergoes a physical transformation. “Once the egg was exposed to the elements, the wind soon transformed it into a stone monkey, complete in every way in all aspects of its being”(Kherdian 1). The stone monkey soon comes to life, explores his surroundings, and makes friends with other monkeys and other mammals. Monkey and his friends fool around in the forest and spot a curtain of water flowing from a waterfall.

Monkey: Journey to the West is a story of an adventure for enlightenment to India in order to find ancient Buddhist scriptures. The story consists of Chinese legends, tales, and superstitions. Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism play a huge role throughout this story. Monkey: Journey to the West is a story that discusses religion, and moral issues. The monkey acts the way he does due to underlying religious themes played throughout the story. At first understanding why the Monkey acts the way he does may seem difficult. However, after reading deeper through the story one learns that social satire in the Monkey is what gives him his rebellious personality. The end of the story reveals the hidden spiritual meaning behind the monkeys change in

Name: Nhat Ho Mr. Erwin Philosophy 432 30/10/2015 Hero in High Noon In many Western films, the roles of courage, women, integrity, community , individualism, Indians, landscape, and the wilderness were often presented in a similar thematic way, for the directors and their audiences shared a common view of the Old West and shared the same basic values. Courage, integrity, and individualism were greatly admired, women were admirable creatures but needed to be rescued quite frequently, and communities needed to be united in order to survive hostile Indians and an unforgiving wilderness. These values all reflect the idea of Sublime, Jonathan Locke’s view of property, Thomas Hobbes’ conception of human nature and human society, and Aristotle’s

While outwardly it appeared that he was unconscious, inwardly the furiousness of his awareness, perception, and determination were accelerating at breakneck speed. It was during this time that the Sublime became the reality of the innermost visions of the man, and that the concepts so eloquently stated through [Innovisions] was truly fulfilled (Dragonwagon, 64).

Deep in the forest of South America, the tribe of the Nocturne monkeys was in tatters. A great plague of King’s Cold swept across the land, paralyzing and slowing killing the Nocturne monkeys. Monkeys died every day. It was only a matter of time before the tribe was wiped out. The desperate Nocturne tribe needed a hero. They needed a savior. A spark was found, and hope was recovered. They had found a hero, in the form of Lothar the Ape. He was a great monkey, the symbol of the tribe, their greatest warrior. The tribe leader ordered Lothar to seek a prophet to show him his way.

Of course, the first step in deciding whether or not "The Circular Ruins" is a type of the Sublime is to look at some of the characteristics of the Sublime. For instance,

The Monkey at My Car Window is a story about a situation that occurred with a monkey and two businessmen on a woman’s journey to the Taj Mahal. This story teaches us about India’s culture, both urban and rural, monkey’s roles in Indian society, and how with a business mindset there is always an opportunity for a business venture.

they also partake of a dreamlike quality which aligns them with a host of other magical realist devices and motifs" (Theim 237). This device is also similar to Weiskel's third phase of the sublime, the reactive phase (qtd in Sandner 52). During this time, "the mind recovers the balance of outer and inner by constituting a fresh relation between itself and the object" (qtd. in Sandner 52).

Like Schiller, Edmund Burke a British philosopher from the 18th century, also suggests the sublime is more than a transcending feeling; it includes an intense feeling of terror. In his Section VII Of the Sublime Burke writes:

The sublime describes the awe and shock that people experience when they see something that is enormous in size. David Rodgers summarizes the works of a man named Longinus, who is credited as the first person to define the sublime. Longinus defines it as “differing from beauty and evoking more intense emotions by vastness, a quality that inspires awe. Whereas beauty may be found in the small, the smooth, the light and the everyday, the sublime is vast, irregular, obscure and superhuman” (Rodgers, 1996, pg. 889). He explains that the sublime is more than just beauty because the sublime captures the massive size of these objects that creates wonderment. Along with Longinus writing about the vast and sheer awe that the sublime creates, Immanuel Kant also explains his definition of the sublime. Kant explains that “the physical properties, whether actually or imaginative perceived, that were generally accorded to the sublime by 18th-century writers, were vastness, obscurity and irregularity, all of which could evoke a degree of terror” (Rodgers, 1996 pg. 890). He also agreed that the impressive size of things helped make them sublime. Overall, the sublime explains the wonderment and awe that someone feels when looking at something that is huge and impressive.

The monkeys of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book are a very unique group of characters. They are viewed by the other animals of the jungle, or the Jungle People as they call themselves, as outcasts and outlaws. The most prominent chapter they occur in, “Kaa’s Hunting”, shows their lawless, shiftless, and uncivilized way of life. This image in itself does not give off any racist undertone. However, Disney’s adaption of The Jungle Book carries this view of the monkeys, while also giving them strong attributes that are commonly associated with African-Americans.

The Jungle Book is a collection of short stories, first published in 1894. The Jungle Book consists of fables stories which use animals as characters and which used to impart moral lessons. The Jungle Book brought Rudyard Kipling immense fame and continues to be fables classic even in today’s date. Its publication has adapted into comics, drama, television serials and even animated films too. ‘The Jungle Book’ consists of many animals and many commodities like, The jungle, Man-cub named as Mowgli, Wolves pack, Panther named as Bgeera, Bear named as Baloo, Tiger named as Shere-Khan, tribe of Monkeys named as Bandar-log, Indian mongoose named as Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and many more. The author has tried to show the relationship between ‘humans and animals’, he has shown different type of behaviorism in the characters which is so unique in each one of them. One can see that he has shown the characters and nature of both human and animal equally there is no discrimination between them, he has tried to show both the species as a family. He has shown the rivalry between animals and humans but has shown the beautiful relation of both as well talking about Man-cub,