The Monkey King’s tale is a story about the dangers of trying to fit in and abandoning one’s identity. He becomes so distracted by his mastering of the twelve disciplines of kung-fu to become “The Great Sage, Equal of Heaven” that he is too arrogant to acknowledge his creator, Tze-Yo-Tzuh (69). He denies that he is even a monkey, and decides to prove that he can go beyond the grasp of the one who has claimed to have created him. After flying through the boundaries of reality itself, he comes across five pillars he chooses to desecrate with a carving of his name and by relieving himself (75). Upon returning, he taunts the deity. Once proven wrong, he refuses to believe Tze-Yo-Tzuh’s claim to him: “I do not make mistakes, little monkey. A monkey I intended you to be. A monkey you are” (81). As such, he is punished and spends 500 years under rock until he returns to his true form in order to save a monk of Tze-Yo-Tzuh. This monk leads him on a journey with “no need...for shoes” (159). This is the Monkey King relinquishing a symbol of his betrayal of his identity in his journey to accepting himself as he was created.
Jin is a young Chinese boy who really struggles with reconciling the cultural differences between him and his classmates, especially in the context of their bullying of him. Reflecting the words of the Chinese herbalist’s wife that “It’s easy to become anything you wish...so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul,” Jin eventually wakes with “A new face [that] deserved a new name” (29, 198). As it is revealed Danny and Jin are the same, the story of the Monkey King is echoed; defying nature, Jin has forsaken his identity as a Chinese American. However, he still faces the struggle of Chin-Kee’s embarrassing visits. In a fight with Chin-Kee, Danny knocks off his head to reveal the head of the Monkey King. Once both are returned to their true forms, the Monkey King, an emissary of Tze-Yo-Tzuh reveals his purpose as a “conscience—as a signpost to [Jin’s] soul” (221). He leaves Jin with a word of caution from his own experience, saying, “I would have saved myself from five hundred years’ imprisonment beneath a mountain of rock had I only realized how good it is to be a monkey” (223).
Ultimately, the stories of Jin/Danny and the Monkey King are stories of accepting oneself for differences. Both experienced cultural barriers: Danny as a Chinese American and the Monkey King as a lowly, shoeless monkey attempting to gain the respect of deities. Both surrender parts of their souls in the quest for acceptance, but they are redeemed with the help of representatives of Tze-Yo-Tzuh who step in to aid them in their acceptance of themselves.
The parallels that you point out between Jin and the Monkey King's story are one of my favorite things about the novel. I also think that it is one of the things that makes the book so popular. Accepting your true identity is difficult for anyone, but I would imagine that it is infinitely harder for someone who has been made to feel that their true self is not good enough for one reason or another. An herbalist that Jin meets offers the idea that you can "become anything you wish, so long as you're willing to give up your soul" (29). While originally dismissed as the ramblings of an old lady, these words come to be significant for the characters in this story. In this novel, characters are able to give up their soul to become someone else, it is just not always as dramatic as turning into a transformer like Jin first hopes to (28). To someone who has been teased and taunted like the Monkey King and Jin, giving up their soul seems like a small price to pay for the acceptance they so strongly desire. In the end the guidance of representatives of Tze-Yo-Tzuh help Jin and the Monkey King to realize that they did not need to pretend to be someone else. This message is so powerful because it speaks to large numbers of kids who have felt at some point that they had to change who they were in order to be accepted.
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