A Contrastive Study of Chinese and Western Culture Based on The Lord of the Ring and The Journey to the West

The Lord of the Ring is the first English book I read, and it is my favorite book as well.

Both The Lord of the Ring and The Journey to the West are the significant masterpieces to some extent which embody the cultural differences between east and west. The Journey to the West, as one of the Four Masterpieces of china, is a fair tale story and it shows us a gorgeous and polychrome world. With the help of myth characters, Wu Chengen, who is the author of the Journey to the West expressed his dissatisfaction to the real and his wish to change the reality. Moreover, the work also reflected the author’s political ideal of building a benevolent government in which the monarch is wise and able. The Lord of the Ring, written by John Ronald Tolkien, tells a story of how a hobbit goes through innumerable trails and hardships to destroy the ring. This work has been translated into more than 40 languages and has a circulation of more than 160 million of each version, which makes it rank only second to the Holy Bible. The paper aims to show the difference between Chinese culture and western culture by the analysis of Story of a Journey to the West and The Lord of the Ring. These two books all have a deep influence on the world literature, and both are masterpieces.  

The Lord of the Ring and The Journey to the West have been long regarded as outstanding ironic novels. At present, the analysis about these two novels focuses merely on the exploration of religious perspective, actually, these two novels also reflect the difference between Chinese culture and western culture. This paper, from the perspective of culture, we can make analysis about fairy of these two novels. This research is of vital importance, especially for the construction of a harmonious world.

This research has the benefit of constructing the harmonious world. Peace and development are the themes of our era, and peace is the premise and basis of development. In order to reach the state of peace, we must construct a harmonious world. Every nation has his unique culture, and we should seek common ground while putting aside differences. China underwent a long period of feudalism, and traditional thoughts suppressed people’s interests and characters for a long time. What’s more, traditional thoughts emphasize filial and piety, docility and collectivism. Therefore, it is the foundation of feudal era to keep stability and constant development. The stress of “golden mean” and “the feudal code of ethics” greatly accommodated to the development of agricultural productivity.