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This essay first analyzes the fairy-tale language characteristics of Journey to the west. Then, the religious tinge is explained by the analysis of the fairy-tale characteristic in the work. The most important task is to connect language characteristics to religious tinge and analyze the approach of connection. Through the analysis, the relationships between fairy-tale language characteristics and religious tinge will be found. The time background of Journey to the west and the real reasons why Wu Chengen wrote the work is also analyzed in the work. What’s more, the analysis of author’s psychology and emotion will help us to read and understand Journey to the west. At the same time, the condition of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in Ming dynasty and the author’s view to these three religions are stated in the essay. In one word, a new angle to understand Journey to the west is given and the author’s true psychology and emotion are analyzed in the essay.
2. Literature review 源'自^751],论`文'网]www.751com.cn
2.1 Languages characteristics in Journey to the west
Journey to the west is a unique book. Zhang shukun, of Qing dynasty, summarized Journey to the west as “five odds”, that is: “the surroundings are all strange land; features are all strange people; stories are all strange things; space is strange thinking; and then the poems, songs, article are all strange works”. (Zhang shukun, 1991: 5) The “five odds” tell us the goodness of Journey to the west, and among these odds the language characteristics play an important role. Language characteristics lie in the use of folk adages which are widely used in common society. These folk adages dilute the baldness of Buddhism and create an air of comedy style. Because of the odds, we can feel the interesting of Journey to the west. And they also make the work unique. When it comes to the reasons, He manzi put forwards his viewpoint that ‘Journey to the west talks about the themes of Buddhism and Taoism in an informal manner deliberately and mixes up the themes and the way of cultivation of Buddhism and Taoism deliberately. The author inserts many folk adages in some formal occasion’. (He manzi, 1992: 22) The author expresses his view from the angle of children which makes the article full of interest. Wu Chengen mixes up religious thoughts together
Many scholars hold the point that the language characteristic of Journey to the west is secular style. The language in Journey to the west has obvious characteristics: language is designed for the given person, and language represents person’s character and spirit. Every sentence has its own philosophy no matter who says it and reflects an incline of secularity. Language characteristics in Journey to the west reflect the characters of Ming dynasty. In Preface of folk—custom, Zhong jinwen says ‘the function of folk—custom is obvious’, ‘people can not work day to night, they have to have some entertainments at some appropriate time to fresh themselves and adjust spirits. Every country and people has festivals, entertainments and arts. These elements are necessary to human’s life.’ （Zhong jinwen, 1998: 35）We can say that every secularity is inserted by the elements of entertainments. Journey to the west covers the characteristics of secularity and entertainment. Lu xun once said that ‘although the author is a confucianist, the book is written from the angel of entertainment… （Lu xun, 2006: 133）The author does not focus on only one religion, instead, he mixes up these three religions. We can see the beauty of the work, and from the description of the religions we can analyze the author’s attitude towards the religions in Ming dynasty.
As for the fairy feature of Journey to the west, some people like Hu shi once mentioned about it in the beginning of the 20th century. Not only did Hu shi define Journey to the west as a myth novel, but also it was referred to be a fairy novel. When it comes to the assessment of the story of havoc in the first seven chapters, he considered it to be parallel to the classic fairy Alice in wonderland, and he said: ‘just like the English version of Alice in wonderland, The Journey to the west, despite the fact that it contains some mysterious philosophy, is still a very funny and absurd fairy novel’ (Hu shi, 1999: 236)