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Siddhartha Essay

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Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a fiction book that describes the Buddha (also known as Siddhartha) and his journey to find enlightenment. He is born as the son of a Brahmin and is expected to become successful brahmin, everyone admires him and is showered with praise by his friend, Govinda and his family. His life is a life that anyone would wish for, but secretly, on the inside, he is unhappy and unsatisfied. He realizes that he father has been practicing for years and still haven't found enlightenment. One day Samanas appear in the town with a different way of becoming enlightened. It is to rid yourself of all self-need. Siddhartha and his friend Govinda decide to go with the Samanas but, find the same problems he had with his father, he and the other Samanas aren’t enlightened. One day in the camp of Samanas word of an enlightened one, a Buddha named spreads. Siddhartha and Govinda ask to see this man and are originally turned down but, Siddharth hypnotizes the Samana with his stare and the Samana changes his mind. When Govinda and Siddhartha reach Gotama they listen to one of his teachings. Siddhartha is initially impressed but finds a loophole in his teachings and doesn’t pledge his allegiance while Govinda immediately pledges to follow the Buddha, the next day they are forced to part ways. …show more content…

On the boat, he meets a ferryman who is at peace. He takes Siddhartha to the city and there, he meets a woman named Kamala who believes that she will teach him about love. However, Kamala wants Siddhartha to take part I the material world and forces him to become a merchant. He lends a job to a merchant named Kamaswami. Siddhartha learns the ways of a merchant and Kamala becomes his lover and his teacher. Soon with his knowledge, Siddhartha becomes a rich man and takes up gambling. His gambling addiction causes him to become unhappy, to cope with these problems he gambles more, dinks and engages in more

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