Journey to the West may be roughly divided into three parts: first, the introduction including the origin of Monkey (Sun Wukong), Tripitaka (Tang Sanzang), Pigsy (Zhu Bajie), and Sandy (Sha Wujing); second, the actual journey to the west, which has an episodic nature; and last, the ending, telling what happens when the pilgrims reach their destination.

He is also responsible for inventing the names of the main characters: Sun Wukong as "Monkey", Tang Sanzang as "Tripitaka", Zhu Bajie as "Pigsy", and Sha Wujing as "Sandy".

[1] In 2000, Elaine Yee Lin Ho, in her study of the British writer Timothy Mo, says Monkey remains "the most popular and textually accessible translation" of Journey to the West.

[5] The literary scholar Andrew H. Plaks said Waley not only shortened the work, but "through its selection of episodes gave rise to the misleading impression that this is essentially a compendium of popular materials marked by folk wit and humor."

Hu Shih reflected the popular reading of the novel, but he did not account for the levels of meaning and allegorical framework that scholars considered to be an important part.

A year later, after NeXT acquired Pixar, Steve Jobs cancelled the project once it became apparent the technology was not sufficiently advanced and Shogakukan backed out.