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2. Literature Review
When the book Harry Potter was published, the Chinese and foreign scholars have studied it from several aspects, mainly focusing on translation comparison, exploration of mythology, religious belief and other aspects of the discussion. The studies of ancient Chinese work Journey To The West and the hero Sun Wukong are mainly concentrated on the shaping of myth and plot of the novel. This paper aims to make contrast between Chinese and foreign famous mythical heroes of the novels and analyze the similarities and differences in order to develop some new ideas for the future development of China’s mythical fantasy novels.
Based on a comparative study of two novels, this article will first discuss the heroism definitions and the development profile of East and West. Cultural background to better understand the differences between Chinese and Western heroism.
2.1 Definition of Oriental Heroism and Its Development Profile
In this part the author aims at introducing the oriental heroism from the following aspects: definition of oriental and development profile of oriental heroism.
2.1.1 Definition of oriental heroism文献综述
The definition of oriental heroism refers to the people who are not to be outdone. They don’t like ordinary life and work but like to practice some independent thinking regardless of the environment they are in. Once they establish some goals, they will keep working and stick to it.(Jame 245) Chinese heroism means to fulfill others and what heroes do also inspire other people to admire the valuable quality. As we all know the collectivism heroism which constantly evolves from human civilization grows out of human society. It gradually forms a kind of collective consciousness in the evolution of spiritual values which belongs to the ideological value judgment. With regard to a hero, he should be lofty, solemn, stirring, unyielding and enterprising in social groups. Such characteristics which can be taken as an example to transmit or communicate will promote a particular period of the social group. The hero has to be the one they are looking for, who is the most perfect, the noblest and most capable man who can mostly represent the overall interests of the group. The existence of hero is meaningful when he stands here to call on, encourage and motivate all the people in the society to imitate the valuable qualities in order to achieve ultimate goal of the cause of humanity.
2.1.2 Development profile of oriental heroism
Chinese heroic culture was born in times of chaos when Pan Gu opened the heaven and the earth and Kua Fu chased after the sun. The legend of the three sovereigns also should be contained in the heroic romance stories. In the subsequent years, we can find heroes from poetry to drama, from songs to novels. Great men from generations to generations became hero worship for ordinary people. In China, hero enforces justice on behalf of Heaven and rescues ordinary people out of water and fire. For example, Sun Wukong escorts Tang Xuanzang to go to the Western Paradise to learn from experienced people. Heroes in the novel All The Men Are Brothers revolt to kill the corrupt officials to enforce justice on behalf of Heaven. In Eastern and Western cultures people believe the hero fatalism. In East, the hero follows the moral standard strictly compared to the average men. Therefore capricious Sun Wukong cannot escape from Buddha’s control and must obey the discipline of Tang Xuanzang. Brave Wu Song, boorish Li Kui also must obey the leadership of Song Jiang. In Chinese traditional culture, the victor should be the king while the defeated is the bandit. In Chinese culture we never regard opponents as belittled and sarcastic ones. Anyone should not destroy their inspiring ambition. There is also the beginning of the Romance of Three Kingdoms of Cao Cao about the hero. Discarding the landscape just for a beautiful woman still is heroic behavior in Western culture. For instance, we all know Troy prince and Helen’s story. However the hero must encounter the heartless accusation in China for the same behavior. People are accustomed to let the beauty share responsibility. In long ancient times, the society keeps dominated by male. Majority of heroes in East and West are men, women are only men’s accessories.