How does the book "monkey" shows understanding of Enlightenment? And how it can be compared to Enlighment of Western Europe during modernity?

The novel, Monkey, shows understanding of enlightenment in that the whole reason for the young monk to travel to India is to retrieve sacred scriptures by which the Buddha hopes to englihgen the Chinese people so that they can live in the way of the Buddha. And, in the end, what comes of the tale is that adversity can be overcome with knowledge and wisdom.

As to applying it to modern times. One of the key themes that comes of the final encounters is that the Monkey King is defeated by his inability to see himself in perspective. He cannot see the big picture, let alone his place in it. This, then, is the question: are we enlightened men, or monkeys?