Monkey's Quest For Immortality In Journey To The West

Time moves forward, and only forward. It’s a circle – we are born, raised, we live, then we die. But have you ever imagined what would happen if you were endowed with immortality? What if you could not die no matter how many decades had passed, while the world around you keeps changing and everyone else keeps aging? Would it be wonderful to live forever like that? Then you should take a look at Tuck Everlasting, a novel written by Natalie Babbitt in 1975 which focuses on the negative side of immortality.

This is greatly illustrated in the book "Monkey" where the Monkey King mentions his desire to live forever at numerous points.

This also illustrates that there is a timeless eternity or immortality after one’s

This is due to the consistency of their individual characteristics remaining the same for so many years. Problematically, Williams asserts the immortal life would be undesirable, or unlivable since we will inevitably exhaust our categorical desires.

The closest we could probably get to immortality would either be a Facebook page or having children, and since there were no Facebook pages in 1958 when “COAHTR” was adapted into film, the director, Richard Brooks would most certainly pull the focus on next of kin and what we leave behind for them.

Is it better to live a life that is long and mundane or one that is short but fulfilling? It is a question with no right answers. The hope for a number of us is to live both a long and fulfilling life, but hope can only take you so far. Death, like life, is one of those inevitable things that we cannot control. You can fight it or even try to control it, but more often than not, it is not going to work out the way you want it to. The only control that you have, is to live the life that you desire, so when the time comes, you can leave this world peacefully, knowing you have lived your life.

What are people willing to do to maintain a healthy mind and body? A former emperor of china, Qin Shi Huang, killed himself trying to live forever by consuming age-stopping mercury pills. In the 1400's Pope Innocent VIII believed by transfusing three young boys blood into himself he would absorb their youth, he died in the process. In the 1800's Leonard Jones ran for president with the promise to achieve immortality, he believed this would be accomplished through prayer and fasting, later that year pneumonia led to his death.

In Leon R. Kass article L'chaim and its Limits:Why not Immortality? one argument that Kass presents is that; If we are mortal we are “aware of [our] mortality... [and we are] moved to make beautiful artifacts...objects [that their] order will be immune to decay as their maker… [will] not.” While immortals are the opposite, if we are immortal then we do not have the strive to make “beautiful artifacts”. Therefore concluding that if we are mortal we need to make things that will last as our legacy, while immortals do not have to do so. However, that is not the case.

Some individuals believe they are entitled to a life of ease and happiness. Few people are good and actually strive to become someone who makes the correct decisions and acts in an appropriate way. These people actually work hard in life to achieve their immortality. However, these people are rare. People in Greek myths and in real life are greedy, selfish and generally careless.

Therefore, Williams’ asserts the immortal life would be undesirable, or unlivable since we will inevitably exhaust our categorical desires (100).

I agree with Edith Hamilton’s statement that men let all their acts turn on the immortality of the soul because in Greek mythology, the heroes were not afraid of death. They were only concerned with being remembered as a great person. The idea of a greater afterlife gave them courage to conquer any barrier that stood in their way. Hercules is an excellent example of this idea, as he was asked to complete twelve impossible tasks in order to redeem himself after killing his wife and children. As one of the strongest people on earth, he was confident in his abilities, and he eventually finished the tasks. Each undertaking promised certain death to Hercules, but he was willing to risk his life to be remembered as a prominent hero. He ultimately

Since the beginning of human history, emperors, conquistadors, alchemists, and many curious and powerful individuals have been in a fruitless search for a chance to transcend the realm of mortals and achieve immortality. Even now, at the dawn of the 21st century, the desire for immortality is still prevalent in our society today. However, while the dream for eternal life is still alive, the search for immortality is no longer just driven by power and greed, but for the universal gain of humanity – to solve many social and economical reasons that result from the current imperfect prolongation of life. Modern biogerontologists, people who study ageing, are determined to uncover the secrets of

What if you got the choice to live forever and never pass away? Would you take it? In the novel Tuck Everlasting the Tuck family comes upon a spring that has water that will make you become immortal. There are different opinions on immortality, and I am going to tell you them.

Erikson’s 8Th stage of development is ego integrity vs. despair. At this stage elder adults contemplate their accomplishments and if they believe they have lived a successful life then they will develop integrity, if one doesn't think they have lived a successful life then they will develop despair. If humans have the opportunity to live longer then they have more opportunities to make their life successful instead being too old and dissatisfied with their life. With the chance to live longer, humans can reflect on their ego integrity vs. despair after 150 years instead of just 80 or 90. They have many more years to experience events and make more memories throughout their lifetime. If a human really wants to live longer, then that may mean they are dissatisfied with their life, but if they are satisfied then they do not fear

The desire for everlasting life or immortality has been the first and the oldest quest of mankind. At the beginning of time, man was designed to live forever. When God created Adam, he created him to dwell on the earth and to fill it with his offspring’s. At no time was he told that this was a temporary arrangement. He was to live forever unless he ate from one certain tree. If he ate from that tree, then he would die. We are then left with several questions, if he had not eaten from that tree, would he still be alive? If he was meant to live forever, was that desire instilled in him? And as his descendants, was the desire to live forever instilled in each of us as well?