Finding Meaning In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

One of the most common themes in all of literature is the journey of a hero. Not only is this Hebraic cycle common in the literary world, but also in our human culture. All human beings go through their own Hero's journey. One example of such a journey would be the stages of human grief. Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha is considered by many readers to be symbolic of the circle of life itself. The character Siddhartha goes through a heroes journey that can relate to almost any human being, to find enlightenment or the hidden truth about life. However, Siddhartha's psychological journey takes him through the experiences of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages are described by Kubler Ross as the “stages

One main theme present in this essay is the fact that suffering is inevitable. Everyone goes through their own type of suffering. In the essay, the deer was tied up and it was struggling to be let free, where as Alan McDonald was suffering as he was burnt two times. At a closer view, all of the travellers were also suffering mentally. They very much wanted to free the deer but they were helpless as they were seen as outsiders in the village.

In Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha, the main character's path to enlightenment goes through a series of obstacles and is in constant adaptation to Siddhartha's current situation. After coming to the realization about how he is not content with his spiritual and physical life, Siddhartha leaves his family behind and seeks the path to eternal enlightenment. To Siddhartha's realization, he experiences divergent situations that could potentially lead him to enlightenment.

Wisdom is a trait many people desire, but wisdom is gained through self-experience and cannot be taught. In the novel, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse the protagonist

Everybody has obstacles and issues that they had to face, some don't and their wall is too high, some have the courage to break through and overcome or find a way around the thing in their way to reach their goal. In Hermann Hesse’s “Siddhartha”, the protagonist, Siddhartha, had to overcome many challenges and self-doubts through his eternal quest to find enlightenment. Siddhartha had to listen to different people and things to learn that there was a way to avoid these interferences. After he speaks with Buddha, the illustrious one, he wishes to change and is reborn and sees the world with a new and different view. He speaks with Kamala, her future lover, and falls in love with her. He later hears of a wealthy merchant named Kamaswami and is taken in and given an occupation as a loyal merchant to him, he finds it fun and that later evolved into

Siddhartha and Kamala are similar in the way that they both know how to separate and distance themselves from the material world. They know how to not be part of the world. Kamala, in a sense, is one of Siddhartha’s primary teachers in his journey. Siddhartha also states in the story: “ It might very well so,’ said Siddhartha tiredly. ‘ I am like you. You also do not love - how else could you practice love as a craft? Perhaps, people of our kind can't love.The childlike people can; that’s their secret” (Hesse 50). Kamala and Siddhartha are different because, Kamala wants to follow Buddha and learn from his teachings, while siddhartha is finding his own path and believes that he will find enlightenment by finding himself. Kamala also

Siddhartha’s experiences with the Brahmins, the Samanas, Kamala and the City and as a Ferryman all contribute to his idea of what is right and essentially good. Overall, he leaves the establishments and people he finds because he does not believe their ways anymore but instead wants to pursue something else until he finds peace as a ferryman. Throughout Siddhartha’s journey he encounters people who question what he believes in and show them what they think is the ‘good life’ but he ultimately follows his own beliefs despite of this.

In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha struggles throughout his life to attain his goal of enlightenment. Just like everyone, Siddhartha started by following his teachers and mentors. But as he became more experienced and formed his own opinions, he began to lead himself to his goal instead of following others. Although following in the footsteps of another to reach a goal is much more simple, Hesse uses characterization and figurative language (similes and metaphors) in order to show that people who lead themselves to their goal will gain more wisdom and knowledge than following another.

And Herman Hesse shows this by showing their trust for each other. When Siddhartha first leaves home he experiences many trials and tribulations From being a Samana, to going to the city, to almost committing suicide. Who was always there? The Ferryman. Siddhartha trusts him almost like a father, he understands all that he has gone through. He doesn’t see him as just some guy with a boat, he sees him as someone who is wise and is filled with knowledge, like when siddhartha sees him again in chapter 9 he says,“This may be true. But I envy you for yours”(93) this shows how Siddhartha feels as though even though he was wealthy and lived a life others can only dream of he still felt like the ferryman had a better one. Siddhartha show his trust for the ferryman by always looking to him for assistance when he needs it,not only Loves, trusts, and respect him he looks to him for help. Like when his son isn’t showing him any love he asks him “what do you think i should do”(108) showing his trust by asking him for advice to help him with his situation.

Additionally, Siddhartha experiencing ruin first, to genuinely feel spiritual prosperity was an essential part of his path to enlightenment. Siddhartha felt worthless after many tries to reach enlightenment but never being able to even come near it. He also felt the death of his lover Kamala, and the departure of his son all were necessary to achieve spiritual prosperity enlightenment. WIthout losses one can never feel the triumph of winning. This was the same in Siddhartha's case without experiencing ruin he could not have reached

Siddhartha’s and Chris’ journeys are both motivated by the rejection of their old lifestyles. Chris’ parents argued a lot in Into the Wild and had many fights, despite this they still loved him. Even though Chris was loved by his parents he wanted to escape all of their fights, this is why instead of just isolating himself he actually had to take a physical journey. Chris also wanted to leave behind his wealth and money, so he took his journey to Alaska. Siddhartha takes his journey into the woods to be a Samana because he wanted to live with them and leave his dad and his fame behind. Siddhartha then realizes this is not the journey he should be taking and so he goes to live in the city and become wealthy. The motivation for this is because

You can use a quote that uses “you.” Just say, George Bernard Shaw said, “Life isn’t about…”

Buddhism is a religion established on the experiences and beliefs of an individual, that is Siddhartha. Siddhartha's significant life events, namely the worm-bird encounter, the four sights, and the bodhi tree meditation, contributed to Buddha’s interpretation of life and thus, impacted the four noble truths, eightfold path and Dhammapada.

Siddhartha was in a sojourn state of depression in a small part of his journey.