“’He killed his senses, he killed his memory, he slipped from his ego into a thousand different formations. He was animal, was carcass, was rock, was wood, was water, and he always found himself again upon awakening. Sun was shining or moon, he was self again, swinging in the cycle, felt thirst, overcame thirst, felt new thirst.’” (Hesse, pg. 15) As a whole, this passage clearly represents the first two chapters, and how Siddhartha’s quest to be content still struggles on. From this passage, Hesse used metaphors and personification to describe his human emotions, as well as other parts of him that contribute to his ego. For example, the first line, “he killed his senses, he killed his memory, he slipped from his ego,” hint at Siddhartha trying to physically escape from his senses; pain from hunger, pain from burns, escape from his memory; of at home and being content, of believing he would become enlightened, and slipping from his ego; no longer wanting to experience human emotions that could hold him back from Nirvana. Here, sense, memory and ego all are metaphorically beings that he wants to rid of. He believes it to be easy, similar to running away from someone, but the reality is that these things are internal, and not so easy to get rid of. Second, Hesse uses long, run-on sentences to emphasis the mood or tone. Here, Siddhartha’s list offs of constantly returning to dissatisfaction in turn give the reader a sense of frustration. The listing itself frustrates the reader as they continue to read past one after another, and this mood is similar to the feeling Siddhartha has. Besides visual imagery in the context of nature (being able to picture the water or rock or sun) there is a natural tone in this passage. By placing words such as wood, water, rock, and moon, the reader is able to mentally transport to a similar setting as where Siddhartha is; this causes the reader to form empathy with Siddhartha. Lastly, Hesse uses thirst as a metaphor for desire to achieve peace. For Siddhartha, it is a constant cycle of him feeling temporarily enlightened, but then the desire comes back and ego is again within him.
I really like your thoughts on how there is a natural tone presented specifically through this quote. It makes a lot of sense to me that Hesse would use such words in his metaphors when talking about the achievement of enlightenment, which seems to be gained through nature. I believe that Hesse also wrote this not only to show Siddhartha’s yearn to get away from his ego, but also to show Siddhartha’s attempt to actually become the animals or the rocks, almost like he is apart of everything natural. Maybe it is to show that once one becomes enlightened there is no difference from them and their surroundings. Yet Siddhartha always seems to come back to his normal self, but he gets to experience a few glimpses of what enlightenment may be like even though the path with the Semanas is not what will lead him to full enlightenment.
Another example from the text that would also support your analysis is “He learned to walk these and other paths, thousands of times he abandoned his I, for hours and days he abided in the not-I. But wheresoever the paths might lead away from the I, their end always leads back to the I. If Siddhartha fled the I a thousand times… his return was unavoidable… and again experienced the torment of the obligatory cycle” (page 15). I think this because, as you portrayed Siddhartha’s frustration at not being able to escape his human emotions and attain eternal enlightenment, this passage portrays the same. Here Hesse describes Siddhartha’s inability to stay separated from his focus on himself and his human emotions, which becomes a theme of constant struggle throughout the novel for Siddhartha, as he makes his way to find eternal enlightenment and be at peace. This struggle having inevitable ups and downs as he nearly reaches enlightenment, such as when following the shramana, but then falls from enlightenment.
“And in the final hour of the night, before the day began, he returned, stepped into the room, and saw a youth standing there, and he looked big and foreign. ‘Siddhartha,’ he said, ‘what are you waiting for?’ ‘You know what.’ ‘Will you keep standing and waiting until the day becomes noon, becomes evening?’ ‘I will stand and wait.’ ‘You will grow tired, Siddhartha.’ ‘I will grow tired.’ ‘You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.’ ‘I will not fall asleep.’ ‘You will die Siddhartha.’ ‘I will die.’ ‘And would you rather die than obey your father?’ ‘Siddhartha has always obeyed his father.’ ‘Then you will give up your plan?’ ‘Siddhartha will do what his father will say.’ The first gleam of day entered the room. The Brahmin saw that Siddhartha’s knees were quivering slightly. He saw no quivering in his face, Siddhartha’s eyes gazed far away. Now the father realized that Siddhartha was no longer with him and in his homeland, that he had already left him” (Hesse 10-11). This is an excerpt from the first chapter of Siddhartha towards the end where Siddhartha defies his father. Siddhartha wishes to leave his home and go live a life with the samanas in the woods. Siddhartha’s approach to his father’s refusal is simply to stand in one place. He wears his father down with steadfast determination. All Siddhartha does over the course of the night is stand. This passage stirs a feeling of sadness in me, I am dismayed that Siddhartha’s father has to go through this. He describes Siddhartha as “a youth standing there, and he looked big and foreign.” He does not want his son, which up until now he has thought of as great, to leave him! I have some disdain for what Siddhartha is doing here. In the next section Siddhartha and his father talk back and forth. “I will stand and wait.”, “You will grow tired, Siddhartha.”, “I will grow tired.” Siddhartha manipulates his father, impressing upon him that he will not stop standing there until he is allowed to leave. Siddhartha says he will die and apparently would rather exhaust himself to the point of death than stay where he is. What malevolence he thrusts upon his own father! Siddhartha is so bored with his life in his family that he has no regard for the opinions or emotions of his own family. So when Siddhartha’s father sees “Siddhartha was no longer with him and in his homeland, that he had already left him” he gives in to Siddhartha’s demands and releases him. However, this does come back to haunt Siddhartha at the end of the book. Siddhartha’s own son abandons him like Siddhartha did to his father. This irony burns in Siddhartha’s heart for a long time until he can come to terms with it. True compassion and meaning in life is slow in coming to Siddhartha, as is demonstrated by this passage. In order to truly find life’s meanings one has to come to terms with one’s family, home, and origins. Family defines who you are, and by embracing this an individual can truly understand who they are and what the purpose of the personal journey into this world is.
Really good points! I'm curious about the idea of malevolence! I totally see the stubborn attitude he has, but do you really think it's malevolence? Good to bring this up! Ms. Ballard
Well, perhaps I did go a little overboard by stating Siddhartha’s intentions as being malevolent. But then again, at this time Siddhartha is quite selfish, and although he won’t exactly disobey his father outright, he still goes against his father’s wishes. Siddhartha even manages to rationalize this action: “Siddhartha will do what his father will say” (Hesse 10). By doing this Siddhartha gets his way while technically not going against his father’s word. Siddhartha intentionally makes his father suffer! “And he came again from hour to hour, silent, peered into the room, saw the unmoved slander, filled his heart with anger, filled his heart with apprehension, filled his heart with fear, filled it with sorrow” (Hesse 10). Siddhartha’s dad is going through some pretty heavy emotional trauma! Oh, I just want to slap Siddhartha upside the head! What a rotten son! Malevolence or not, however, the real reason I use such strong words is because of how bad I feel for Siddhartha’s dad. I remember when I first read this part I felt really bad for him, and when there was the call back to it near the end of the book I thought two things: “Yes! Justice served! Take that Siddhartha!” and “Aww… I forgot all about his poor dad. He never got to see his beloved son again.”
“His eyes became hard as iron when he encountered women. His lip curled with contempt when he walked through a town among well-dressed people. He saw merchants bargaining...and none of it was worthy of his glance. It was all a lie it all stank, it was all putrid with lies. Everything pretended to meaning and happiness and beauty, but it was all only putrescence and decay. The taste of the world was bitter. Life was pain” (Hesse 11-12). This passage at the beginning of chapter two describes Siddhartha’s views of the world since becoming a shramana. The passage uses very strong language, eliciting a feeling of disgust and anger in the readers. These are Siddhartha’s ideas after only a month of asceticism, and they are already this extreme. This does seem to fit with Siddhartha’s stubbornness and eagerness to leave the life he had been living. However, another one of Siddhartha’s important character traits is his skepticism and how he questions many aspects of life. It is implied that these negative views of society are shared among the shramanas; if so, Siddhartha was very quick to conform despite his independence. This passage comes across as so harsh and determined that it loops back around to giving off a feeling of uncertainty, as if Siddhartha is trying to convince himself. This would explain the extreme wording, and the writing style reminds one of a mantra people would repeat to convince and reassure themselves; Siddhartha would repeat this to himself until he started believing it, which would fit in with his stubborn and determined nature. Later in the book, he gives into temptations such as the ones listed, the ones he expresses hatred in. If he truly believed this, it would be much harder for him to do so even though he left the shramanas. Repeating this mantra and convincing himself only caused him to suppress his worldly needs and desires, making it that much easier for him to give in later in his life. Therefore, this sets up this downfall into temptation, which he later expresses was a necessary part of his spiritual journey of self-discovery and in turn, crucial to the entire story.
We both think that Siddhartha used especially harsh language towards the "child people" to maintain his disapproval and prove that his thinking aligned with the ways of the shramana. However, I also think that Siddhartha had a superiority complex above more materialistic, modern people that was incredibly pretentious. I believe Hesse portrayed Siddhartha to be this way purposefully, to allow his character room to grow throughout the novel and learn that he is not any better than non-Hindus. This growth is portrayed through his journey to enlightenment where he becomes as one of the child-people, and struggles with this materialism. Through his own mistakes, he discovered that all in life must make their own mistakes and learn from them to grow into better people, as he must allow his son to do, instead of Siddhartha keeping him caged in his own way of life, as he once thought the child-people should live as shramanas.
That's a very good point, I agree once I think about it. Especially since a lot of Siddhartha's journey is about him letting go of pleasures, cravings, and other worldly aspects, which is what Buddhism teaches. It starts out simple, with him giving up food and water, then later his best friend. However, attitudes such as this superiority complex definitely seem like something that could hold someone back from achieving enlightenment. This is supported by another quote from page 12, "To die away from himself, no longer to be 'I,' to find the peace of an empty heart, to be open to wonder within an egoless mind--that was his goal." Superiority complexes and other similar ways of seeing the world are most definitely part of this "ego" he aims to escape from. He displays hypocrisy here or at least something similar because of these thoughts, which is another issue by itself that he must move past. This extra obstacle makes his journey more meaningful as well as more interesting to read, since it's one that is not as obvious as what he sacrificed when joining the samanas and shows how difficult such journeys are; it is not as simple as giving up your wants and needs, but also some of your own thoughts.
“‘What I have learned up to now from the Shramanas, O Govinda, I could have learned faster and more simply. I could have learned it, my friend, in any tavern in the whore’s quarter, from the teamsters and dice players’... ‘What is meditative absorption? What is leaving the body? What is fasting? What is holding the breath? These are a flight from the ego, a brief escape from the torment of being an ego, a short-term deadening of the pain and absurdity of life’” (Hesse, 14). This passage is from the chapter “With the Shramanas”, where Herman Hesse conveys Siddhartha's views towards the Shramanas’ practices. This is exemplified in the opening, where it is written, “What I have learned up to now from the Shramanas, ... I could have learned faster and more simply. I could have learned it, my friend, in any tavern in the whore’s quarter, from the teamsters and dice player” (Hesse, 14). Here, the tone clearly expresses Siddhartha dissatisfaction with the Shramanas. In this quote, Siddhartha makes a somewhat insulting remark, stating that what he learned from the Shramanas can also be taught at a tavern. Siddhartha’s mocking tone treats the long-held practices of the Shramanas the same as that of those who drink alcohol, indicating that he believes he has attained little from the wandering monks. In addition, the inclusion of the words “faster” and “more simply” further illustrates Siddhartha’s dismay. As said in the quote above, Siddhartha states that what he learned from the Samanas can be taught “faster” and “more simply” by being a drunkard. Note that Siddhartha seeks to attain enlightenment, and drinking will do almost nothing to help him in achieving that goal. With that fact in mind, Siddhartha stating such a fact clearly conveys that he believes he cannot attain his goal by reaming with the Shramanas. Through not only tone but also by the addition of convincing dictions, Hesse conveys to the readers that Siddhartha's outlook on the Shramanas practices were dissatisfying. This view of Siddhartha explained in this passage also marks the start of an allegory, in which Siddhartha is used to illustrate the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who is known as the founder of Buddhism. In this chapter, Siddhartha attempts to reach enlightenment by practicing self-denial with the Shramanas. However, he soon realizes that practices such as “meditative absorption”, “leaving the body”, and “fasting” will not help him attain enlightenment, because doing so will only provide a “a brief escape from the torment of being an ego, a short-term deadening of the pain and absurdity of life” (Hesse, 14). Siddhartha Gautama went through almost the exact same process. When he left on a journey for enlightenment, he attempted to do so through acts of self-denial. However, he too realized that this method would not lead him to enlightenment and stopped. Through this passage, Hesse reveals to the readers that Siddhartha is an allegory of the life of the Buddha named Siddhartha Gautama.
“His glance became icy when he encountered women; his lips curled with contempt when he passed through a town of well dressed people. He saw businessmen trading, princes going on the hunt, mourners weeping over their dead, prostitutes offering themselves, doctors attending the sick, priests deciding the day for sowing, lovers making love, mothers soothing their children— and all were not worth a passing glance, everything lied, stank of lies; they were all illusions of sense, happiness and beauty. All were doomed to decay. The world tasted bitter. Life was pain.” (Hesse 10-11) This passage takes place after Siddhartha’s transition into the Samanas, and gives the reader some insight not only as to how he is faring in his new environment, but what his true “nature” is when put to the test. In the previous chapter, he decides to leave his village, a place where he is adored and canonized his neighbors and elders, in order to seek out knowledge on how to reach enlightenment. However as, we can see in the passage above, he adopts a rather cynical disposition towards the people the Samanas wander past in their journeys. This attitude is expected considering the fact that he has been fasting and living an abstemious lifestyle with these nomads. However his thoughts towards these ordinary people reveal that Siddhartha was not worthy of the blandishment that he received from the people of his village. Their admiration was almost deceptive in convincing the reader that he was beyond mortal, which Hesse used to show that Siddhartha too is only human, and faces similar struggles in maintaining a positive outlook. As the chapter continue, we learn that he suffers health issues from his humble lifestyle, but works with the Samanas to learn how to overcome these earthly desires and meditate. However, even as he “ascends his physical self, he cannot seem to reach the state of nirvana that he desires. In a conversation with Govinda, he explains how he believes that his time with the Samanas, was not as beneficial as he hoped. He claimed that, “What I have learned so far from the Samanas, I could have learned more quickly and easily in every inn in a prostitute’s quarter,” which is an obvious sign of his growing doubtfulness into the methods and practices of the Samanas.
In the second chapter of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha is dissatisfied with the lifestyle of the Shramanas. Siddhartha isn’t content with his new way of life because he believes he has reentered the cycle of existence, “Siddhartha smiled and said: ‘I do not know. I have never been a drinker. But that through my practice of austerities and meditative absorptions I find only a transitory numbness and remain just as far from wisdom, and liberation as when I was a babe in my mother’s womb, this I do know, Govinda, this I know.’”(Hesse, 15). Through this passage Hesse's shows the reader Siddhartha's feelings of frustration towards the practice of the Shramanas. Siddhartha is displeased with his life as a Shramana, he is convinced that he isn’t obtaining any skills nor is he becoming wiser or closer to freedom with himself. Siddhartha’s life as a Shramana isn’t exciting because he repeatedly works on the same practices. The Shramanas have taught Siddhartha the feeling of numbness and self- abnegation, the practice of meditative absorption. Through these practices Siddhartha starts to become stagnate. He stops changing and growing as a person because he is no longer being challenged. The young Siddhartha feels confusion and he starts to question his practice, he loses his passion for the Shramana lifestyle and feels as though he is trapped in an endless cycle. Hermann Hesse uses a simile to help convey Siddhartha’s negative attitude towards the Shramanas. Siddhartha states, he “remains just as far from wisdom and liberation as when I was a babe in my mother’s womb,”(Hesse, 15). Hesse uses this simile in this passage to help exaggerate and show Siddhartha’s frustration due to his lack of growth. Siddhartha starts to consider leaving the Shramanas and searching for a new path. At the end of this passage Hesse also includes repetition when Siddhartha says, “this I do know, Govinda, this I know” (Hesse, 15). The repetition of “this I know” helps emphasize Siddhartha’s point and it also includes a note of finality. His thoughts about the Shramana practice are already made up and final. It shows that he is certain about his beliefs. There is no doubt in his mind.
My thought is similar to your overall idea that Siddhartha is not content living with the Samanas. We share a lot of similar insights that have to do with his need to move on because he feels stuck in a stunt of spiritual growth. In addition, I also believe that living with the Semanas hasn’t only left Siddhartha with a negative outcome, rather, it has helped give Siddhartha a new perspective on life. From living in this environment he has learned many lessons, such as, figuring out that maybe the Semanas are just as lost as he is on the quest to enlightenment. Maybe finding enlightenment is different for everyone and not everyone achieves it in the same way. From this, Siddhartha leaves the Semanas with the experience of a lifetime and the knowledge that voluntary suffering is not right for his personal path. I think that at this time in the novel Siddhartha begins to intuitively figure out that he has to find his own enlightenment and not rely on a set culture or teacher.
“...I have become weary and distrustful of teaching and learning, and that I have little faith in the words that come to us from teachers. But fine, dear friend, I am ready to hear this teaching, though in my heart of hearts I believe we have already tasted the finest fruit of this Teaching.” (Hesse, 21). This passage takes place in chapter two after Siddhartha and Govinda have been living with the Samanas for almost three years. Siddhartha is able to go through the voluntary suffering of battling hunger, thirst, and materials in attempt to seek enlightenment, but struggles with an internal intuition that this path to enlightenment is not fitting for him. There are multiple times when Siddhartha is able to let go of his ego, but he always ends up coming back to his original self. He feels trapped in a lack of growth because he is living a life of such numbness with the same spiritual routine. After a long time with the Samanas, Siddhartha realizes that this living isn’t for him and it is time to move on. This is a very crucial turning point in the novel because Siddhartha is beginning to question if what he is learning from other teachers, who are humans just like him, will hold any truth for his path to enlightenment. There is an internal realization that maybe all of his teachers are on the same boat as he is; they don’t exactly know the answer to reaching enlightenment, but are also lost in path trying to find it. This is important because Siddhartha begins to discover the essence of finding the self on his own rather than relying on another teacher to guide him to enlightenment. In the quote above Siddhartha says that he “...has already tasted the Fruits of this Teaching.” (Hesse, 21), an image filled metaphor, which directly describes that Siddhartha has gained all the knowledge the Samanas have to offer. He now feels a great calling to move on and continue his path of enlightenment, but now equipped with a new perspective.
“The Buddha went his way, modest and lost in thought. His silent face was neither cheerful nor woeful: he seemed to be smiling inwardly. With a calm, silent, hidden smile not unlike a healthy child’s, the Buddha walked, wearing the cloak and setting his feet down like all his monks, according to precise regulation. But his face and his steps, his silently lowered gaze, his silently hanging arm, and every last finger on his silently hanging hand spoke of peace, spoke of perfection, did not seek, did not imitate, breathed gently in an everlasting calm, in an everlasting light, an inviolable peace” (Hesse 27). This is Gautama, the Buddha, as he is described when Siddhartha and Govinda see him for the first time. He is obviously quite a noble and incredible individual to observe, as described. The text describes his face as: “neither cheerful nor woeful[.]” This is likely due to the fact that Gautama has been enlightened, he fully understands everything, and has been rid of suffering. Therefore he does not suffer, but isn’t exactly happy as would usually be expected. He is smiling inwardly. I believe that this means that the Buddha understands that earthly pleasure is frivolous, he understands true happiness. It is interesting that Gautama’s hidden smile is described as similar to a child’s. This may be because Gautama has somewhat of an “inner child” and sees the joy and goodness in everything. The way he walks is described as: “setting his feet down like all his monks, according to precise regulation.” This was also touched upon in a preceding passage, but what this shows is how the Buddha is just like any other monk. By extension, Gautama is just like anyone. This is probably shown for two main reasons: the Buddha is quite humble and doesn’t wish to appear better than anyone else, and because anyone can be enlightened and become a Buddha. Hesse uses personification in the statements talking about the pieces of Gautama’s body, and how they are positioned. They are described as speaking and breathing in order to reveal the aura Gautama has around him. The Buddha radiates peace itself.
“I will not let Siddhartha slip away! I will no longer start my thinking and my living with Atman and the suffering of the world. I will no longer murder and dismember myself in order to find a secret beyond the rubble. Yoga-Veda will no longer teach me, nor will Atharva-Veda, nor the ascetics, nor any kind of teaching. I will learn from me, from myself, I will be my own pupil: I will get to know myself, the secret that is Siddhartha” (Hesse 36). This passage marks another huge step taken by Siddhartha in figuring out his plan to enlightenment. He is no closer to finding Nirvana, but he now knows exactly how he will achieve it, not by seeking out teachings, but letting it come to him naturally. He has made a huge decision to abandon all that he used to value, he is leaving home and all his peers to take on the journey by his lonesome. He in that time plans to find himself, get to know himself, teach himself. He has deserted being taught, he saw all the uselessness that comes from it. No man can put into words how to find true bliss, every one that has come upon nirvana has found it by themselves. Now it is Siddhartha’s turn. It is important to note that every major epiphany Siddhartha has come to up to this point in finding enlightenment, he has found himself, no one has taught him these ideas. This only helps support his decision to leave his entire past. The syntax used in the passage is quite similar to the rest of the book, the majority of the sentences are elongated using many commas to break up the sentences, and often repeating the same ideas to give the reader an added sense of important in the words that Siddhartha is speaking. The reader is reading many of the same things twice essentially. Going hand in hand with that idea is the parallel structure that Hesse utilizes effectively in the middle of the passage. Hesse uses using the word “nor” repeatedly when referring to Siddhartha’s old lifestyle that he is abandoning to start his new life. He uses that parallel structure as if he’s going through a list of all the things he’s deserting, and it adds to the level of importance to the life-changing decision Siddhartha has made.
“What is meditation? What is abandonment of the body? What is fasting? What is holding of the breath? It is flight from the ego, it is a brief breakout from the torture of ego, it is a brief numbing of pain and of the senselessness of life. The same flight, the same brief numbing is found by the ox driver at the inn when he drinks a few cups of rice wine or fermented coconut milk. He then no longer feels his self, he then no longer feels the pains of life, he then finds brief numbing. Asleep over his cup of rice wine, he finds what Siddartha and Govinda find when they slip away from their bodies after long exercises and linger in the non self. That is the way it is, O Govinda” (Hesse 16). This passage, from Among the Samanas, resonated deeply with me when I first read it, it made me think of what hold close and value in my life. This realization that Siddartha comes to is very important for his advancement in enlightenment in the book, he essentially is proving many of the things that he, Govinda, and his father all practiced and held important completely useless to finding Nirvana. The meditation, the fasting, the abandonment of the body, it’s all only temporary. It’s a huge step for him in getting closer to finding true bliss himself. Siddartha is comparing the samanas with to the drunkards at the inn through a very elaborate and wordy metaphor, but with a strong moral in his words. He is being quite critical of not only the ascetic’s whole way of life, but also many other aspects of people’s life as well. I was able to relate this passage to my life too, in the things I do and focus on. Siddartha is comparing the samanas, and even his old life with Govinda, to the ox driver that drinks his wine to escape his reality and his daily life. He finds “brief numbing”, and perhaps even happiness, but only for a short period of time. That is what Siddartha is trying to show to Govinda, and I find it quite important myself that many people understand this same concept. You cannot find true bliss through temporary escapes like drinking and fasting, all those things may seem helpful for the minute you experience it, but it will soon go away. You will be stuck in a never ending cycle and throwing your life away, forgetting about trying to advance your mind and accept the world around you for the way it is. The samanas have accidentally taught Siddartha this lesson, completely different from what they intended him to learn.
okay so this is my post from last time that wouldn't post on my computer so i'm using Ellen's now
“Govinda knew: this would be no ordinary Brahmin, no idle sacrificial official, no greedy merchant of magic formulae, no vain empty orator, no mean conniving priest, neither would he be a silly simple sheep in the herd of many. No, nor did he, Govinda, want to be one among ten thousand Brahmins. He wanted to follow his beloved, his magnificent Siddhartha” (Hesse page 6). In this passage, Govinda describes Siddhartha and his devotion to and expectations of him. Govinda’s statement here is significant in how he foreshadows the later events in the novel in the life of Siddhartha. Siddhartha follows Govinda’s prophecy in how he shortly after, would in a sense, become “no ordinary Brahmin”, and avoid being “one among ten thousand Brahmins”, by leaving Brahmin-hood for a new teaching, to become a shramana, and then evidently leave Hinduism completely. Though Govinda’s foreshadowing is also ironic of situation. He predicts that Siddhartha will become “no greedy merchant of magic formulae” or “a silly simple sheep in the herd of many”, when eventually Siddhartha becomes just that. After leaving Hinduism and abandoning Buddhism, Siddhartha would come to join the merchant Kamiswami as a business partner, thus turning himself into the greedy merchant that Govinda stated he would never be. He also fulfilled the roll as a “simple sheep in the herd of many” in joining the child people, through living life for money and physical pleasures, instead of for a greater purpose. Kamiswami ultimately became a simple sheep, as Govinda ironically predicted he could never be, through becoming a rich man whose only joy in life came from gambling. Govinda also intended to always follow Siddhartha through life, which is also situational irony in how they departed after their journey as shramanas, when Govinda went off to live under the teachings of Buddha. Though Govinda was right in a way, in how long after they’d departed, Siddhartha and him would meet again for the last time, after Siddhartha has achieved peace from living by the river, while Govinda never found this from Buddha, and in this meeting Siddhartha seems to reveal to Govinda the secret to achieving internal peace, officially making Govinda his follower as predicted.
“He looked around, as if he were seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, the world was particolored, strange and quizzical. Here was blue, here was yellow, here green, the sky flowed and the river, the forest froze with the mountains, everything beautiful, everything full of mystery and magic, and in its midst he, Siddhartha, the awakening one, on the way to himself” (page 34). This passage takes place directly after Siddhartha breaks away from Govinda for him to follow under The Buddha, and for Siddhartha to continue his life without teachings to live by. Siddhartha here discovers he is released from all obligations to follow teachings, and from his constant struggle to conquer the I. Siddhartha is now able to live freely and all the potential that life holds overwhelms him and he expresses this through descriptive imagery of his surroundings, bringing a sense of new beginnings and hope to the reader. This is done through Siddhartha’s exclamations of nature’s beauty and serenity, such as of the flowing skies and river, and surrounding mountains, and the vibrancy of colors he now seems to be seeing all at once, as if for the first time. The “mystery and magic” hints to all he has yet to discover in the world, all he could continue to learn without following one specific path, as Govinda chose, and what he could become through leading his own path. This particular passage effectively sets the tone for Siddhartha’s new beginning in his journey, where he has abandoned religion and teachers and even allows himself to move into modern society with the “child-people”, a notion Siddhartha, who had been clearly disgusted with this lifestyle, would have never considered a few chapters back. This is a critical part in Siddhartha’s journey due to how he moves on from seeking out new teaching to lead to enlightenment, to following a new path where he’s landed in all that is unfamiliar to him, and will allow himself to be submerged in materialistic wants and human emotions. The overall connotations in this passage relate to the beauty and wonders of starting a new journey, and the anticipation which comes with not knowing what lies ahead.
“The Buddha robbed me, thought Siddhartha, he robbed me, yet he gave me even more. He robbed me of my friend, who believed in me and now believes in him, who was my shadow and is now Gotama’s shadow. But he gave me Siddhartha, he gave me myself” (Hesse 29).
This is the last paragraph of chapter three, in which Siddhartha is reflecting on what occurred after meeting with the Buddha. He states what is clear; Govinda left him for Gotama. However, Siddhartha gained more understanding of himself from this experience, and it helped him greatly in his journey. So far, he has given up every pleasurable aspect of his life in search of enlightenment; he only eats and drinks when absolutely necessary, he does not indulge in playful pastimes and left his family. He saw these sacrifices as necessary parts of his journey; however, he never gave up his best friend. Staying with Govinda likely held him back on his journey, since friendship, as well as other relationships, is considered a pleasure. Siddhartha decided not to follow the Buddha, but his path is still parallel to that of Buddhism. Therefore, all pleasures only tie him down to dissatisfaction and bar him from reaching enlightenment. In the following chapter, he reflects on how, for once, he truly feels alone. This part of the book, and his realization of his loneliness, is a pivotal point for Siddhartha in which he grows as a person and grows even closer to what he wishes to achieve. This passage also refers to Govinda as a “shadow.” This implies Siddhartha saw Govinda as his follower. Siddhartha may have seen having a follower, especially one he was so close to, as another obstacle in his path. A leader holds a responsibility to their followers, and this responsibility gets in the way of Siddhartha’s need for solitude. Despite their close relationship, Siddhartha needed to separate from Govinda in order to progress, and his interactions with the Buddha and Govinda’s change of path helped him do so.
I agree with your discussion of Govinda and Siddhartha's relationship. Govinda and Siddhartha have been on the same path for many years and in a way, even though this might not be true, Govinda looks up to Siddhartha as if he were Govinda's older brother; a role model. In the sense that this is the case, that means that Govinda making up his own mind and following his own path is symbolic of adulthood, and how when you reach adulthood, you achieve the right to make your own decisions. Govinda might not have been aware of this consciously, but he did become a man in that moment. This is later justified when Siddhartha realizes the amount of time that has passed and his own adulthood. Also, Govinda and Siddhartha separating ways was also a symbolic way of each going off for their own good. Govinda needed to go out on his own and live the life he wants to leave. For Siddhartha, it is the chance for him to life his life according to his plans. In a way, this is a selfish relief for Siddhartha, who even though misses his friend, is relieved to not have the pressure of being a saint, and can instead focus on his path.
“’He looked around as if seeing the world for the first time. Beautiful was the world, colorful was the world, bizarre and enigmatic was the world! There was blue, there was yellow, there was green. Sky flowed and river, forest jutted and mountain: everything beautiful, everything enigmatic and magical. And in the midst of it he, Siddhartha, the awakening man, was on the way to himself.’” (Hesse, pg. 37) In this passage, Hesse uses visual imagery in the sense of color and nature to signify Siddhartha’s period of awakening. The use of color, such as yellow, blue and green, symbolize the earth, sun and water, as well as overall nature. Each individual color can represent the happiness in Siddhartha’s life for discovering awakening, blue for peace at having achieved one of his goals, and green for hope that this awakening will continue and that he will, in the end, achieve full enlightenment/Nirvana. By adding in nature, such as sky and river, forest and mountain. The sky and river represent the clarity and flow that comes with nature, as well as life, and it appears that Siddhartha has fully realized this. The forest represents the pride and growth in nature; in many ways the ego of nature. Ego is a large and important part of this story and Siddhartha’s life, as he achieves to not only block out ego, but also join the innermost part of it. Lastly, the mountains represent the challenges that Siddhartha will have to face as he attempts to reach Nirvana; the ego and the desires all come as challenges. When Siddhartha notices that everything is beautiful, the reader is in tune to believe now that Siddhartha is on his way to enlightenment. He now is beginning to see the beauty in everything, and himself. When Hesse says this, as a reader, there is also clarity in that Siddhartha is beginning to realize who he is as a whole, and how this journey will affect him as well.
“The world was beautiful, full of colors, strange and enigmatic... When one is reading a text whose meaning he is seeking, he does not scorn the signs and letters as deceptions, accidents and worthless husks; rather he reads them, he studies them, he loves them, letter by letter. But I was trying to read the book of the world and the book of my own being, and because of my preconceptions I scorned the signs and letters, I called them the deception of the world of appearances” (Hesse, 32). This narration is from the chapter, “Awakening”. In this chapter, Siddhartha realizes that he is going through a change, in which he believes that nobody can teach him in reaching enlightenment. Thus, he decides to learn solely from his experiences. This self-recognition enabled Siddhartha to alter his view of the world as full of suffering, in which he now sees the world as beautiful. In this passage, Hesse illustrates that before his awakening, Siddhartha had a blind view towards the world around him. This is exemplified from the diction of beauty and mysteriousness. In the narration, “The world was beautiful, full of colors, strange and enigmatic” (Hesse, 32), Siddhartha’s view of the world is describes as something not accustomed to seeing. This is done from the use of the words “beautiful”, “full of colors”, “strange”, and “enigmatic”, which are descriptions that would not characterize a setting that is viewed normally. However, the world is a setting that is seen everyday. Because Hesse describes the everyday view of the world with diction of extraordinariness, it expresses that, prior to his awakening, Siddhartha had a blind view towards the world. In addition, Siddhartha’s blindness before undergoing his change is further conveyed by an analogy. In the passage, it is written that one who reads a book does not consider it as “worthless husk” but “reads” it “little by little” and “loves them”. He then continues, “But I was trying to read the book of the world and the book of my own being, and because of my preconceptions I scorned the signs and letters, I called them the deception of the world of appearances” (Hesse, 32). In this quote, Siddhartha compares his view of the world to the act of reading a book. When it is written, “I scorned the signs and letters”, Hesse compares the world to the content of a book to convey that Siddhartha was too caught up with his ego to closely observe the world and therefore viewed it as full of sufferings. By using diction that describes something not accustomed to seeing, and by comparing Siddhartha’s view of the world to something familiar, Hesse is able to clearly convey that before his awakening, Siddhartha was blind in terms of his view towards the world.
“Siddhartha continued to stand there motionless, and for the period of a heartbeat and a breath his heart went cold; he felt it go cold in his breast like a small animal—a bird or a rabbit—when he realized how alone he was. For years he had been homeless and not felt it. Now he felt it. Up till now, even in his deepest meditative absorption, he had been his father’s son, a brahmin of high standing, a spiritual person. Now he was only Siddhartha, the awakened one, and nothing else” (Hesse 33). In this passage, from the Awakening, Siddhartha realizes how lonely he has become after deciding to embark on a journey to seek his own path. All of Siddhartha’s life he has been a part of a religion or a practice and for the first time he belongs to neither. At first when Siddhartha decides to go on this self searching journey he is excited. He sees things in a new perspective. Everything is very raw and natural, but for a short period he realizes how alone he is. In the past Siddhartha felt the company of the gods and his fellow worshipers. By no longer following a teaching Siddhartha is forced to be alone. Siddhartha never felt “homeless” in the past because he always had a feeling of belonging due to his previous practices. Also, as a young child he always had a group who practiced the same beliefs. He realizes the pressure he will have to endure from having to rely only on himself, making his own decisions, and following his own morals. Hermann Hesse includes a simile in this passage when he states, “he felt it go cold in his breast like a small animal---a bird or a rabbit—”(Hesse 33). Hesse uses this simile to help convey and allow the reader to understand the panic Siddhartha feels when this realization dawns on him. Comparing his heart beat to one of a small animal allows the reader to imagine a quickened pace and sense of alarm setting in. Although these feelings disappear by the end of the chapter it becomes Siddhartha’s first experience with loneliness. The feeling of loneliness becomes one of the first new experiences Siddhartha has after beginning his journey in finding himself.
“Slowly the thinker went on his way and asked himself: What is it that you wanted to learn from teachings and teachers, and although they taught you much, what was it they could not teach you? And he thought: It was the Self, the character and nature of which I wished to learn. I wanted to rid myself of the Self, this riddle, that I live, that I am one and am separated and different from everybody else, that I am Siddhartha; and about nothing in the world do I know less than about myself, about Siddhartha.” (Hesse 31) This passage from Siddhartha is not only effective for revealing more information about the plot, but also giving the reader insight into what will be required of him to achieve the enlightenment he seeks and why his previous efforts have failed. To give proper context to the frame of mind Siddhartha is in when thinking these thoughts, he had just left behind his childhood friend with Gautama. He claims that as he left Govinda, so did he leave behind his old life. He also believes that he has abandoned hope on the thought that teachers could teach him how to find enlightenment and wonders why they cannot. As he wanders away and contemplating, he has a moment of self-realization that what the teachers could not teach was the Self. This moment is so iconic and important to the spiritual journey of our protagonist that the third-person narrator briefly switched to the direct perspective of the thoughts of Siddhartha. This gives the reader additional information on the mindset and reasoning that have gone behind this epiphany. Hesse uses the moment of realization to explain not only what Siddhartha focused goal is, but to explain his mindset behind why the teachings of others seem to have no effect on his path to enlightenment.
“There is only one reason, a single one, why I know nothing about myself, why Siddhartha has remained so foreign to myself, I was fleeing myself! I was seeking Atman, I was seeking Brahma. I was willing to dismember my ego and peel it apart in order to find the core of all peels in its unknown innermost essence; to find Atman, Life, the Divine, the Ultimate. But I myself was lost in the process” (Hesse, 36). In this passage, which takes place in chapter four, Siddhartha has just split from his childhood best friend, Govinda, who decides his path to enlightenment will come by staying back in Gotama to become a follower of the Buddha. Siddhartha, on the other hand, has reached new conclusions about his personal journey. On Siddhartha’s way out of Gotama, he is able to speak with the Buddha, and it is during this time that he culminates the thought that enlightenment has to be found within the self by himself only. This is a pivotal moment in Siddhartha’s journey because his whole life has been spent relying on teachers and teachings to tell him what to do, and now he realizes that he is lacking in self exploration and finding enlightenment on his own. He comes to the conclusion that all these years struggling to find enlightenment through teachers has left him “fleeing from himself” trying to “dismember his ego” which, in turn, led him to feeling more lost, as he was constantly following someone else’s spiritual routine and not his own. Siddhartha is now seeking to personally experience what is relevant for his path to enlightenment because of his new found belief. Siddhartha is not sure what this will bring about for him in the future, but that is the beauty about following himself rather than a practice; it means staying in close contact with himself and following his own intuition. In this passage, there is a mood shift pertaining to Siddhartha’s character from uncertainty to undoubted determination, which lingers throughout the whole fourth chapter. There is a sense of new found self individuality, which it is almost as if Siddhartha is ready to grasp this and run away with a profound excitement for the future.
“‘This Brahmin,’ he said to a friend, ‘is not a real merchant and will never become one, his soul is never passionate about business. But he has the secret of those people to whom success comes on its own, whether because of a lucky star or because of magic, or because of something he learned from the samanas. He always seems to be only playing at business, it never fully becomes part of him, it never dominates him, he never fears failure, he is never bothered by a loss” (Hesse 60). In this passage Kamaswami tells his friend the problems he has with Siddhartha. He says Siddhartha will never truly be a real businessman and yet he still somehow succeeds at what he does. Siddhartha is thoroughly confused by what the true role of a businessman is! Siddhartha finds business to be silly and he simply laughs if he messes up. He thinks that to worry and be serious about business is ridiculous, so he treats it like it is a game. The reason Siddhartha is still able to succeed at his game is through the “only things he has learned”: to think, wait and fast. He thinks about everything he does from a perspective different than profit. He talks and openly listens to everyone he encounters in his work. He respects the people he works with and isn’t strict and mean to them. At one point he goes to a village to purchase some rice, but it was already sold when he arrives. Instead of immediately leaving, disgruntled, he stays awhile and makes friends with the people in the village. Through his many kind actions, thinking beyond business, people love him and he finds much business and much success. Siddhartha’s waiting and fasting come in handy when he copes with loss. Loss doesn’t bother him already because it’s all a game to him, but the waiting and fasting give him the ability to endure these times of loss and easily rebound. Siddhartha doesn’t really try at business, he just plays at it, but through his skills he succeeds anyway! Kamaswami thinks Siddhartha is going about it the wrong way but in actuality Kamaswami is the one doing it wrong.
My idea is similar to your idea, in which I also think that Siddhartha's way of dealing with business is correct over Kamaswami’s. For example, when Kamaswami says “he never fears failure” (Hesse, 53), he sees this trait as an indication of Siddhartha’s lack of seriousness towards business. Siddhartha is still successful, but Kamaswami believes that Siddhartha’s way of dealing with business is wrong. However, not fearing failure is not necessarily a bad thing and can at times be beneficial. This trait can indicate Siddhartha's apathetic attitude towards business, but it can also mean that he can act more aggressively without the hesitation caused by the fear for failure. Therefore, although Kamaswami may be right about Siddhartha's indifference towards business, he certainly isn't correct for the fact that Siddhartha's way of handling his work as a merchant is wrong.
“’Listen, Siddhartha has pursued harder goals than such trifles and has attained them. Why should I not attain what I undertook yesterday; to be your friend and to learn the joys of love from you! You will see that I learn easily, Kamala. I have learned harder things than what you are to teach me. And so; Siddhartha is not satisfactory to you as he is, with oil in his hair, but no clothes, no shoes, no money?’” (Hesse, pg. 51) In this passage, Hesse uses selfish and materialistic language to show the priorities of Kamala and Siddhartha. Siddhartha here claims that he has achieved a lot by pursuing harder and almost unattainable challenges, which suggests that he thinks highly of himself. This also contradicts with the ego, and how his main goal was to escape his ego, not become it. In this case, he’s allowing his ego to take control of the situation as a way to impress, but at the same time, tear down Kamala. He also claims that he won’t be challenged with Kamala’s lessons as he has been challenged with worse. However, this is not true, and is a selfish thing to say, because you cannot assume a lesson will be easy, because you have not taken it yet. It also, some might say, might lean towards a sexist comment, as he is degrading her lesson, as he tries to prove his manhood. Him boasting is a clear sign that he has not controlled his ego; and in a way this is foreshadow how staying here will put him behind in his journey for self-enlightenment. In this passage, we also see a social status difference among these two. Kamala, according to previous passages, will not take Siddhartha as her student, not because he is not attractive to her, but because he is not worth. He does not own the things that she desires her students to have; clothes, wealth, shoes, and gifts for her. This shows how spoiled and easy Kamala’s life has been up until this point. She has been bathed with gifts from her students, and in her eyes, Siddhartha is not a worthy contender, because he cannot give her what she wants. This passage reflects the flaws of each character, but in the end, these flaws help bring the two together.
My thoughts when I read that passage were similar to yours, I too think that Siddhartha is still a long ways from ridding himself of his ego, he still thinks very highly of himself and his accomplishments, which is seen clearly in this passage. Another example to support this is when Siddhartha observes the people of the village he is living in, calling them children and looking down upon them, as he assumes these people do not attain the knowledge he does, and they are living for the wrong reasons. I definitely agree with you when you said it could’ve been a sexist thing, as Siddhartha is trying to shoot down her teachings, and put her knowledge far below what he has already learned from men like Gautama and the samanas.
“When she first received news of Siddhartha’s disappearance, she went to the window where she kept a rare songbird in a golden cage. She opened the door of the cage, took the bird out, and let it fly away”(Hesse, 66-67). This passage is excerpted from the chapter, “Samsara”. In this chapter, Siddhartha gets engulfed by the big city, causing him to become greedy and seek pleasure. Although he at first had an apathetic attitude towards wealth, he became addicted to gambling and bet an enormous sum of money. However, he soon realized that he was being trapped in the world of pleasure and left the city to escape. In this passage, the combined effect of a maxim and a symbol illustrates the freedom Siddhartha gains from his departure from the city. When it is written, “she went to the window where she kept a rare songbird in a golden cage... and let it fly away” (Hesse, 66-67), it is indicated that the bird was trapped inside a cage until Kamala set it free. This is linked with the maxim, “Flight is freedom” which refers to the act of escaping one's conflict to attain freedom. Through this maxim, it reveals that the problem for the bird is being trapped in a cage, and escaping from the cage and flying is its freedom. In addition, this use of maxim is then connected to Siddartha through the use of symbolism. First, notice that there is a similarity between the acts of Siddhartha escaping the world of pleasure and the bird escaping the cage. Furthermore, from the quote, “When she first received news of Siddhartha’s disappearance” (Hesse, 66-67), it is revealed that Kamala freed the birth right after Siddhartha's departure from the city, meaning that there is a connection between the two occurrences. This connection is symbolism, in which the cage represents the world of pleasure, and the flight of the bird symbolizes Siddhartha's departure. Because the maxim interprets the flight of the bird as its freedom, Siddhartha's escape, which represents the flight, is his freedom. Through the inclusion of the maxim, “Flight is freedom”, and the use of symbolism, Hesse conveys to the readers the freedom Siddartha achieves through his escape from the pleasure of the world.
“If you toss a stone into water, it takes the swiftest way to the bottom. And Siddhartha is like that when he has a goal, makes a resolve. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like the stone through the water, never acting, never stirring. He is drawn, he lets himself drop. His goal draws him, for he lets nothing into his soul that could go against his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned among the samanas” (Hesse 56). In the second part of Siddhartha, when Siddhartha meets Kamaswami and Kamala in the new village, Hesse introduces a new motif in the book. You will often hear Siddhartha talk about his ability to “think, wait and fast”, when speaking about his traits that he learned from the samanas. He credits his great success in the merchant business to those three things, thinking waiting, and fasting. Siddhartha is able to gain complete control over his mind and body when he thinks, waits, and fasts, and he is able to easily be drawn to his goal, without letting any negative thoughts or feelings overcome him. Hesse represents this idea in the book very effectively with both a metaphor and simile, utilizing detailed imagery and great diction to captivate the reader. Siddhartha connects himself when he is reaching his goals to a stone tossed into the water, as both he and the stone take the “swiftest”, way to the bottom. Siddhartha, using his ability to think, wait, and fast, can cut off the things in this world that may deter him, he is able to solely focus on his goal, and achieve it in the quickest and “swiftest” way possible. This image of the stone and Siddhartha resonated deeply with me, I was able to connect it to my own life, and the importance of neglecting negative influences in your life that hold you back from achieving what it is you want. The detailed imagery in the metaphor painted a clear picture in my mind of the stone and the water, and the metaphor itself was relevant to the point that Siddhartha was trying to get across to Kamala, which helped both her and the reader clearly understand his point of view, and get into his mind.
“In the night, as he slept in the straw hut of a ferryman beside the river, Siddhartha had a dream: Govinda stood before him, wearing the yellow robe of the ascetic. Govinda looked sad, sadly he asked: Why have you left me? Then he embraced Govinda, wrapped his arms around him, and while he drew him to his breast and kissed him, it ceased to be Govinda, rather it was a woman, and from the woman’s gown emerged a full breast streaming with milk, at which Siddhartha lay and drank; sweet and strong tasted the milk of this breast. It had the taste of woman and man, sun and forest, beast and blossom, of every fruit, of every desire. Intoxicating, leaving him senseless.-When Siddhartha awakened, the pale river shimmered through the hut’s doorway, and deep in the woods the euphonious dark call of an owl sounded.” (Hesse page 41). This passage’s significance lies in how it begins and ends with the river, from Siddhartha sleeping beside it in the ferryman’s hut, to the river being the first thing he lays eyes on as he wakes. This conveys that the river is what brought Siddhartha his dreams, and foreshadows how the river would help Siddhartha to attain enlightenment in the end of the novel. The visions Siddhartha experiences in this sleep, are Hesse’s way of prophesizing the events to come in Siddhartha’s journey. The lines referring to Govinda, in his yellow robe, and the sadness he feels regarding Siddhartha having left him, indicated what will be Siddhartha and Govinda’s last encounter at the end of the novel, where Govinda has followed the teachings of the Buddha for most of his life, and yet still has not yet reached a state of peace. Govinda here may be despairing over having spent his life without his friend Siddhartha, unable to reach peace without being alongside him. This is until, in the passage, Siddhartha embraces and kisses Govinda, foreshadowing the last moment of the novel where Govinda kisses Siddhartha’s head, and in this embrace is able to reach peace and enlightenment, finally, through the companionship of his long, lost friend. The moment in the dream where Govinda becomes the woman, forebodes how Siddhartha moves on from his companionship with Govinda, to his companionship with Kamala. In this passage the woman, representing Kamala, also symbolizes all of Siddhartha’s desire, it was this desire for worldly pleasures which caused Siddhartha to spiral into his depression. The line describing desire as “intoxicating, leaving him senseless”, indicates how Siddhartha’s indulgence in his desires would become toxic for him; clouding his senses from the spiritual, and leaving him with only the material. An owl’s dark call is described in the concluding sentence of this passage, conveying with the ‘wise’ connotations surrounding owls, that the river has brought Siddhartha a great wisdom. Though, the darkness of this call creates an ominous tension; an omen warning of the spiritual downfall he is soon to experience.
“And the youth thought: Sweeter than offering to the gods is offering to the beautiful Kamala” (Hesse 46).
This is a line from the poem Siddhartha composes for Kamala upon speaking to her for the first time. He compares her to a god, saying that serving and offering to her would be better than offering to the gods. This entire arc of the story is about Siddhartha falling from his shramana lifestyle and journey to enlightenment and into a worldly, material-focused life. In a way, he has returned to his previous lifestyle in the brahman caste, and his view of Kamala as a godlike figure strengthens this parallel. As the son of a brahmin, Siddhartha was taught and followed Hinduism, a religion with countless gods they were supposed to worship. In this part of his life, he was very wealthy and surrounded by pleasures and the admiration of his peers. This is what begins the story; he was dissatisfied with that way of life, and decided to leave. The same thing happens later in the book, and his history repeats itself. Kamala is like the gods he worshipped in the beginning of his life. Her introduction had her being carried by servants, and the narrative gave her an ethereal feel. Siddhartha was affected by her immediately, shifting his path to follow her and showing she has a significant power over him, at least in the beginning. Many religions and mythologies have goddesses of love, sexuality, and fertility; Kamala would likely be one of these goddesses. She also says Siddhartha must bring her gifts and offerings in order to win her favor, a common ritual of worship. It is his infatuation with Kamala that leads him back to wealth and dissatisfaction, giving the message that worshipping gods or idols only diverts one from true enlightenment, at least to Siddhartha. Siddhartha’s life repeating itself also symbolizes the cycle of rebirth one must escape from through enlightenment, which is part of why it is so important to the story and his journey. Kamala is both a negative and positive influence on Siddhartha, and her status as a god to him is both for this reason.
“In fact the wheel was still turning, but slowly and haltingly, and was close to stopping. Slowly, as when moisture forces its way into a dying tree trunk, gradually filling it and causing it to rot, worldliness and lethargy were pushing into Siddhartha’s soul, slowly filling it, making it heavy and tired, reducing it to torpor. On the other hand, his senses had come alive and were learning and experiencing a great deal” (Hesse 60). In the chapter, “Samsara”, Siddhartha has been living in the material world for a vast amount of time and starts to become corrupted by it. His values of a shramana slowly start to disappear and become replaced with ideals of money, power, and disdain towards others. After first entering this new world of pleasures, Siddhartha originally still has the heart of a shramana. When working with Kamaswami, the value of money wasn’t important to him and because of this he was never stressed out. After living for a long period of time in this town, Siddhartha gradually starts to change. His old perspective on life as a shramana had transformed into a materialistic person’s outlook on life. The values of Kamaswami and other townspeople that Siddhartha once found foolish had now become his own. Hesse uses a simile to compare Siddhartha’s values to a dying tree. The moisture that contaminates this tree is similar to this world of pleasures and its effects on Siddhartha. The moisture ends up ruining the tree and rotting it, similar to Siddhartha’s new lifestyle on his old beliefs. Hesse uses this simile so the reader can really picture and understand how this town is negatively impacting Siddhartha’s once pure, shramana lifestyle. The slow destruction of this new place on Siddhartha is well represented through the comparison of the moisture’s rotting affects on a tree. Also, at the end of the quote it states, “On the other hand, his senses had come alive” (Hesse 60). This shows that there was some positivity in Siddhartha’s change. He was learning and growing as a person. Siddhartha was experiencing new things in life that were making him happy and alive. There is both a mixture of good and bad points to this new Siddhartha, but the bad aspects of Siddhartha seem to outweigh the good. Siddhartha’s new experiences, although causing him great pleasure were also becoming his downfall in the long run. His new lifestyle was only causing him joy for a brief moment rather than long term happiness and peace.
Although upon first reading, this passage seems to describe an odd dream that Siddhartha has as he starts this new leg of his journey, Hesse cleverly gives the reader some foreshadowing through various symbols in the passage. To begin, Siddhartha sees Govinda in his dream as a monk in yellow robes and hugs him. The yellow robe is symbolic of the happiness he will achieve later on when he meets Govinda again, an event that is shown through Siddhartha’s action of embracing his friend. Next, we find Govinda transforms into a woman, a obviously sign of the introduction Kamala, who will be debuted later on in the chapter and will heavily change the course of Siddhartha’s life. Siddhartha’s drink the milk of the woman’s breast and describes it as “[tasting] of woman and man”. I believe this to be foreshadowing of the knowledge he will gain from the courtesan Kamala, and the businessman, Kamasami. He continues on to describe the flavor of the milk as tasting of, “sun and forest, of animal, and flower, of every pleasure.” This sort encompassing world appreciation and all around contentment are traits that are commonly thought to follow in conjunction with enlightenment.
“Can you protect your son from samsara? How could you? Through teaching, through prayer, through warnings? My dear friend, have you completely forgotten the instructive story of the brahmin's son Siddhartha that you once told me on this very spot? Who saved the shramana Siddhartha from samsara, from sin, from greed, from foolishness? Were his father’s piety, his teacher’s warnings, his own knowledge, or his seeking mind able to save him? What father or teacher could have shielded him from living life himself, from soiling himself with life, from blaming himself, from drinking the bitter potion himself, from finding his way on his own? Do you, my friend, believe that perhaps someone could be spared having to tread this path?” (Hesse, 94). In this passage, which is from the chapter, “The Son”, Hesse uses epimone (repetition of a phrase that is usually in the form of a question) to stress that Siddhartha is lost in his love towards his son. In this chapter, Siddhartha attempts to get his son, who is use to being spoiled, to accept the life in the hut by being kind and patient. However, this contradicts Siddhartha’s own belief, in which he forces his views on his son. Realizing this, Vasudeva attempts to point this out through asking numerous questions, such as, “My dear friend, have you completely forgotten the instructive story of the brahmin's son Siddhartha that you once told me on this very spot? Who saved the shramana Siddhartha from samsara, from sin, from greed, from foolishness?” (Hesse, 94). Notice that these series of questions recounts the story of Siddharth and his beliefs. From the progression of the story, it is revealed that Siddhartha believes not in the teachings of others but of his own experience. This is because learning from others will not provide the experience of the teachers and therefore believes that people should follow his own path and experience things himself to truly learn. However, Siddhartha’s act of making his son stay at the hut completely violates this belief. If he truly believes in following one’s own path, Siddhartha would let his son return to the city, where he can go back to his life in pleasure. But because Siddhartha loves his son, he cannot help but attempt to prevent his son from going through the same experiences he had undergone. Through the use of epimone, Hesse illustrates Siddhartha's blindness caused by his love for his son.
“Siddhartha was profoundly frightened. So this was the state he was in: he was so lost, so forlorn, so forsaken by all wisdom that he had sought death, that his wish, this childish wish had grown in him, to find peace by snuffing out his body! What all the recent torturing, all sobering, all despairing has failed to do was effected by the moment when the om pierced his consciousness: he recognized himself in his misery and his vagary” (Hesse 79). Siddhartha faces death, gets ever so close, teeters on the brink. Siddhartha has reached an all time low in his life, he has become the very thing he has for so long scorned, a “child person.” His curiosity got the better of him, he wondered about what love was, what the child people were really like, and he was captured by Kamala and her society. But then Siddhartha is shocked out of this dangerous situation by the om. This is ironic considering he remembers it because of the Hindu prayers he has rejected. Hesse uses interesting juxtaposition by referring to the thought of suicide as a childish impulse, suicide is a serious matter, not an act of an unknowing child, and yet… it fits. Siddhartha was childish in this thought because he didn’t want to take responsibility and deal with his actions so jumping into the river and ending this life seemed the only way out. Hesse describes some of Siddhartha’s thought processes with Metaphors: “this childish wish had grown in him” and “the om pierced his consciousness” referring to Siddhartha’s mindset changing overtime and the om suddenly and unexpectedly entering Siddhartha’s mind. Siddhartha now realizes all is not lost for him, and now has a new perspective of the world because of the experience where he lost himself. Siddhartha now gets a chance to begin anew with the world, to be reborn. With this near-death, near lost experience, Siddhartha has rediscovered the om and is one step closer to enlightenment.
“As a child I learned that wealth and worldly pleasure are not good. I knew it for a long time, but I experienced it only now. And now I know it, know it not only with my memory, but also with my eyes, with my heart, with my stomach. Good for me that I know it!” (Hesse 87). In this passage Siddhartha has just finished his life in the village, and he is reflecting back on his many years spent there. In the village where Kamala and Kamaswami resided, he took in the powers of wealth and possessions, and he lived the life that he had criticised many times before. He lived like what he called a “child”, but he was really just feeling what the average person did at that time, gambling, lusting for women and power, and striving for wealth. He strongly resented himself for getting caught up in the lifestyle at first, but now he is realizing the importance of what he experienced. When I read this passage it immediately reminded me of my class in Theory of Knowledge, where we are learning about philosophers and their ideas on how we know what we do. His thinking connects very closely to John Locke’s, as he states here in this quote the importance of experience when it comes to knowledge. When he was a youth, he was always being taught that wealth and temptations are bad, and of course he trusted them with that information, and took their word for it, but he was never able to deeply comprehend what his elders were telling him, because he hasn’t experienced it himself, he’s never seen the evil of those temptations with his own eyes. Now that he has, he is able to see the true value of this knowledge he has, which is part of John Locke’s whole philosophy. John Locke believed that we as humans are molded by our surroundings and experiences, and we start at birth completely blank, and we learn things from the experiences we have with our lives. All true knowledge is derived from our experiences, being taught is not enough to truly grasp all this information with your whole being. That is the same realization that Siddhartha has come to so many times throughout this book, when he decides to ditch all of his teachings, it seems very clear to me that Siddhartha could have written based off of John Locke’s philosophy.
"'But now from remote regions of his soul, from past times of his worn out life, a sound came flashing. It was a word, a syllable, which he lulled unthinkingly to himself, the old initial word and final word of all Brahmin prayers, the sacred "om," which virtually means "the perfect" or "the completion." And the instant the on touched Siddhartha's ears, his slumbering spirit suddenly awoke and it recognized the folly of his action. (Hesse pg. 78-79) In this passage, Hesse uses personification and auditory imagery to signify the importance of the awakening of Siddhartha. The definition of the word om really helped show the importance that was part of his heritage, and this ultimately is what saved him from suicide and depression. The appearance of om comes into question, because where did the om come from within? How was his soul able to speak om to him? Auditory imagery can be seen when "a sound came flashing," because a sound cannot physically flash. It also helped signify the importance of the sound, because flashing is associated with a reminder or recurring memory, as is also prevalent in warnings. This was Siddhartha's wake up call, which soon gave a response. The fact that the sound was flashing is also symbolic in how a Brahmin repeats the word om countless times in his life; flashing here represents a reoccurrence. The sound flashing helps bring back a memory strong enough to awaken Siddhartha from his drunkenness of depression and greed. The definition of om is the perfect, or completion, and both are perfect examples of how this helped Siddhartha. The perfect om symbolizes the importance of om and its origin, which is the essence of his being, and therefore makes his being perfect or close to it. The completion shows how close Siddhartha is to achieving enlightenment. Because of this awakening, he can start anew like a child and carry on his path, now ever the more wiser. The personification in this passage also illustrates how this awakening affected Siddhartha. Giving om the human like quality of touching Siddhartha's ears appears similar to a caress, a gentle yet powerful reminder of his past. It also shows how the om has come outside of his body to touch his ear, signifying that the om and spirituality envelops him. His slumbering spirit is also another personification. This is important because his spirit is a metaphor for Siddhartha, and this shows how he himself has awoken from his period of greed and ego. The "s" sound repetition in this part is a form tone as well. The "s" sound affects the reader in a way in which one becomes sleepy or tired, similar to the spirit itself. Yet the abrupt transition from the s sounds to the rest of the sentence also becomes a rude awakening and an abrupt end to drowsiness; also similar to Siddhartha's spirit.
“[Kamala] had wanted to see the face of one who had achieved perfection, to breathe in his peacefulness. She thought that instead of him she had now found Siddhartha and that this was good, just as good as if she had seen Gotama” (Hesse 89).
This passage describes Kamala’s thoughts as she is on her deathbed, after a snake bit her. This section of the book serves as a major indication of many recurring themes and plot points. Kamala and Siddhartha’s lives are alike in many ways, and had bonded over their lack of love for other people and detachment from the world. Kamala becoming one of the Buddha’s followers is the final indication of this; she has left her life to seek enlightenment, much like Siddhartha had. She also parallels Govinda. She took his place as Siddhartha’s only companion before they parted ways, and then decided to follow the same path Govinda chose. This specific paragraph is meant to show just how far Siddhartha has come on his journey to enlightenment. Kamala compares him to the Buddha and says he is just as good, just as perfect and peaceful. However, Siddhartha has not yet reached the pinnacle of his self-discovery yet. Kamala is one of the people who knows him best, and is likely seeing the progress and further potential that Siddhartha has not yet discovered about himself. She both measures and predicts where Siddhartha is and will be, and this foreshadows him finally reaching true enlightenment later in the book.
“Now, he thought, as all these most fleeting things have slipped away from me, now again I stand under the sun, as I once did as a child, nothing is mine, I know nothing, I can do nothing, I have learned nothing. How strange this is! Now, no longer young, my hair already half gray, my powers failing, now I begin again at the beginning as a child! Again he had to smile. Yes, his fate was odd. Things went downhill for him, and again he stood naked in the world, vacant and slow. But he felt no regret over it, in fact, he felt a great impulse to laugh, to laugh at himself, to laugh at this strange, foolish world.” (Hesse, page 75). Hesse here uses anaphora to emphasize the concept of Siddhartha starting over anew with this next chapter of his life. Siddhartha states how “nothing is mine, I know nothing, I can do nothing, I have learned nothing”, as a reflection of how after all of his lessons in various teachings of the Brahmin and the Shramana, and all that he has learned, such as how to fast, stay patient, the ability to think clearly, has all been lost to him after becoming absorbed in a life of wealth and temporary pleasures. Siddhartha is proclaiming how he now is as a child again, a blank slate that must absorb knowledge and wisdom from now forward, because in his downward spiral with the child people, Siddhartha has lost all of this progress. Though he recognizes the period of his life as a merchant was “downhill”, Siddhartha finds joy in that he is beginning again to relearn and remaster what he’s lost, and feels no regret because it has all been a process he needed in order to grow. Life, to Siddhartha, seems to have no definite order, as seen from how though he’s growing old, he’s become an empty child once more. This passage is significant to the novel in how it marks a great turning point in Siddhartha’s existence, where he accepts and recognizes that he is imperfect, can move backwards instead of forwards, but is still able to start over and continue. Siddhartha’s downfall as a merchant taught him that this one decline will not be the end of his world, that he is still capable of improvement. The line where Hesse describes Siddhartha as “naked in the world, vacant and slow”, can be interpreted as Siddhartha’s vulnerability after losing all abilities he once took pride in, and becoming no better than the people he once thought to be lesser. Siddhartha can now only improve, creating a main idea that no matter how far one strays, or how long it takes them, progression is always possible.
‘“But as it is, I am only a ferryman, and my task is to take people across this river. I have taken many across, thousands, and for all of them my river has been nothing, but an obstacle on their journey. They were traveling for money and business, to weddings, on pilgrimages, and the river was in their way. The ferryman was there to take them quickly past the obstacle. For a few among the thousands—very few, four or five of them—the river stopped being an obstacle”’ (Hesse 83) In the second chapter, “The Ferryman”, Siddhartha feels as though he has been reborn again. He has just left his previous life of possessions, riches, and pleasures after realizing none of those things brought him happiness. His experience in the material world was not what he expected and he didn’t receive the contentment he had hoped for. Siddhartha ends up back at the river that originally brought him to the big city. After much deliberation over his past choices Siddhartha goes to the ferryman and asks to become his apprentice. The ferryman brings people to their destinations using the river, but is truly a guide for many people on their own path of enlightenment. He helps people, like Siddhartha and guides them to bliss. Previously in an earlier chapter when Siddhartha first encountered the river and the ferryman, the ferryman predicted Siddhartha would return, ‘“For sure. I have learned that from the river too—everything comes back again. You, too, shramana, will come back”’(Hesse 40). Hesse used the ferryman to foreshadow Siddhartha’s return from his miserable life in the city. When Vasudeva states that he “learned that from the river” it was also foreshadowing about the rivers future teachings to Siddhartha. Siddhartha would learn the real power behind the river when looked at more closely. Hesse uses a ferryman --a literal guide—to be a symbol for internal guidance. The ferryman helps people get to where they want to be, both figuratively and literally. He is the guide for travelers’ journeys and helps set them on their own paths of enlightenment. When Vasudeva, the ferrymen states the different reasons travelers want to cross the river, all of these reasons are subjects that are believed to bring joy to humans. Money, work, and weddings are a few things that radiant the idea of pure joy. Many people become caught up by these possessions and pleasures even though they won’t seek true happiness from these objects. The ferryman states that for a couple people “the river stopped being an obstacle” (Hesse 83). Not all people become infatuated with the wealth of the world. The people who no longer saw the river as an obstacle found enlightenment as well as peace with themselves. They listened to the river and found out the wisdom and peace it brought people. The river represents life and teaches joy. Most travelers were overlooking true happiness and instead searching for material objects that they believed were the key to enlightenment. The people who saw the river as more than an obstacle saw past the illumination of the material items, Siddhartha is one of the many who at first saw the river as an obstacle to his happiness, but later saw the truth behind the river. Siddhartha was able to start achieving enlightenment after Vasudeva helped guide him by first allowing him to learn about the material world. This experience showed Siddhartha what he really wanted verse what he thought he was looking for.
** SICK DAY MAKEUP ** “All this had always existed, and he had never seen it, he had never been present. Now he was there, he belonged to it. Light and shadow ran through his eyes, star and moon ran through his heart” (Hesse 44). In this passage, from the beginning of the chapter “Kamala”, Siddhartha has recently left Govinda, who has decided to follow the Buddha. Siddhartha is set on becoming enlightened through his own self experiential learning, so he continues without Govinda by his side to achieve this. Just beginning his journey, it occurs to Siddhartha that in all of his past, he has not been living in the present which leaves him now with a thirst to appreciate the beauty and passion in front of him. This new sense of presence can be seen as a foreshadow of Siddhartha’s upcoming overly materialistic stage. Siddhartha believes that he used to see all of life’s beauty through a deceptive veil, but now he is acknowledging visibility and not just reality, which is beyond the world of sight. At the start of his travels, Siddhartha sees a woman, and with a little eye contact and a few words, she gestures for him to come over. Siddhartha meets her and they exchange a kiss. This is an example of Siddhartha’s new mindset of feeling pleasure and presence in the things right in front of him. As a Semana, Siddhartha would have never succumb to these feelings, in fact, they weren’t ever on his list of motivations. He continues on his journey until one day he meets Kamala, who is being carried on a sedan by servants in a fenced off beautiful grove. Kamala is the essence of a materialistic lifestyle, and in a way, Hesse uses her character to show Siddhartha another life lesson. Siddhartha falls in love with her and yearns to be with her so much that he devotes his life to becoming a wealthy man so that she will accept him. Throughout his journey of working as a merchant and gaining money and love, it is all being done under Siddhartha’s new perspective of living in the present moment and experiencing the beauty in front of him, which seems to be Kamala. Siddhartha is taking this outlook to an extreme, and becomes a servant to the materialistic world. Just years ago, Siddhartha was living with nothing as a Semana, and now he has everything, yet both stages tell a story of two extremes, in which Siddhartha is lost and has yet to wake up and continue his journey to self experiential enlightenment.
“That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future.” (Hesse 87) This passage is very intriguing as we learn about the metaphorical power and permeating presence of the river by the Vasudeva’s hut. The paragraph discusses, through examples, of the omnipresence of the river, showing how the river is more metaphorical than literal. Hesse chose water as the symbol for Siddhartha’s awakening because of the ideas we typically associated with water. Water is a universal symbol for life, as all living things require it, and rebirth, as water is used a cleanser. Hesse specifically chose a river instead of any other collection of water, because it has several unique properties. First, it only flows downstream, which is a metaphor for the passage of time on moving forward, as seen in, “...the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future.” (Hesse 87) Next, unlike an ocean, river water is relatively calm and peaceful and has gentle swells. Why would a lake not work to serve Hesse’s purpose here? Is a lake not more peaceful than a river? It may be, but a lake lacks the activity that a river has, thus making the river a better option for the representation of Siddhartha’s spiritual awakening and the challenges he encountered on the way. Another interesting design of the river was its dimensions making it crossable only through a ferry. This gives the reader an impression that the passengers of the ferry are crossing over, while the true destination is the water beneath them, considering at both the ferryman and Siddhartha found enlightenment at this location. Lastly, the contributions of a river to the water cycle is a trait that Hesse uses to speak of the river as an panoramic force that exists, “everywhere at the same time.” (Hesse 87) The river not only feeds off the snowfall of the snow from the mountains, but flows into the ocean, where the cycle can start over again.
Yes indeed! I agree that the river was in fact the ideal image for Hesse to use, but does it really represent time passing? Even the quote differs from this belief: “only the present exists for [the river], and not the shadow of the future” (Hesse 94). This is the very quote that you used (from a different translation) and I believe that it is saying the lake shows that there is not time. Siddhartha asks Vasudeva: “Did the river,’ he once asked, ‘also teach you this secret: that time does not exist” (Hesse 94). Vasudeva confirms this. I liked how you pointed out that the water in the river goes through a cycle. The fact that the river also represents the cycle of rebirth and the world as a whole has not occurred to me. Water and the river are definitely representative of many important themes in Siddhartha.
“With a twisted face he stared into the water, saw his face reflected, and he spit at it. In deep fatigue, he loosened his arm from the tree trunk and turned slightly in order to plunge in a sheer drop, to go under at last. Closing his eyes, he leaned toward death” (Hesse 78). At this point in the story, Siddhartha has realized how unforgiving the materialistic world is and the only way to succeed and be liked is through wealth. After meeting Kamala’s wealth standards. he has the chance to see her whenever he pleases. But after years of this, Siddhartha begins to hurt inside of unhappiness and wonders how a man like him could get so off track for such a long period of time. Siddhartha leaves Kamala and his job as a merchant and disappears after having a dream that Kamala’s songbird dies. Ironically, when Kamala is notified about his disappearance, she goes to the songbird’s cage and opens the door. She sets the songbird free from being locked in her house. Hesse uses this as a clever metaphor to show that the songbird represents Siddhartha. Siddhartha has a dream this he (songbird) is dying from this constant materialistic game, and cannot not take it anymore so he disappears right around the time Kamala sets him (the songbird) free. Siddhartha travels to find his senses, and ends up under a coconut tree by the river. He feels so deeply distraught and ashamed by his choices during these years with Kamala that his only immediate answer is to drown himself in the river. Hesse seems to portray a pattern in this novel in which Siddhartha is never satisfied with himself and where he is spiritually. He continues to try new extremes of living, but ends up in the same spiritual loop, where he only seems to be getting himself into a deeper hole. When Siddhartha wants to drown himself in the river, it shows an all new low in acceptance for himself. But the fact that he is having these thoughts near the river means more. Hesse uses this river as a symbol of life. The river is where he wants to end his life, but after having the mystical word “om” come to him, Siddhartha realizes here, at the river, that this is where he wants to begin his life again. With this word, “om”, which also means “the perfect”, he comes to terms that he had to sink down to an all new low of suicidal thoughts in order to feel for a better direction he wants to go instead. Siddhartha comes to another conclusion that throughout his whole life he has been trying to let go of his ego, but in fact he was building it up even more by always being the prideful and clever one who would strive to find enlightenment by himself. It was all apart of a cycle to go through these extreme stages so that he could suffer like this and desperately figure out what was really happening. And so, Siddhartha again comes out with a new mindset, ready start a fresh chapter in his journey to enlightenment.
“Siddhartha listened. He was now all listener, completely one with listening, completely empty, completely receptive. He felt now that he had completed his learning of how to listen. He had often heard all these things before, these many voices in the river, but today he heard it in a new way. No he no longer distinguished the many voices the happy from the grieving, the childlike from the manly. They were all part of each other --- longing laments, the laughter of the wise, cries of anger, and the moans of the dying--- all were one, all were interwoven and linked, intertwined in a thousand ways. And everything together, all the voices, all the goals, all the striving, all the suffering, all the pleasure--- everything together was the river of what is, the music of life. And when Siddhartha listened attentively to the thousandfold song of the river, when he did not fasten on the suffering or the laughing, when he did not attach his mind to any one voice and become involved in it with his ego --- when he listened to all of them, the whole, when he perceived the unity, then the great song of a thousand voices formed one single word: OM, perfection” (Hesse, 105). This passage takes place in the chapter, “OM”. In this chapter, Siddhartha meditates near the riverbank and hears many different voices from the river. However, this time Siddartha focuses not only on one particular voice but on all voices present in the river. Doing so led him to hear the word “OM”, which completed the goal Siddhartha had had since the beginning of his journey: attaining enlightenment. In this passage, symbolism is used to determine the point in which Siddhartha was enlightened. This is shown in the narration, “And when Siddhartha listened attentively to the thousandfold song of the river,... the great song of a thousand voices formed one single word: OM, perfection” (Hesse, 105). This quote tells the readers that after Siddhartha has meditated near the river, he heard the word, “OM”. Siddartha heard “OM” a number of times throughout the story, but what’s significant is that he hears the word when he goes through a change. This indicates that the word “OM” represents the changes that Siddhartha undergoes throughout the story. Siddhartha has also heard the word “OM” in this passage, and this symbol indicates that he has again went through a change. Since Siddhartha had gone close to attaining enlightenment through the previous changes he has undergone, the change Siddhartha goes through in this passage would have to be attaining enlightenment. Thus, the use of symbolism helped convey to the readers that Siddhartha hearing the word, “OM” marked his reach of enlightenment. Symbolism in this passage also illustrates how Siddhartha reached enlightenment. This is evident when it written, “No he no longer distinguished the many voices the happy from the grieving, the childlike from the manly. They were all part of each other... all were one, all were interwoven and linked, intertwined in a thousand ways. And everything together, all the voices, all the goals, all the striving, all the suffering, all the pleasure--- everything together was the river” (Hesse, 105). In this quote, Siddhartha recognizes that all the voices in the river are “linked” and says that these unified voices are the river itself. This indicates that the river symbolizes unity. In addition, the passage indicates that after Siddhartha recognizes the unity in the river, he hears the word, “OM”. With the fact that “OM” is referring to attaining enlightenment, the readers will be able to understand that Siddhartha had attained enlightenment just before recognizing unity. Thus, Hesse’s use of symbolism conveyed to the readers that Siddhartha had attained enlightenment through recognition of unity.
I agree with your statement and I also noticed the symbolism you discussed of OM representing change. The symbolism of OM was also used in the chapter “By the River” after Siddhartha has left the materialistic world. Just as Siddhartha is ready to end his life, reminisce of the word OM awakens Siddhartha. His self loathing mindset is gone and he decides to make a change in his life, “The moment the sound of OM reached Siddhartha’s ear, suddenly his slumbering mind awakened, and he recognized the foolishness of his actions” (Hesse 70). The symbolism of OM is used quite frequently throughout the book during crucial moments. I liked how you mentioned that this symbolism of OM was used when Siddhartha reached enlightenment after understanding unity through the river. I definitely agreed and thought OM was a very significant symbol.
“At that moment Siddhartha stopped fighting with destiny, stopped suffering. On his face the serenity of knowledge blossomed, knowledge that no will can resist, that knows perfection, that agrees with the flow of events, with the river of life, full of compassion, full of shared pleasure, devoted to the flowing, belonging to the oneness” (Hesse 119). This passage is essentially the pinnacle to the book, all that we’ve read, every decision Siddhartha’s made, every thought and experience he’s had, they were all in hopes of reaching this one moment, of reaching bliss. The entire purpose of Siddhartha’s life and the book, was for him to reach this moment, and, sitting by the river next to the old ferryman Vasudeva, he has achieved it. Hesse uses the classic syntax that she has been using almost the entire book, with very long and flowing sentences with multiple commas to split up ideas, but keeping everything into one big thought. The reader is being barraged with all these different emotions, and it puts emphasis on the moment, and the image of Siddhartha being lifted from all his misery sticks in the reader’s mind. Reading the passage brought an overwhelming feeling of happiness and pleasure to me, not only from the satisfaction of Siddhartha finally reaching his goal, but also because I felt the moment from within. We’ve all had moments like this, of course not on this scale, but I could feel his happiness, I could feel his suffering float away. In the book Hesse speaks often about the motif of knowledge, and its importance in everyone’s lives. Knowledge was all the Siddhartha seeked in his youth, and now knowledge is what pushes him into his blissful state. Hesse states that “the serenity of knowledge blossomed”, meaning that he has finally come to his peaceful, calm, blissful state once he has attained the knowledge given to his by the river. After listening closely to what the river was speaking to him, Siddhartha was finally hearing everything it had to say, learning all he needed to know about life and the world to end his suffering. When it comes down to it, nothing in this world with get you closer to enlightenment than knowledge.
I agree with your statement of how this is a pinnacle moment and passage in Siddhartha's life. He has finally achieved enlightenment, and we are filled with emotions that are very raw, and coincide nicely with what he is actually feeling; this way we gain empathy. I like how you mentioned that we are barraged with different emotions, because this shows the reader that once you accomplish something you've spent so long trying to achieve, there is not only one emotion you feel. There can be happiness of course, but there can also be sadness and frustration. Siddhartha not only had to leave his family behind (by choice) but he also lost his mad family, his son and Kamala. These significant importances were also super important in Siddhartha's quest for peace, and even though these might seem more like stressors, Hesse allows the reader to connect with Siddhartha on an emotional level.
"'He understood them, he understood and shared their lives, which were led not by thoughts and insights, but solely by drives and wishes. And he felt like them. Although he was close to perfection, and enduring his final wound, he saw these child people as his brothers. Their greed. Their vanity, their silliness had lost their silliness for him, became understandable, became lovable, became even venerable for him. A mother's blind love for her child, a conceited father's blond and stupid love for his only little son...'" (Hesse pg. 113) In this passage Hesse uses repetition and metaphors to show Siddhartha's relationship to the rest of human kind. There is the metaphor he shared their lives, and this shows symbolically how he has gained sympathy for these people. He technically does not share their lives per say, but he does begin to understand how others act and how that is acceptable. The repetition of their is to show the group of humans themselves and how their love influenced Siddhartha's. There is also the characterization of child people that suggests the innocence and maturity level of humans. Although Siddhartha is not apart of this group, he feels love for him. As a reader, I was able to interpret his feelings as more mentor to student or leader to follower; these people represent Govinda. Lastly, Hesse uses metaphors to describe his love for humans, despite all their flaws. A mother's blind love shows how he loves humans so much that he subconsciously looks past all their fatal flaws. A father's conceited and stupid love suggests that he sees the potential of humans becoming as great as him. He has the hope for humanity, but for now, he is able to accept their point in life, and use it to reach his final stage of nirvana.
I agree with it being necessary for him to reach nirvana. In the end of the book, he realizes he has to love all people and things equally, which he did not in the beginning; back then, he looked down upon them and tried to detach himself. This passage is the culmination of this character development, a vital step in his journey. he likely wouldn't have reached it if he hadn't experienced all of these things, which makes his low point among the rich and selfish such a necessary part of the story. You also point out how these people represent Govinda. He was always friends with Govinda, and therefore always loved people like this. It was always within him even when he hated them, which ties into his explanation of everything being everything else at once, of someone's potential, both good and bad, always lying within them.
“Brahma in each of their passions, each of their deeds. Lovable and admirable were these people in their blind devotion, their blind strength and tenacity. They lacked nothing, the knower and thinker had nothing over them but a single trifle, a single tiny little thing: the consciousness, the conscious thought of the oneness of all life. And at times, Siddhartha even doubted whether this knowing, this thinking were so valuable, whether they were not childish things of the thought people, the thought-child-people. In all other respects, the worldings were the equals of the sage, were often far superior, just as at times, animals, in their tenacious, unswerving, necessary actions, may seem superior to human beings” (Hesse 114). This is an interesting turn for Siddhartha’s thinking, to admire the child-people. Before his experience among the child-people he scorned them, hated them. I believe that this is a positive change in Siddhartha’s mindset, for to be enlightened one must love everything. Indeed this is another reason Siddhartha had to go through that experience, for he needed to understand and relate to everyone to fully understand everything. The child-people seem to be perfect in their own way, because the seem to be content when they really have nothing. They can find happiness in fleeting pleasures, since this is their self they have found. It is almost like they are in a quest of their own, to find a sort of child-enlightenment. Since it seems this way Siddhartha doubts just how childish they really are. Perhaps Siddhartha is the one who is the child? Hesse uses a simile for comparison between how the child-people are like sages just like how animals often seems superior to humans. The fact of the matter, however, is that Siddhartha thinks of what he calls the thought-people as foolish because he is thinking of all the people he has seen before that are so-called sages, like the samanas in the woods. People who can think are not necessarily perfect-ones. Siddhartha at this time is still a fake-sage, he must go even beyond thought-people, to become enlightened. Siddhartha still has to realize that the child-people are most certainly not truly wise. Overcoming this illusion will bring him that much closer to enlightenment. Still, this revelation of Siddhartha’s ideas will be invaluable to his quest.
Your analysis is really interesting. It made me think about the chapter, “By the River”, because the chapter also describes Siddartha being a child person. In this chapter, Siddhartha realizes that he has lost his ability to think, wait, and fast in exchange of attaining pleasure and wealth. This exchange has transformed Siddartha from a thinker to a child person. Despite all of this, Siddartha in this chapter says that his “journey was good” (Hesse, 75). Again, I though that your passage ties back to the passage in this chapter, because in both passages he does not grieve about his connection to the child people. Instead, he believes that experiencing the sense of pleasure that he has thought of as foolish was necessary to fully understand and accept the child people and everyone else, which is the crucial factor in attaining enlightenment.
I think you bring up a great point. I definitely agree that Siddhartha gains a newfound understanding and respect for the child-people, but I think that he holds the people of the world attracted to material wealth to be much higher in his respect tham you dicussed. For instance, he talks about how the "one small, one tiny little thing" that seperates the sages and the travellers he encountered, as, "the consciousness of the unity of all life." (Hesse 106) The fact that Hesse describes the difference as being so small, shows that Siddharthas certainly does have more respect for the sages, but not so much that he would consider the everyday people "unwise".
“This Siddhartha is a strange man, the ideas he expresses are strange, his teaching is so much foolishness...But Siddhartha’s hands and feet, his eyes, his forehead, his breathing, his smile, his greeting, and his gait strike me entirely differently than his ideas” (Hesse 114).
In the final chapter of the book, Govinda returns and asks Siddhartha to share his wisdom to assist in Govinda’s path to enlightenment. However, he does not understand the teachings, saying it all sounds foolish. This passage, which narrates Govinda’s thoughts, proves what Siddhartha was saying; words and ideas conveying wisdom are always foolish, even when coming from a wise man’s mouth. Siddhartha’s words to him seem to make no sense and only seem ridiculous. However, he acknowledges that the wisdom Siddhartha holds itself is valuable and that Siddhartha has reached enlightenment with it. Govinda is understanding Siddhartha’s point without even realizing it, which says a lot about his character. He never truly understood his friend, which was shown when Siddhartha decided to leave him for his own path and Govinda kept asking why he was doing it. He doesn’t even understand that he is experiencing exactly what Siddhartha told him. This confusion and lack of understanding on his part gives off the impression that he is still much like a child even at this old age, or a sheep that needs to be guided. Siddhartha led him for a long period of time in the beginning, and is continuing to do so at the end. Govinda needs him in order to finally reach enlightenment, which is how the book concludes, despite never truly understanding these concepts for himself.
“Slowly it blossomed, and slowly too it ripened in Siddhartha, the knowledge, the knowing that was actually wisdom, concerning the goal of his long seeking. It was nothing but a readiness of the soul, a capability, a secret art, to think the thought of unity at every moment in life, to be able to feel and inhale unity. Slowly this unfolded within him, streamed back at him from Vasudeva’s aged childlike face: harmony, knowledge of the eternal perfection of the world, the smile, unity.” (Hesse, page 102). This passage takes place in Siddhartha’s realization that he has finally found the enlightenment he had been yearning for his whole life. The repetition Hesse used of the word “slowly”, to describe how Siddhartha’s knowledge “slowly…blossomed, and slowly too…ripened…Slowly this unfolded within him”, was used in order to convey a tone that knowledge and wisdom are acquired in a gradual process of life experiences and self-growth. The long struggle for knowledge to blossom is seen clearly in Siddhartha’s “long seeking”, and how his knowledge accumulated over time from experiences with the Brahmin, the Shramana, the Buddha, the child people, and the river, and from these finally discovered unity and overall inner peace. This passage through the line “…a readiness of the soul, a capability, a secret art, to think the thought of unity at every moment in life, to be able to feel and inhale unity” portrays how Siddhartha has overcome his hubris characteristics; his superiority complex over the child people, and now realizes that all people who make up a community are born equally, and all have value. Siddhartha now no longer feels separated from society as he did in the beginning of the novel, where all he felt was disgust for non-Shramana, but at this point feels connected to all people he encounters as a ferryman, and engages with them with more understanding and acceptance. Siddhartha has found that knowledge lies in having a sense of unity with your community, with other people, and came to this realization through his meditation over the river. Hesse hints towards the river being the source of Siddhartha’s enlightenment in this passage, through using river connotations in the phrase describing knowledge to have “streamed back at him”. Siddhartha overall discovered the importance of unity and achieved enlightenment through meditating over the river, due to how running rivers are prime examples of “harmony” and “eternal perfection”. They are continuous, never-ending streams, always leading into other sources of water; the current never ceasing, uniting all by quenching all thirsts; never discriminating as Siddhartha once had.
“But words I can not love. That is why teachings are nothing for me. They have no hardness, no softness, no colors, no edges, no odor, no taste. They have nothing but words. Perhaps that is what prevents you from finding contentment—perhaps it is all in the words” (Hesse 112) In this passage of the chapter “Govinda”, Govinda and Siddhartha’s paths cross for possibly the last time. Through their encounter Govinda asks for some wisdom for Siddhartha and one aspect Siddhartha is trying to explain to Govinda is experience. For Siddhartha, he would’ve never have been able to obtain contentment had he not gone on his journey. All of his experiences from being a shramana to his life with Kalama and the teachings of the ferryman all helped him to achieve his happiness. He had to experience each different situation to obtain his feelings of bliss. Siddhartha would have never learned about true happiness if he had stayed or followed the teachings of any of the guides. Teachings don’t have an effect on him; he needs to experience in order to learn. In the passage he states, “They have no hardness, no softness, no colors, no edges…” (Hesse 112) there isn’t a way to fully understand a teaching when you haven't gone through the experience yourself. How are you supposed to truly understand an idea or concept if you are not aware and cannot connect to its meaning? There’s a vast difference between knowing and learning about an idea verse experiencing it firsthand. Also, Hesse’s use of anaphora in this passage of “no” helps to extenuate Siddhartha’s point. The repetition of no shows Siddhartha’s that beliefs are clear and firm. This artistic effect of repetition helps to emphasize Siddhartha’s idea, that you need experiences to understand the lessons taught by others. In the end of the passage Siddhartha tells Govinda, “perhaps it is all in the words” (Hesse 112). Govinda, living his life through the idealistic of a follower lived the complete opposite life in relation to Siddhartha’s. Throughout Govinda’s whole life he has only learned from the teachings of others; the shramanas and the Buddha. Govinda has never journeyed by himself or had his own experiences, only listening and hearing of the experience of others. It is clear that Govinda, although following great teachers, has still not found his own path of enlightenment and Siddhartha suggests that this reason is due to his lack of experience. Through Siddhartha’s life he’s gone through some hardships and his life has been very dynamic, but without his many problems Siddhartha would’ve never reached enlightenment.
I agree with the points you brought up in your post. I think that Govinda has been a follower for all of his life and now struggles to understand Siddhartha's meaning in that enlightenment must be attained through personal experience, and not through a blind following of others. Even on the last pages of the novel, Govinda is practically begging Siddhartha as he says, "Tell me one word, my esteemed friend, tell me something that I can conceive, something I can understand!" Although he was respected by the other monks for his progress and age, he still seems to be hold out it metaphorical alms bowl and begging Siddartha for some of his wisdom. It is only after Siddhartha communicated to him the secrets of river, that he understands Siddhartha's meaning that teachings will not lead you on the path to enlightenment and an end to the cycles of rebirth.
“He could no longer distinguish the different voices —the merry voice from the weeping voice, the childish voice from the manly voice. They all belonged to each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the wise, the cry of indignation and the groan of the dying. They were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand ways. And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world.” (Hesse 110) As Siddhartha reaches the end of the story, we see him experience some transformative character development.The cumulative events of this novel had led to this moment, the moment where Siddhartha finds enlightenment. Although he has heard the voices many people in the river, and seen the faces of those close to him in life, like his father, Kamala, and his son, it is not until this passage does he realize the river is the sum of all the voices in the world. Through his inability to differentiate the voices, he recognizes the interconnectivity and oneness of the world, which he describes as, “all of them together was the world.” (Hesse 110) This is a pivotal moment in the book because Siddhartha’s goals and emotions seemed to line up perfectly, as when Siddhartha hears the “Om” (Hesse 111), his anguish over the loss of his son begins to disappear. Through this passage, we see Siddhartha’s grow tremendously as a character as he leaves behind his pain, sorrow, and desire. The transition is so obvious that Vasudeva himself realized Siddhartha had finally the solution to problem immediately after this epiphany.This is obviously the climax of the book as most of Siddhartha's problems are solved when he finally finds enlightenment.
“Do you not force him, the arrogant and pampered boy…? You must take him to his mother’s house. Some servants must still be there...” (Hesse 105). In this passage, Kamala has just recently died after being bitten by a venomous snake during a pilgrimage to see the ill Buddha with her son. Coincidentally, she is bitten right before they reach the river, so Vasudeva is able to hear the son’s agonizing scream and comes to rescue them. Hesse uses irony to show a mirror relationship between Kamala’s son, Siddhartha and her own self. Previously, Kamala was a very materialistic and needy woman. She was always catered to and would take nothing but the best. Because this is all she was taught, Kamala raised her son luxuriously. Meanwhile, while to two were making their way on their pilgrimage, Siddhartha, the son, has to stop many times because he feels as if he can not go on. This lack of motivation to continue from the son stems from the fact that he is used to being catered, rather than feeling a slight sense of tiredness from hard work. When the two stop to take a rest because Siddhartha is “exhausted”, Kamala gets bit by the venomous snake and dies. This is ironic because Kamala has in a sense died because of her son’s lack of motivation to continue, which can be traced back to how spoiled he has been raised. This connects back to Kamala’s relationship with Siddhartha. Siddhartha was told by Kamala that the only way he had a chance with her was to become wealthy and hold a better appearance to fit her luxurious lifestyle. Siddhartha then has to sacrifice his whole lifestyle for the love of Kamala. Similarly, Kamala ends up having to sacrifice her whole life for her son because he is exactly the same way as she was back then, spoiled and used to a life of luxury. Kamala in a sense received karma for what she put Siddhartha through, a major sacrifice, but this time it was her life.
“’He killed his senses, he killed his memory, he slipped from his ego into a thousand different formations. He was animal, was carcass, was rock, was wood, was water, and he always found himself again upon awakening. Sun was shining or moon, he was self again, swinging in the cycle, felt thirst, overcame thirst, felt new thirst.’” (Hesse, pg. 15)
ReplyDeleteAs a whole, this passage clearly represents the first two chapters, and how Siddhartha’s quest to be content still struggles on. From this passage, Hesse used metaphors and personification to describe his human emotions, as well as other parts of him that contribute to his ego. For example, the first line, “he killed his senses, he killed his memory, he slipped from his ego,” hint at Siddhartha trying to physically escape from his senses; pain from hunger, pain from burns, escape from his memory; of at home and being content, of believing he would become enlightened, and slipping from his ego; no longer wanting to experience human emotions that could hold him back from Nirvana. Here, sense, memory and ego all are metaphorically beings that he wants to rid of. He believes it to be easy, similar to running away from someone, but the reality is that these things are internal, and not so easy to get rid of. Second, Hesse uses long, run-on sentences to emphasis the mood or tone. Here, Siddhartha’s list offs of constantly returning to dissatisfaction in turn give the reader a sense of frustration. The listing itself frustrates the reader as they continue to read past one after another, and this mood is similar to the feeling Siddhartha has. Besides visual imagery in the context of nature (being able to picture the water or rock or sun) there is a natural tone in this passage. By placing words such as wood, water, rock, and moon, the reader is able to mentally transport to a similar setting as where Siddhartha is; this causes the reader to form empathy with Siddhartha. Lastly, Hesse uses thirst as a metaphor for desire to achieve peace. For Siddhartha, it is a constant cycle of him feeling temporarily enlightened, but then the desire comes back and ego is again within him.
I really like your thoughts on how there is a natural tone presented specifically through this quote. It makes a lot of sense to me that Hesse would use such words in his metaphors when talking about the achievement of enlightenment, which seems to be gained through nature. I believe that Hesse also wrote this not only to show Siddhartha’s yearn to get away from his ego, but also to show Siddhartha’s attempt to actually become the animals or the rocks, almost like he is apart of everything natural. Maybe it is to show that once one becomes enlightened there is no difference from them and their surroundings. Yet Siddhartha always seems to come back to his normal self, but he gets to experience a few glimpses of what enlightenment may be like even though the path with the Semanas is not what will lead him to full enlightenment.
DeleteAnother example from the text that would also support your analysis is “He learned to walk these and other paths, thousands of times he abandoned his I, for hours and days he abided in the not-I. But wheresoever the paths might lead away from the I, their end always leads back to the I. If Siddhartha fled the I a thousand times… his return was unavoidable… and again experienced the torment of the obligatory cycle” (page 15). I think this because, as you portrayed Siddhartha’s frustration at not being able to escape his human emotions and attain eternal enlightenment, this passage portrays the same. Here Hesse describes Siddhartha’s inability to stay separated from his focus on himself and his human emotions, which becomes a theme of constant struggle throughout the novel for Siddhartha, as he makes his way to find eternal enlightenment and be at peace. This struggle having inevitable ups and downs as he nearly reaches enlightenment, such as when following the shramana, but then falls from enlightenment.
Delete“And in the final hour of the night, before the day began, he returned, stepped into the room, and saw a youth standing there, and he looked big and foreign. ‘Siddhartha,’ he said, ‘what are you waiting for?’ ‘You know what.’ ‘Will you keep standing and waiting until the day becomes noon, becomes evening?’ ‘I will stand and wait.’ ‘You will grow tired, Siddhartha.’ ‘I will grow tired.’ ‘You will fall asleep, Siddhartha.’ ‘I will not fall asleep.’ ‘You will die Siddhartha.’ ‘I will die.’ ‘And would you rather die than obey your father?’ ‘Siddhartha has always obeyed his father.’ ‘Then you will give up your plan?’ ‘Siddhartha will do what his father will say.’ The first gleam of day entered the room. The Brahmin saw that Siddhartha’s knees were quivering slightly. He saw no quivering in his face, Siddhartha’s eyes gazed far away. Now the father realized that Siddhartha was no longer with him and in his homeland, that he had already left him” (Hesse 10-11).
ReplyDeleteThis is an excerpt from the first chapter of Siddhartha towards the end where Siddhartha defies his father. Siddhartha wishes to leave his home and go live a life with the samanas in the woods. Siddhartha’s approach to his father’s refusal is simply to stand in one place. He wears his father down with steadfast determination. All Siddhartha does over the course of the night is stand. This passage stirs a feeling of sadness in me, I am dismayed that Siddhartha’s father has to go through this. He describes Siddhartha as “a youth standing there, and he looked big and foreign.” He does not want his son, which up until now he has thought of as great, to leave him! I have some disdain for what Siddhartha is doing here. In the next section Siddhartha and his father talk back and forth. “I will stand and wait.”, “You will grow tired, Siddhartha.”, “I will grow tired.” Siddhartha manipulates his father, impressing upon him that he will not stop standing there until he is allowed to leave. Siddhartha says he will die and apparently would rather exhaust himself to the point of death than stay where he is. What malevolence he thrusts upon his own father! Siddhartha is so bored with his life in his family that he has no regard for the opinions or emotions of his own family. So when Siddhartha’s father sees “Siddhartha was no longer with him and in his homeland, that he had already left him” he gives in to Siddhartha’s demands and releases him. However, this does come back to haunt Siddhartha at the end of the book. Siddhartha’s own son abandons him like Siddhartha did to his father. This irony burns in Siddhartha’s heart for a long time until he can come to terms with it. True compassion and meaning in life is slow in coming to Siddhartha, as is demonstrated by this passage. In order to truly find life’s meanings one has to come to terms with one’s family, home, and origins. Family defines who you are, and by embracing this an individual can truly understand who they are and what the purpose of the personal journey into this world is.
Really good points! I'm curious about the idea of malevolence! I totally see the stubborn attitude he has, but do you really think it's malevolence? Good to bring this up!
DeleteMs. Ballard
Well, perhaps I did go a little overboard by stating Siddhartha’s intentions as being malevolent. But then again, at this time Siddhartha is quite selfish, and although he won’t exactly disobey his father outright, he still goes against his father’s wishes. Siddhartha even manages to rationalize this action: “Siddhartha will do what his father will say” (Hesse 10). By doing this Siddhartha gets his way while technically not going against his father’s word. Siddhartha intentionally makes his father suffer! “And he came again from hour to hour, silent, peered into the room, saw the unmoved slander, filled his heart with anger, filled his heart with apprehension, filled his heart with fear, filled it with sorrow” (Hesse 10). Siddhartha’s dad is going through some pretty heavy emotional trauma! Oh, I just want to slap Siddhartha upside the head! What a rotten son! Malevolence or not, however, the real reason I use such strong words is because of how bad I feel for Siddhartha’s dad. I remember when I first read this part I felt really bad for him, and when there was the call back to it near the end of the book I thought two things: “Yes! Justice served! Take that Siddhartha!” and “Aww… I forgot all about his poor dad. He never got to see his beloved son again.”
Delete“His eyes became hard as iron when he encountered women. His lip curled with contempt when he walked through a town among well-dressed people. He saw merchants bargaining...and none of it was worthy of his glance. It was all a lie it all stank, it was all putrid with lies. Everything pretended to meaning and happiness and beauty, but it was all only putrescence and decay. The taste of the world was bitter. Life was pain” (Hesse 11-12).
ReplyDeleteThis passage at the beginning of chapter two describes Siddhartha’s views of the world since becoming a shramana. The passage uses very strong language, eliciting a feeling of disgust and anger in the readers. These are Siddhartha’s ideas after only a month of asceticism, and they are already this extreme. This does seem to fit with Siddhartha’s stubbornness and eagerness to leave the life he had been living. However, another one of Siddhartha’s important character traits is his skepticism and how he questions many aspects of life. It is implied that these negative views of society are shared among the shramanas; if so, Siddhartha was very quick to conform despite his independence. This passage comes across as so harsh and determined that it loops back around to giving off a feeling of uncertainty, as if Siddhartha is trying to convince himself. This would explain the extreme wording, and the writing style reminds one of a mantra people would repeat to convince and reassure themselves; Siddhartha would repeat this to himself until he started believing it, which would fit in with his stubborn and determined nature. Later in the book, he gives into temptations such as the ones listed, the ones he expresses hatred in. If he truly believed this, it would be much harder for him to do so even though he left the shramanas. Repeating this mantra and convincing himself only caused him to suppress his worldly needs and desires, making it that much easier for him to give in later in his life. Therefore, this sets up this downfall into temptation, which he later expresses was a necessary part of his spiritual journey of self-discovery and in turn, crucial to the entire story.
We both think that Siddhartha used especially harsh language towards the "child people" to maintain his disapproval and prove that his thinking aligned with the ways of the shramana. However, I also think that Siddhartha had a superiority complex above more materialistic, modern people that was incredibly pretentious. I believe Hesse portrayed Siddhartha to be this way purposefully, to allow his character room to grow throughout the novel and learn that he is not any better than non-Hindus. This growth is portrayed through his journey to enlightenment where he becomes as one of the child-people, and struggles with this materialism. Through his own mistakes, he discovered that all in life must make their own mistakes and learn from them to grow into better people, as he must allow his son to do, instead of Siddhartha keeping him caged in his own way of life, as he once thought the child-people should live as shramanas.
DeleteThat's a very good point, I agree once I think about it. Especially since a lot of Siddhartha's journey is about him letting go of pleasures, cravings, and other worldly aspects, which is what Buddhism teaches. It starts out simple, with him giving up food and water, then later his best friend. However, attitudes such as this superiority complex definitely seem like something that could hold someone back from achieving enlightenment. This is supported by another quote from page 12, "To die away from himself, no longer to be 'I,' to find the peace of an empty heart, to be open to wonder within an egoless mind--that was his goal." Superiority complexes and other similar ways of seeing the world are most definitely part of this "ego" he aims to escape from. He displays hypocrisy here or at least something similar because of these thoughts, which is another issue by itself that he must move past. This extra obstacle makes his journey more meaningful as well as more interesting to read, since it's one that is not as obvious as what he sacrificed when joining the samanas and shows how difficult such journeys are; it is not as simple as giving up your wants and needs, but also some of your own thoughts.
Delete“‘What I have learned up to now from the Shramanas, O Govinda, I could have learned faster and more simply. I could have learned it, my friend, in any tavern in the whore’s quarter, from the teamsters and dice players’... ‘What is meditative absorption? What is leaving the body? What is fasting? What is holding the breath? These are a flight from the ego, a brief escape from the torment of being an ego, a short-term deadening of the pain and absurdity of life’” (Hesse, 14).
ReplyDeleteThis passage is from the chapter “With the Shramanas”, where Herman Hesse conveys Siddhartha's views towards the Shramanas’ practices. This is exemplified in the opening, where it is written, “What I have learned up to now from the Shramanas, ... I could have learned faster and more simply. I could have learned it, my friend, in any tavern in the whore’s quarter, from the teamsters and dice player” (Hesse, 14). Here, the tone clearly expresses Siddhartha dissatisfaction with the Shramanas. In this quote, Siddhartha makes a somewhat insulting remark, stating that what he learned from the Shramanas can also be taught at a tavern. Siddhartha’s mocking tone treats the long-held practices of the Shramanas the same as that of those who drink alcohol, indicating that he believes he has attained little from the wandering monks. In addition, the inclusion of the words “faster” and “more simply” further illustrates Siddhartha’s dismay. As said in the quote above, Siddhartha states that what he learned from the Samanas can be taught “faster” and “more simply” by being a drunkard. Note that Siddhartha seeks to attain enlightenment, and drinking will do almost nothing to help him in achieving that goal. With that fact in mind, Siddhartha stating such a fact clearly conveys that he believes he cannot attain his goal by reaming with the Shramanas. Through not only tone but also by the addition of convincing dictions, Hesse conveys to the readers that Siddhartha's outlook on the Shramanas practices were dissatisfying.
This view of Siddhartha explained in this passage also marks the start of an allegory, in which Siddhartha is used to illustrate the life of Siddhartha Gautama, who is known as the founder of Buddhism. In this chapter, Siddhartha attempts to reach enlightenment by practicing self-denial with the Shramanas. However, he soon realizes that practices such as “meditative absorption”, “leaving the body”, and “fasting” will not help him attain enlightenment, because doing so will only provide a “a brief escape from the torment of being an ego, a short-term deadening of the pain and absurdity of life” (Hesse, 14). Siddhartha Gautama went through almost the exact same process. When he left on a journey for enlightenment, he attempted to do so through acts of self-denial. However, he too realized that this method would not lead him to enlightenment and stopped. Through this passage, Hesse reveals to the readers that Siddhartha is an allegory of the life of the Buddha named Siddhartha Gautama.
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ReplyDelete“His glance became icy when he encountered women; his lips curled with contempt when he passed through a town of well dressed people. He saw businessmen trading, princes going on the hunt, mourners weeping over their dead, prostitutes offering themselves, doctors attending the sick, priests deciding the day for sowing, lovers making love, mothers soothing their children— and all were not worth a passing glance, everything lied, stank of lies; they were all illusions of sense, happiness and beauty. All were doomed to decay. The world tasted bitter. Life was pain.” (Hesse 10-11)
ReplyDeleteThis passage takes place after Siddhartha’s transition into the Samanas, and gives the reader some insight not only as to how he is faring in his new environment, but what his true “nature” is when put to the test. In the previous chapter, he decides to leave his village, a place where he is adored and canonized his neighbors and elders, in order to seek out knowledge on how to reach enlightenment. However as, we can see in the passage above, he adopts a rather cynical disposition towards the people the Samanas wander past in their journeys. This attitude is expected considering the fact that he has been fasting and living an abstemious lifestyle with these nomads. However his thoughts towards these ordinary people reveal that Siddhartha was not worthy of the blandishment that he received from the people of his village. Their admiration was almost deceptive in convincing the reader that he was beyond mortal, which Hesse used to show that Siddhartha too is only human, and faces similar struggles in maintaining a positive outlook. As the chapter continue, we learn that he suffers health issues from his humble lifestyle, but works with the Samanas to learn how to overcome these earthly desires and meditate. However, even as he “ascends his physical self, he cannot seem to reach the state of nirvana that he desires. In a conversation with Govinda, he explains how he believes that his time with the Samanas, was not as beneficial as he hoped. He claimed that, “What I have learned so far from the Samanas, I could have learned more quickly and easily in every inn in a prostitute’s quarter,” which is an obvious sign of his growing doubtfulness into the methods and practices of the Samanas.
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ReplyDeleteIn the second chapter of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha is dissatisfied with the lifestyle of the Shramanas. Siddhartha isn’t content with his new way of life because he believes he has reentered the cycle of existence, “Siddhartha smiled and said: ‘I do not know. I have never been a drinker. But that through my practice of austerities and meditative absorptions I find only a transitory numbness and remain just as far from wisdom, and liberation as when I was a babe in my mother’s womb, this I do know, Govinda, this I know.’”(Hesse, 15). Through this passage Hesse's shows the reader Siddhartha's feelings of frustration towards the practice of the Shramanas. Siddhartha is displeased with his life as a Shramana, he is convinced that he isn’t obtaining any skills nor is he becoming wiser or closer to freedom with himself. Siddhartha’s life as a Shramana isn’t exciting because he repeatedly works on the same practices. The Shramanas have taught Siddhartha the feeling of numbness and self- abnegation, the practice of meditative absorption. Through these practices Siddhartha starts to become stagnate. He stops changing and growing as a person because he is no longer being challenged. The young Siddhartha feels confusion and he starts to question his practice, he loses his passion for the Shramana lifestyle and feels as though he is trapped in an endless cycle. Hermann Hesse uses a simile to help convey Siddhartha’s negative attitude towards the Shramanas. Siddhartha states, he “remains just as far from wisdom and liberation as when I was a babe in my mother’s womb,”(Hesse, 15). Hesse uses this simile in this passage to help exaggerate and show Siddhartha’s frustration due to his lack of growth. Siddhartha starts to consider leaving the Shramanas and searching for a new path. At the end of this passage Hesse also includes repetition when Siddhartha says, “this I do know, Govinda, this I know” (Hesse, 15). The repetition of “this I know” helps emphasize Siddhartha’s point and it also includes a note of finality. His thoughts about the Shramana practice are already made up and final. It shows that he is certain about his beliefs. There is no doubt in his mind.
ReplyDeleteMy thought is similar to your overall idea that Siddhartha is not content living with the Samanas. We share a lot of similar insights that have to do with his need to move on because he feels stuck in a stunt of spiritual growth. In addition, I also believe that living with the Semanas hasn’t only left Siddhartha with a negative outcome, rather, it has helped give Siddhartha a new perspective on life. From living in this environment he has learned many lessons, such as, figuring out that maybe the Semanas are just as lost as he is on the quest to enlightenment. Maybe finding enlightenment is different for everyone and not everyone achieves it in the same way. From this, Siddhartha leaves the Semanas with the experience of a lifetime and the knowledge that voluntary suffering is not right for his personal path. I think that at this time in the novel Siddhartha begins to intuitively figure out that he has to find his own enlightenment and not rely on a set culture or teacher.
Delete“...I have become weary and distrustful of teaching and learning, and that I have little faith in the words that come to us from teachers. But fine, dear friend, I am ready to hear this teaching, though in my heart of hearts I believe we have already tasted the finest fruit of this Teaching.” (Hesse, 21).
ReplyDeleteThis passage takes place in chapter two after Siddhartha and Govinda have been living with the Samanas for almost three years. Siddhartha is able to go through the voluntary suffering of battling hunger, thirst, and materials in attempt to seek enlightenment, but struggles with an internal intuition that this path to enlightenment is not fitting for him. There are multiple times when Siddhartha is able to let go of his ego, but he always ends up coming back to his original self. He feels trapped in a lack of growth because he is living a life of such numbness with the same spiritual routine. After a long time with the Samanas, Siddhartha realizes that this living isn’t for him and it is time to move on. This is a very crucial turning point in the novel because Siddhartha is beginning to question if what he is learning from other teachers, who are humans just like him, will hold any truth for his path to enlightenment. There is an internal realization that maybe all of his teachers are on the same boat as he is; they don’t exactly know the answer to reaching enlightenment, but are also lost in path trying to find it. This is important because Siddhartha begins to discover the essence of finding the self on his own rather than relying on another teacher to guide him to enlightenment. In the quote above Siddhartha says that he “...has already tasted the Fruits of this Teaching.” (Hesse, 21), an image filled metaphor, which directly describes that Siddhartha has gained all the knowledge the Samanas have to offer. He now feels a great calling to move on and continue his path of enlightenment, but now equipped with a new perspective.
“The Buddha went his way, modest and lost in thought. His silent face was neither cheerful nor woeful: he seemed to be smiling inwardly. With a calm, silent, hidden smile not unlike a healthy child’s, the Buddha walked, wearing the cloak and setting his feet down like all his monks, according to precise regulation. But his face and his steps, his silently lowered gaze, his silently hanging arm, and every last finger on his silently hanging hand spoke of peace, spoke of perfection, did not seek, did not imitate, breathed gently in an everlasting calm, in an everlasting light, an inviolable peace” (Hesse 27).
ReplyDeleteThis is Gautama, the Buddha, as he is described when Siddhartha and Govinda see him for the first time. He is obviously quite a noble and incredible individual to observe, as described. The text describes his face as: “neither cheerful nor woeful[.]” This is likely due to the fact that Gautama has been enlightened, he fully understands everything, and has been rid of suffering. Therefore he does not suffer, but isn’t exactly happy as would usually be expected. He is smiling inwardly. I believe that this means that the Buddha understands that earthly pleasure is frivolous, he understands true happiness. It is interesting that Gautama’s hidden smile is described as similar to a child’s. This may be because Gautama has somewhat of an “inner child” and sees the joy and goodness in everything. The way he walks is described as: “setting his feet down like all his monks, according to precise regulation.” This was also touched upon in a preceding passage, but what this shows is how the Buddha is just like any other monk. By extension, Gautama is just like anyone. This is probably shown for two main reasons: the Buddha is quite humble and doesn’t wish to appear better than anyone else, and because anyone can be enlightened and become a Buddha. Hesse uses personification in the statements talking about the pieces of Gautama’s body, and how they are positioned. They are described as speaking and breathing in order to reveal the aura Gautama has around him. The Buddha radiates peace itself.
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ReplyDelete“I will not let Siddhartha slip away! I will no longer start my thinking and my living with Atman and the suffering of the world. I will no longer murder and dismember myself in order to find a secret beyond the rubble. Yoga-Veda will no longer teach me, nor will Atharva-Veda, nor the ascetics, nor any kind of teaching. I will learn from me, from myself, I will be my own pupil: I will get to know myself, the secret that is Siddhartha” (Hesse 36).
ReplyDeleteThis passage marks another huge step taken by Siddhartha in figuring out his plan to enlightenment. He is no closer to finding Nirvana, but he now knows exactly how he will achieve it, not by seeking out teachings, but letting it come to him naturally. He has made a huge decision to abandon all that he used to value, he is leaving home and all his peers to take on the journey by his lonesome. He in that time plans to find himself, get to know himself, teach himself. He has deserted being taught, he saw all the uselessness that comes from it. No man can put into words how to find true bliss, every one that has come upon nirvana has found it by themselves. Now it is Siddhartha’s turn. It is important to note that every major epiphany Siddhartha has come to up to this point in finding enlightenment, he has found himself, no one has taught him these ideas. This only helps support his decision to leave his entire past. The syntax used in the passage is quite similar to the rest of the book, the majority of the sentences are elongated using many commas to break up the sentences, and often repeating the same ideas to give the reader an added sense of important in the words that Siddhartha is speaking. The reader is reading many of the same things twice essentially. Going hand in hand with that idea is the parallel structure that Hesse utilizes effectively in the middle of the passage. Hesse uses using the word “nor” repeatedly when referring to Siddhartha’s old lifestyle that he is abandoning to start his new life. He uses that parallel structure as if he’s going through a list of all the things he’s deserting, and it adds to the level of importance to the life-changing decision Siddhartha has made.
“What is meditation? What is abandonment of the body? What is fasting? What is holding of the breath? It is flight from the ego, it is a brief breakout from the torture of ego, it is a brief numbing of pain and of the senselessness of life. The same flight, the same brief numbing is found by the ox driver at the inn when he drinks a few cups of rice wine or fermented coconut milk. He then no longer feels his self, he then no longer feels the pains of life, he then finds brief numbing. Asleep over his cup of rice wine, he finds what Siddartha and Govinda find when they slip away from their bodies after long exercises and linger in the non self. That is the way it is, O Govinda” (Hesse 16).
ReplyDeleteThis passage, from Among the Samanas, resonated deeply with me when I first read it, it made me think of what hold close and value in my life. This realization that Siddartha comes to is very important for his advancement in enlightenment in the book, he essentially is proving many of the things that he, Govinda, and his father all practiced and held important completely useless to finding Nirvana. The meditation, the fasting, the abandonment of the body, it’s all only temporary. It’s a huge step for him in getting closer to finding true bliss himself. Siddartha is comparing the samanas with to the drunkards at the inn through a very elaborate and wordy metaphor, but with a strong moral in his words. He is being quite critical of not only the ascetic’s whole way of life, but also many other aspects of people’s life as well. I was able to relate this passage to my life too, in the things I do and focus on. Siddartha is comparing the samanas, and even his old life with Govinda, to the ox driver that drinks his wine to escape his reality and his daily life. He finds “brief numbing”, and perhaps even happiness, but only for a short period of time. That is what Siddartha is trying to show to Govinda, and I find it quite important myself that many people understand this same concept. You cannot find true bliss through temporary escapes like drinking and fasting, all those things may seem helpful for the minute you experience it, but it will soon go away. You will be stuck in a never ending cycle and throwing your life away, forgetting about trying to advance your mind and accept the world around you for the way it is. The samanas have accidentally taught Siddartha this lesson, completely different from what they intended him to learn.
okay so this is my post from last time that wouldn't post on my computer so i'm using Ellen's now
ReplyDelete“Govinda knew: this would be no ordinary Brahmin, no idle sacrificial official, no greedy merchant of magic formulae, no vain empty orator, no mean conniving priest, neither would he be a silly simple sheep in the herd of many. No, nor did he, Govinda, want to be one among ten thousand Brahmins. He wanted to follow his beloved, his magnificent Siddhartha” (Hesse page 6). In this passage, Govinda describes Siddhartha and his devotion to and expectations of him. Govinda’s statement here is significant in how he foreshadows the later events in the novel in the life of Siddhartha. Siddhartha follows Govinda’s prophecy in how he shortly after, would in a sense, become “no ordinary Brahmin”, and avoid being “one among ten thousand Brahmins”, by leaving Brahmin-hood for a new teaching, to become a shramana, and then evidently leave Hinduism completely. Though Govinda’s foreshadowing is also ironic of situation. He predicts that Siddhartha will become “no greedy merchant of magic formulae” or “a silly simple sheep in the herd of many”, when eventually Siddhartha becomes just that. After leaving Hinduism and abandoning Buddhism, Siddhartha would come to join the merchant Kamiswami as a business partner, thus turning himself into the greedy merchant that Govinda stated he would never be. He also fulfilled the roll as a “simple sheep in the herd of many” in joining the child people, through living life for money and physical pleasures, instead of for a greater purpose. Kamiswami ultimately became a simple sheep, as Govinda ironically predicted he could never be, through becoming a rich man whose only joy in life came from gambling. Govinda also intended to always follow Siddhartha through life, which is also situational irony in how they departed after their journey as shramanas, when Govinda went off to live under the teachings of Buddha. Though Govinda was right in a way, in how long after they’d departed, Siddhartha and him would meet again for the last time, after Siddhartha has achieved peace from living by the river, while Govinda never found this from Buddha, and in this meeting Siddhartha seems to reveal to Govinda the secret to achieving internal peace, officially making Govinda his follower as predicted.
“He looked around, as if he were seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, the world was particolored, strange and quizzical. Here was blue, here was yellow, here green, the sky flowed and the river, the forest froze with the mountains, everything beautiful, everything full of mystery and magic, and in its midst he, Siddhartha, the awakening one, on the way to himself” (page 34). This passage takes place directly after Siddhartha breaks away from Govinda for him to follow under The Buddha, and for Siddhartha to continue his life without teachings to live by. Siddhartha here discovers he is released from all obligations to follow teachings, and from his constant struggle to conquer the I. Siddhartha is now able to live freely and all the potential that life holds overwhelms him and he expresses this through descriptive imagery of his surroundings, bringing a sense of new beginnings and hope to the reader. This is done through Siddhartha’s exclamations of nature’s beauty and serenity, such as of the flowing skies and river, and surrounding mountains, and the vibrancy of colors he now seems to be seeing all at once, as if for the first time. The “mystery and magic” hints to all he has yet to discover in the world, all he could continue to learn without following one specific path, as Govinda chose, and what he could become through leading his own path. This particular passage effectively sets the tone for Siddhartha’s new beginning in his journey, where he has abandoned religion and teachers and even allows himself to move into modern society with the “child-people”, a notion Siddhartha, who had been clearly disgusted with this lifestyle, would have never considered a few chapters back. This is a critical part in Siddhartha’s journey due to how he moves on from seeking out new teaching to lead to enlightenment, to following a new path where he’s landed in all that is unfamiliar to him, and will allow himself to be submerged in materialistic wants and human emotions. The overall connotations in this passage relate to the beauty and wonders of starting a new journey, and the anticipation which comes with not knowing what lies ahead.
ReplyDelete“The Buddha robbed me, thought Siddhartha, he robbed me, yet he gave me even more. He robbed me of my friend, who believed in me and now believes in him, who was my shadow and is now Gotama’s shadow. But he gave me Siddhartha, he gave me myself” (Hesse 29).
ReplyDeleteThis is the last paragraph of chapter three, in which Siddhartha is reflecting on what occurred after meeting with the Buddha. He states what is clear; Govinda left him for Gotama. However, Siddhartha gained more understanding of himself from this experience, and it helped him greatly in his journey. So far, he has given up every pleasurable aspect of his life in search of enlightenment; he only eats and drinks when absolutely necessary, he does not indulge in playful pastimes and left his family. He saw these sacrifices as necessary parts of his journey; however, he never gave up his best friend. Staying with Govinda likely held him back on his journey, since friendship, as well as other relationships, is considered a pleasure. Siddhartha decided not to follow the Buddha, but his path is still parallel to that of Buddhism. Therefore, all pleasures only tie him down to dissatisfaction and bar him from reaching enlightenment. In the following chapter, he reflects on how, for once, he truly feels alone. This part of the book, and his realization of his loneliness, is a pivotal point for Siddhartha in which he grows as a person and grows even closer to what he wishes to achieve. This passage also refers to Govinda as a “shadow.” This implies Siddhartha saw Govinda as his follower. Siddhartha may have seen having a follower, especially one he was so close to, as another obstacle in his path. A leader holds a responsibility to their followers, and this responsibility gets in the way of Siddhartha’s need for solitude. Despite their close relationship, Siddhartha needed to separate from Govinda in order to progress, and his interactions with the Buddha and Govinda’s change of path helped him do so.
I agree with your discussion of Govinda and Siddhartha's relationship. Govinda and Siddhartha have been on the same path for many years and in a way, even though this might not be true, Govinda looks up to Siddhartha as if he were Govinda's older brother; a role model. In the sense that this is the case, that means that Govinda making up his own mind and following his own path is symbolic of adulthood, and how when you reach adulthood, you achieve the right to make your own decisions. Govinda might not have been aware of this consciously, but he did become a man in that moment. This is later justified when Siddhartha realizes the amount of time that has passed and his own adulthood. Also, Govinda and Siddhartha separating ways was also a symbolic way of each going off for their own good. Govinda needed to go out on his own and live the life he wants to leave. For Siddhartha, it is the chance for him to life his life according to his plans. In a way, this is a selfish relief for Siddhartha, who even though misses his friend, is relieved to not have the pressure of being a saint, and can instead focus on his path.
Delete“’He looked around as if seeing the world for the first time. Beautiful was the world, colorful was the world, bizarre and enigmatic was the world! There was blue, there was yellow, there was green. Sky flowed and river, forest jutted and mountain: everything beautiful, everything enigmatic and magical. And in the midst of it he, Siddhartha, the awakening man, was on the way to himself.’” (Hesse, pg. 37)
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Hesse uses visual imagery in the sense of color and nature to signify Siddhartha’s period of awakening. The use of color, such as yellow, blue and green, symbolize the earth, sun and water, as well as overall nature. Each individual color can represent the happiness in Siddhartha’s life for discovering awakening, blue for peace at having achieved one of his goals, and green for hope that this awakening will continue and that he will, in the end, achieve full enlightenment/Nirvana. By adding in nature, such as sky and river, forest and mountain. The sky and river represent the clarity and flow that comes with nature, as well as life, and it appears that Siddhartha has fully realized this. The forest represents the pride and growth in nature; in many ways the ego of nature. Ego is a large and important part of this story and Siddhartha’s life, as he achieves to not only block out ego, but also join the innermost part of it. Lastly, the mountains represent the challenges that Siddhartha will have to face as he attempts to reach Nirvana; the ego and the desires all come as challenges. When Siddhartha notices that everything is beautiful, the reader is in tune to believe now that Siddhartha is on his way to enlightenment. He now is beginning to see the beauty in everything, and himself. When Hesse says this, as a reader, there is also clarity in that Siddhartha is beginning to realize who he is as a whole, and how this journey will affect him as well.
“The world was beautiful, full of colors, strange and enigmatic... When one is reading a text whose meaning he is seeking, he does not scorn the signs and letters as deceptions, accidents and worthless husks; rather he reads them, he studies them, he loves them, letter by letter. But I was trying to read the book of the world and the book of my own being, and because of my preconceptions I scorned the signs and letters, I called them the deception of the world of appearances” (Hesse, 32).
ReplyDeleteThis narration is from the chapter, “Awakening”. In this chapter, Siddhartha realizes that he is going through a change, in which he believes that nobody can teach him in reaching enlightenment. Thus, he decides to learn solely from his experiences. This self-recognition enabled Siddhartha to alter his view of the world as full of suffering, in which he now sees the world as beautiful.
In this passage, Hesse illustrates that before his awakening, Siddhartha had a blind view towards the world around him. This is exemplified from the diction of beauty and mysteriousness. In the narration, “The world was beautiful, full of colors, strange and enigmatic” (Hesse, 32), Siddhartha’s view of the world is describes as something not accustomed to seeing. This is done from the use of the words “beautiful”, “full of colors”, “strange”, and “enigmatic”, which are descriptions that would not characterize a setting that is viewed normally. However, the world is a setting that is seen everyday. Because Hesse describes the everyday view of the world with diction of extraordinariness, it expresses that, prior to his awakening, Siddhartha had a blind view towards the world. In addition, Siddhartha’s blindness before undergoing his change is further conveyed by an analogy. In the passage, it is written that one who reads a book does not consider it as “worthless husk” but “reads” it “little by little” and “loves them”. He then continues, “But I was trying to read the book of the world and the book of my own being, and because of my preconceptions I scorned the signs and letters, I called them the deception of the world of appearances” (Hesse, 32). In this quote, Siddhartha compares his view of the world to the act of reading a book. When it is written, “I scorned the signs and letters”, Hesse compares the world to the content of a book to convey that Siddhartha was too caught up with his ego to closely observe the world and therefore viewed it as full of sufferings. By using diction that describes something not accustomed to seeing, and by comparing Siddhartha’s view of the world to something familiar, Hesse is able to clearly convey that before his awakening, Siddhartha was blind in terms of his view towards the world.
“Siddhartha continued to stand there motionless, and for the period of a heartbeat and a breath his heart went cold; he felt it go cold in his breast like a small animal—a bird or a rabbit—when he realized how alone he was. For years he had been homeless and not felt it. Now he felt it. Up till now, even in his deepest meditative absorption, he had been his father’s son, a brahmin of high standing, a spiritual person. Now he was only Siddhartha, the awakened one, and nothing else” (Hesse 33). In this passage, from the Awakening, Siddhartha realizes how lonely he has become after deciding to embark on a journey to seek his own path. All of Siddhartha’s life he has been a part of a religion or a practice and for the first time he belongs to neither. At first when Siddhartha decides to go on this self searching journey he is excited. He sees things in a new perspective. Everything is very raw and natural, but for a short period he realizes how alone he is. In the past Siddhartha felt the company of the gods and his fellow worshipers. By no longer following a teaching Siddhartha is forced to be alone. Siddhartha never felt “homeless” in the past because he always had a feeling of belonging due to his previous practices. Also, as a young child he always had a group who practiced the same beliefs. He realizes the pressure he will have to endure from having to rely only on himself, making his own decisions, and following his own morals. Hermann Hesse includes a simile in this passage when he states, “he felt it go cold in his breast like a small animal---a bird or a rabbit—”(Hesse 33). Hesse uses this simile to help convey and allow the reader to understand the panic Siddhartha feels when this realization dawns on him. Comparing his heart beat to one of a small animal allows the reader to imagine a quickened pace and sense of alarm setting in. Although these feelings disappear by the end of the chapter it becomes Siddhartha’s first experience with loneliness. The feeling of loneliness becomes one of the first new experiences Siddhartha has after beginning his journey in finding himself.
ReplyDelete“Slowly the thinker went on his way and asked himself: What is it that you wanted to learn from teachings and teachers, and although they taught you much, what was it they could not teach you? And he thought: It was the Self, the character and nature of which I wished to learn. I wanted to rid myself of the Self, this riddle, that I live, that I am one and am separated and different from everybody else, that I am Siddhartha; and about nothing in the world do I know less than about myself, about Siddhartha.” (Hesse 31)
ReplyDeleteThis passage from Siddhartha is not only effective for revealing more information about the plot, but also giving the reader insight into what will be required of him to achieve the enlightenment he seeks and why his previous efforts have failed. To give proper context to the frame of mind Siddhartha is in when thinking these thoughts, he had just left behind his childhood friend with Gautama. He claims that as he left Govinda, so did he leave behind his old life. He also believes that he has abandoned hope on the thought that teachers could teach him how to find enlightenment and wonders why they cannot. As he wanders away and contemplating, he has a moment of self-realization that what the teachers could not teach was the Self. This moment is so iconic and important to the spiritual journey of our protagonist that the third-person narrator briefly switched to the direct perspective of the thoughts of Siddhartha. This gives the reader additional information on the mindset and reasoning that have gone behind this epiphany. Hesse uses the moment of realization to explain not only what Siddhartha focused goal is, but to explain his mindset behind why the teachings of others seem to have no effect on his path to enlightenment.
“There is only one reason, a single one, why I know nothing about myself, why Siddhartha has remained so foreign to myself, I was fleeing myself! I was seeking Atman, I was seeking Brahma. I was willing to dismember my ego and peel it apart in order to find the core of all peels in its unknown innermost essence; to find Atman, Life, the Divine, the Ultimate. But I myself was lost in the process” (Hesse, 36). In this passage, which takes place in chapter four, Siddhartha has just split from his childhood best friend, Govinda, who decides his path to enlightenment will come by staying back in Gotama to become a follower of the Buddha. Siddhartha, on the other hand, has reached new conclusions about his personal journey. On Siddhartha’s way out of Gotama, he is able to speak with the Buddha, and it is during this time that he culminates the thought that enlightenment has to be found within the self by himself only. This is a pivotal moment in Siddhartha’s journey because his whole life has been spent relying on teachers and teachings to tell him what to do, and now he realizes that he is lacking in self exploration and finding enlightenment on his own. He comes to the conclusion that all these years struggling to find enlightenment through teachers has left him “fleeing from himself” trying to “dismember his ego” which, in turn, led him to feeling more lost, as he was constantly following someone else’s spiritual routine and not his own. Siddhartha is now seeking to personally experience what is relevant for his path to enlightenment because of his new found belief. Siddhartha is not sure what this will bring about for him in the future, but that is the beauty about following himself rather than a practice; it means staying in close contact with himself and following his own intuition. In this passage, there is a mood shift pertaining to Siddhartha’s character from uncertainty to undoubted determination, which lingers throughout the whole fourth chapter. There is a sense of new found self individuality, which it is almost as if Siddhartha is ready to grasp this and run away with a profound excitement for the future.
ReplyDelete“‘This Brahmin,’ he said to a friend, ‘is not a real merchant and will never become one, his soul is never passionate about business. But he has the secret of those people to whom success comes on its own, whether because of a lucky star or because of magic, or because of something he learned from the samanas. He always seems to be only playing at business, it never fully becomes part of him, it never dominates him, he never fears failure, he is never bothered by a loss” (Hesse 60).
ReplyDeleteIn this passage Kamaswami tells his friend the problems he has with Siddhartha. He says Siddhartha will never truly be a real businessman and yet he still somehow succeeds at what he does. Siddhartha is thoroughly confused by what the true role of a businessman is! Siddhartha finds business to be silly and he simply laughs if he messes up. He thinks that to worry and be serious about business is ridiculous, so he treats it like it is a game. The reason Siddhartha is still able to succeed at his game is through the “only things he has learned”: to think, wait and fast. He thinks about everything he does from a perspective different than profit. He talks and openly listens to everyone he encounters in his work. He respects the people he works with and isn’t strict and mean to them. At one point he goes to a village to purchase some rice, but it was already sold when he arrives. Instead of immediately leaving, disgruntled, he stays awhile and makes friends with the people in the village. Through his many kind actions, thinking beyond business, people love him and he finds much business and much success. Siddhartha’s waiting and fasting come in handy when he copes with loss. Loss doesn’t bother him already because it’s all a game to him, but the waiting and fasting give him the ability to endure these times of loss and easily rebound. Siddhartha doesn’t really try at business, he just plays at it, but through his skills he succeeds anyway! Kamaswami thinks Siddhartha is going about it the wrong way but in actuality Kamaswami is the one doing it wrong.
My idea is similar to your idea, in which I also think that Siddhartha's way of dealing with business is correct over Kamaswami’s. For example, when Kamaswami says “he never fears failure” (Hesse, 53), he sees this trait as an indication of Siddhartha’s lack of seriousness towards business. Siddhartha is still successful, but Kamaswami believes that Siddhartha’s way of dealing with business is wrong. However, not fearing failure is not necessarily a bad thing and can at times be beneficial. This trait can indicate Siddhartha's apathetic attitude towards business, but it can also mean that he can act more aggressively without the hesitation caused by the fear for failure. Therefore, although Kamaswami may be right about Siddhartha's indifference towards business, he certainly isn't correct for the fact that Siddhartha's way of handling his work as a merchant is wrong.
Delete“’Listen, Siddhartha has pursued harder goals than such trifles and has attained them. Why should I not attain what I undertook yesterday; to be your friend and to learn the joys of love from you! You will see that I learn easily, Kamala. I have learned harder things than what you are to teach me. And so; Siddhartha is not satisfactory to you as he is, with oil in his hair, but no clothes, no shoes, no money?’” (Hesse, pg. 51)
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Hesse uses selfish and materialistic language to show the priorities of Kamala and Siddhartha. Siddhartha here claims that he has achieved a lot by pursuing harder and almost unattainable challenges, which suggests that he thinks highly of himself. This also contradicts with the ego, and how his main goal was to escape his ego, not become it. In this case, he’s allowing his ego to take control of the situation as a way to impress, but at the same time, tear down Kamala. He also claims that he won’t be challenged with Kamala’s lessons as he has been challenged with worse. However, this is not true, and is a selfish thing to say, because you cannot assume a lesson will be easy, because you have not taken it yet. It also, some might say, might lean towards a sexist comment, as he is degrading her lesson, as he tries to prove his manhood. Him boasting is a clear sign that he has not controlled his ego; and in a way this is foreshadow how staying here will put him behind in his journey for self-enlightenment. In this passage, we also see a social status difference among these two. Kamala, according to previous passages, will not take Siddhartha as her student, not because he is not attractive to her, but because he is not worth. He does not own the things that she desires her students to have; clothes, wealth, shoes, and gifts for her. This shows how spoiled and easy Kamala’s life has been up until this point. She has been bathed with gifts from her students, and in her eyes, Siddhartha is not a worthy contender, because he cannot give her what she wants. This passage reflects the flaws of each character, but in the end, these flaws help bring the two together.
My thoughts when I read that passage were similar to yours, I too think that Siddhartha is still a long ways from ridding himself of his ego, he still thinks very highly of himself and his accomplishments, which is seen clearly in this passage. Another example to support this is when Siddhartha observes the people of the village he is living in, calling them children and looking down upon them, as he assumes these people do not attain the knowledge he does, and they are living for the wrong reasons. I definitely agree with you when you said it could’ve been a sexist thing, as Siddhartha is trying to shoot down her teachings, and put her knowledge far below what he has already learned from men like Gautama and the samanas.
Delete“When she first received news of Siddhartha’s disappearance, she went to the window where she kept a rare songbird in a golden cage. She opened the door of the cage, took the bird out, and let it fly away”(Hesse, 66-67).
ReplyDeleteThis passage is excerpted from the chapter, “Samsara”. In this chapter, Siddhartha gets engulfed by the big city, causing him to become greedy and seek pleasure. Although he at first had an apathetic attitude towards wealth, he became addicted to gambling and bet an enormous sum of money. However, he soon realized that he was being trapped in the world of pleasure and left the city to escape.
In this passage, the combined effect of a maxim and a symbol illustrates the freedom Siddhartha gains from his departure from the city. When it is written, “she went to the window where she kept a rare songbird in a golden cage... and let it fly away” (Hesse, 66-67), it is indicated that the bird was trapped inside a cage until Kamala set it free. This is linked with the maxim, “Flight is freedom” which refers to the act of escaping one's conflict to attain freedom. Through this maxim, it reveals that the problem for the bird is being trapped in a cage, and escaping from the cage and flying is its freedom. In addition, this use of maxim is then connected to Siddartha through the use of symbolism. First, notice that there is a similarity between the acts of Siddhartha escaping the world of pleasure and the bird escaping the cage. Furthermore, from the quote, “When she first received news of Siddhartha’s disappearance” (Hesse, 66-67), it is revealed that Kamala freed the birth right after Siddhartha's departure from the city, meaning that there is a connection between the two occurrences. This connection is symbolism, in which the cage represents the world of pleasure, and the flight of the bird symbolizes Siddhartha's departure. Because the maxim interprets the flight of the bird as its freedom, Siddhartha's escape, which represents the flight, is his freedom. Through the inclusion of the maxim, “Flight is freedom”, and the use of symbolism, Hesse conveys to the readers the freedom Siddartha achieves through his escape from the pleasure of the world.
“If you toss a stone into water, it takes the swiftest way to the bottom. And Siddhartha is like that when he has a goal, makes a resolve. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like the stone through the water, never acting, never stirring. He is drawn, he lets himself drop. His goal draws him, for he lets nothing into his soul that could go against his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned among the samanas” (Hesse 56).
ReplyDeleteIn the second part of Siddhartha, when Siddhartha meets Kamaswami and Kamala in the new village, Hesse introduces a new motif in the book. You will often hear Siddhartha talk about his ability to “think, wait and fast”, when speaking about his traits that he learned from the samanas. He credits his great success in the merchant business to those three things, thinking waiting, and fasting. Siddhartha is able to gain complete control over his mind and body when he thinks, waits, and fasts, and he is able to easily be drawn to his goal, without letting any negative thoughts or feelings overcome him. Hesse represents this idea in the book very effectively with both a metaphor and simile, utilizing detailed imagery and great diction to captivate the reader. Siddhartha connects himself when he is reaching his goals to a stone tossed into the water, as both he and the stone take the “swiftest”, way to the bottom. Siddhartha, using his ability to think, wait, and fast, can cut off the things in this world that may deter him, he is able to solely focus on his goal, and achieve it in the quickest and “swiftest” way possible. This image of the stone and Siddhartha resonated deeply with me, I was able to connect it to my own life, and the importance of neglecting negative influences in your life that hold you back from achieving what it is you want. The detailed imagery in the metaphor painted a clear picture in my mind of the stone and the water, and the metaphor itself was relevant to the point that Siddhartha was trying to get across to Kamala, which helped both her and the reader clearly understand his point of view, and get into his mind.
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ReplyDelete“In the night, as he slept in the straw hut of a ferryman beside the river, Siddhartha had a dream: Govinda stood before him, wearing the yellow robe of the ascetic. Govinda looked sad, sadly he asked: Why have you left me? Then he embraced Govinda, wrapped his arms around him, and while he drew him to his breast and kissed him, it ceased to be Govinda, rather it was a woman, and from the woman’s gown emerged a full breast streaming with milk, at which Siddhartha lay and drank; sweet and strong tasted the milk of this breast. It had the taste of woman and man, sun and forest, beast and blossom, of every fruit, of every desire. Intoxicating, leaving him senseless.-When Siddhartha awakened, the pale river shimmered through the hut’s doorway, and deep in the woods the euphonious dark call of an owl sounded.” (Hesse page 41). This passage’s significance lies in how it begins and ends with the river, from Siddhartha sleeping beside it in the ferryman’s hut, to the river being the first thing he lays eyes on as he wakes. This conveys that the river is what brought Siddhartha his dreams, and foreshadows how the river would help Siddhartha to attain enlightenment in the end of the novel. The visions Siddhartha experiences in this sleep, are Hesse’s way of prophesizing the events to come in Siddhartha’s journey. The lines referring to Govinda, in his yellow robe, and the sadness he feels regarding Siddhartha having left him, indicated what will be Siddhartha and Govinda’s last encounter at the end of the novel, where Govinda has followed the teachings of the Buddha for most of his life, and yet still has not yet reached a state of peace. Govinda here may be despairing over having spent his life without his friend Siddhartha, unable to reach peace without being alongside him. This is until, in the passage, Siddhartha embraces and kisses Govinda, foreshadowing the last moment of the novel where Govinda kisses Siddhartha’s head, and in this embrace is able to reach peace and enlightenment, finally, through the companionship of his long, lost friend. The moment in the dream where Govinda becomes the woman, forebodes how Siddhartha moves on from his companionship with Govinda, to his companionship with Kamala. In this passage the woman, representing Kamala, also symbolizes all of Siddhartha’s desire, it was this desire for worldly pleasures which caused Siddhartha to spiral into his depression. The line describing desire as “intoxicating, leaving him senseless”, indicates how Siddhartha’s indulgence in his desires would become toxic for him; clouding his senses from the spiritual, and leaving him with only the material. An owl’s dark call is described in the concluding sentence of this passage, conveying with the ‘wise’ connotations surrounding owls, that the river has brought Siddhartha a great wisdom. Though, the darkness of this call creates an ominous tension; an omen warning of the spiritual downfall he is soon to experience.
ReplyDelete“And the youth thought: Sweeter than offering to the gods is offering to the beautiful Kamala” (Hesse 46).
ReplyDeleteThis is a line from the poem Siddhartha composes for Kamala upon speaking to her for the first time. He compares her to a god, saying that serving and offering to her would be better than offering to the gods. This entire arc of the story is about Siddhartha falling from his shramana lifestyle and journey to enlightenment and into a worldly, material-focused life. In a way, he has returned to his previous lifestyle in the brahman caste, and his view of Kamala as a godlike figure strengthens this parallel. As the son of a brahmin, Siddhartha was taught and followed Hinduism, a religion with countless gods they were supposed to worship. In this part of his life, he was very wealthy and surrounded by pleasures and the admiration of his peers. This is what begins the story; he was dissatisfied with that way of life, and decided to leave. The same thing happens later in the book, and his history repeats itself. Kamala is like the gods he worshipped in the beginning of his life. Her introduction had her being carried by servants, and the narrative gave her an ethereal feel. Siddhartha was affected by her immediately, shifting his path to follow her and showing she has a significant power over him, at least in the beginning. Many religions and mythologies have goddesses of love, sexuality, and fertility; Kamala would likely be one of these goddesses. She also says Siddhartha must bring her gifts and offerings in order to win her favor, a common ritual of worship. It is his infatuation with Kamala that leads him back to wealth and dissatisfaction, giving the message that worshipping gods or idols only diverts one from true enlightenment, at least to Siddhartha. Siddhartha’s life repeating itself also symbolizes the cycle of rebirth one must escape from through enlightenment, which is part of why it is so important to the story and his journey. Kamala is both a negative and positive influence on Siddhartha, and her status as a god to him is both for this reason.
“In fact the wheel was still turning, but slowly and haltingly, and was close to stopping. Slowly, as when moisture forces its way into a dying tree trunk, gradually filling it and causing it to rot, worldliness and lethargy were pushing into Siddhartha’s soul, slowly filling it, making it heavy and tired, reducing it to torpor. On the other hand, his senses had come alive and were learning and experiencing a great deal” (Hesse 60).
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter, “Samsara”, Siddhartha has been living in the material world for a vast amount of time and starts to become corrupted by it. His values of a shramana slowly start to disappear and become replaced with ideals of money, power, and disdain towards others. After first entering this new world of pleasures, Siddhartha originally still has the heart of a shramana. When working with Kamaswami, the value of money wasn’t important to him and because of this he was never stressed out. After living for a long period of time in this town, Siddhartha gradually starts to change. His old perspective on life as a shramana had transformed into a materialistic person’s outlook on life. The values of Kamaswami and other townspeople that Siddhartha once found foolish had now become his own. Hesse uses a simile to compare Siddhartha’s values to a dying tree. The moisture that contaminates this tree is similar to this world of pleasures and its effects on Siddhartha. The moisture ends up ruining the tree and rotting it, similar to Siddhartha’s new lifestyle on his old beliefs. Hesse uses this simile so the reader can really picture and understand how this town is negatively impacting Siddhartha’s once pure, shramana lifestyle. The slow destruction of this new place on Siddhartha is well represented through the comparison of the moisture’s rotting affects on a tree. Also, at the end of the quote it states, “On the other hand, his senses had come alive” (Hesse 60). This shows that there was some positivity in Siddhartha’s change. He was learning and growing as a person. Siddhartha was experiencing new things in life that were making him happy and alive. There is both a mixture of good and bad points to this new Siddhartha, but the bad aspects of Siddhartha seem to outweigh the good. Siddhartha’s new experiences, although causing him great pleasure were also becoming his downfall in the long run. His new lifestyle was only causing him joy for a brief moment rather than long term happiness and peace.
Although upon first reading, this passage seems to describe an odd dream that Siddhartha has as he starts this new leg of his journey, Hesse cleverly gives the reader some foreshadowing through various symbols in the passage. To begin, Siddhartha sees Govinda in his dream as a monk in yellow robes and hugs him. The yellow robe is symbolic of the happiness he will achieve later on when he meets Govinda again, an event that is shown through Siddhartha’s action of embracing his friend. Next, we find Govinda transforms into a woman, a obviously sign of the introduction Kamala, who will be debuted later on in the chapter and will heavily change the course of Siddhartha’s life. Siddhartha’s drink the milk of the woman’s breast and describes it as “[tasting] of woman and man”. I believe this to be foreshadowing of the knowledge he will gain from the courtesan Kamala, and the businessman, Kamasami. He continues on to describe the flavor of the milk as tasting of, “sun and forest, of animal, and flower, of every pleasure.” This sort encompassing world appreciation and all around contentment are traits that are commonly thought to follow in conjunction with enlightenment.
ReplyDelete“Can you protect your son from samsara? How could you? Through teaching, through prayer, through warnings? My dear friend, have you completely forgotten the instructive story of the brahmin's son Siddhartha that you once told me on this very spot? Who saved the shramana Siddhartha from samsara, from sin, from greed, from foolishness? Were his father’s piety, his teacher’s warnings, his own knowledge, or his seeking mind able to save him? What father or teacher could have shielded him from living life himself, from soiling himself with life, from blaming himself, from drinking the bitter potion himself, from finding his way on his own? Do you, my friend, believe that perhaps someone could be spared having to tread this path?” (Hesse, 94).
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, which is from the chapter, “The Son”, Hesse uses epimone (repetition of a phrase that is usually in the form of a question) to stress that Siddhartha is lost in his love towards his son. In this chapter, Siddhartha attempts to get his son, who is use to being spoiled, to accept the life in the hut by being kind and patient. However, this contradicts Siddhartha’s own belief, in which he forces his views on his son. Realizing this, Vasudeva attempts to point this out through asking numerous questions, such as, “My dear friend, have you completely forgotten the instructive story of the brahmin's son Siddhartha that you once told me on this very spot? Who saved the shramana Siddhartha from samsara, from sin, from greed, from foolishness?” (Hesse, 94). Notice that these series of questions recounts the story of Siddharth and his beliefs. From the progression of the story, it is revealed that Siddhartha believes not in the teachings of others but of his own experience. This is because learning from others will not provide the experience of the teachers and therefore believes that people should follow his own path and experience things himself to truly learn. However, Siddhartha’s act of making his son stay at the hut completely violates this belief. If he truly believes in following one’s own path, Siddhartha would let his son return to the city, where he can go back to his life in pleasure. But because Siddhartha loves his son, he cannot help but attempt to prevent his son from going through the same experiences he had undergone. Through the use of epimone, Hesse illustrates Siddhartha's blindness caused by his love for his son.
“Siddhartha was profoundly frightened. So this was the state he was in: he was so lost, so forlorn, so forsaken by all wisdom that he had sought death, that his wish, this childish wish had grown in him, to find peace by snuffing out his body! What all the recent torturing, all sobering, all despairing has failed to do was effected by the moment when the om pierced his consciousness: he recognized himself in his misery and his vagary” (Hesse 79).
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha faces death, gets ever so close, teeters on the brink. Siddhartha has reached an all time low in his life, he has become the very thing he has for so long scorned, a “child person.” His curiosity got the better of him, he wondered about what love was, what the child people were really like, and he was captured by Kamala and her society. But then Siddhartha is shocked out of this dangerous situation by the om. This is ironic considering he remembers it because of the Hindu prayers he has rejected. Hesse uses interesting juxtaposition by referring to the thought of suicide as a childish impulse, suicide is a serious matter, not an act of an unknowing child, and yet… it fits. Siddhartha was childish in this thought because he didn’t want to take responsibility and deal with his actions so jumping into the river and ending this life seemed the only way out. Hesse describes some of Siddhartha’s thought processes with Metaphors: “this childish wish had grown in him” and “the om pierced his consciousness” referring to Siddhartha’s mindset changing overtime and the om suddenly and unexpectedly entering Siddhartha’s mind. Siddhartha now realizes all is not lost for him, and now has a new perspective of the world because of the experience where he lost himself. Siddhartha now gets a chance to begin anew with the world, to be reborn. With this near-death, near lost experience, Siddhartha has rediscovered the om and is one step closer to enlightenment.
“As a child I learned that wealth and worldly pleasure are not good. I knew it for a long time, but I experienced it only now. And now I know it, know it not only with my memory, but also with my eyes, with my heart, with my stomach. Good for me that I know it!” (Hesse 87).
ReplyDeleteIn this passage Siddhartha has just finished his life in the village, and he is reflecting back on his many years spent there. In the village where Kamala and Kamaswami resided, he took in the powers of wealth and possessions, and he lived the life that he had criticised many times before. He lived like what he called a “child”, but he was really just feeling what the average person did at that time, gambling, lusting for women and power, and striving for wealth. He strongly resented himself for getting caught up in the lifestyle at first, but now he is realizing the importance of what he experienced. When I read this passage it immediately reminded me of my class in Theory of Knowledge, where we are learning about philosophers and their ideas on how we know what we do. His thinking connects very closely to John Locke’s, as he states here in this quote the importance of experience when it comes to knowledge. When he was a youth, he was always being taught that wealth and temptations are bad, and of course he trusted them with that information, and took their word for it, but he was never able to deeply comprehend what his elders were telling him, because he hasn’t experienced it himself, he’s never seen the evil of those temptations with his own eyes. Now that he has, he is able to see the true value of this knowledge he has, which is part of John Locke’s whole philosophy. John Locke believed that we as humans are molded by our surroundings and experiences, and we start at birth completely blank, and we learn things from the experiences we have with our lives. All true knowledge is derived from our experiences, being taught is not enough to truly grasp all this information with your whole being. That is the same realization that Siddhartha has come to so many times throughout this book, when he decides to ditch all of his teachings, it seems very clear to me that Siddhartha could have written based off of John Locke’s philosophy.
"'But now from remote regions of his soul, from past times of his worn out life, a sound came flashing. It was a word, a syllable, which he lulled unthinkingly to himself, the old initial word and final word of all Brahmin prayers, the sacred "om," which virtually means "the perfect" or "the completion." And the instant the on touched Siddhartha's ears, his slumbering spirit suddenly awoke and it recognized the folly of his action. (Hesse pg. 78-79)
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Hesse uses personification and auditory imagery to signify the importance of the awakening of Siddhartha. The definition of the word om really helped show the importance that was part of his heritage, and this ultimately is what saved him from suicide and depression. The appearance of om comes into question, because where did the om come from within? How was his soul able to speak om to him? Auditory imagery can be seen when "a sound came flashing," because a sound cannot physically flash. It also helped signify the importance of the sound, because flashing is associated with a reminder or recurring memory, as is also prevalent in warnings. This was Siddhartha's wake up call, which soon gave a response. The fact that the sound was flashing is also symbolic in how a Brahmin repeats the word om countless times in his life; flashing here represents a reoccurrence. The sound flashing helps bring back a memory strong enough to awaken Siddhartha from his drunkenness of depression and greed. The definition of om is the perfect, or completion, and both are perfect examples of how this helped Siddhartha. The perfect om symbolizes the importance of om and its origin, which is the essence of his being, and therefore makes his being perfect or close to it. The completion shows how close Siddhartha is to achieving enlightenment. Because of this awakening, he can start anew like a child and carry on his path, now ever the more wiser. The personification in this passage also illustrates how this awakening affected Siddhartha. Giving om the human like quality of touching Siddhartha's ears appears similar to a caress, a gentle yet powerful reminder of his past. It also shows how the om has come outside of his body to touch his ear, signifying that the om and spirituality envelops him. His slumbering spirit is also another personification. This is important because his spirit is a metaphor for Siddhartha, and this shows how he himself has awoken from his period of greed and ego. The "s" sound repetition in this part is a form tone as well. The "s" sound affects the reader in a way in which one becomes sleepy or tired, similar to the spirit itself. Yet the abrupt transition from the s sounds to the rest of the sentence also becomes a rude awakening and an abrupt end to drowsiness; also similar to Siddhartha's spirit.
“[Kamala] had wanted to see the face of one who had achieved perfection, to breathe in his peacefulness. She thought that instead of him she had now found Siddhartha and that this was good, just as good as if she had seen Gotama” (Hesse 89).
ReplyDeleteThis passage describes Kamala’s thoughts as she is on her deathbed, after a snake bit her. This section of the book serves as a major indication of many recurring themes and plot points. Kamala and Siddhartha’s lives are alike in many ways, and had bonded over their lack of love for other people and detachment from the world. Kamala becoming one of the Buddha’s followers is the final indication of this; she has left her life to seek enlightenment, much like Siddhartha had. She also parallels Govinda. She took his place as Siddhartha’s only companion before they parted ways, and then decided to follow the same path Govinda chose. This specific paragraph is meant to show just how far Siddhartha has come on his journey to enlightenment. Kamala compares him to the Buddha and says he is just as good, just as perfect and peaceful. However, Siddhartha has not yet reached the pinnacle of his self-discovery yet. Kamala is one of the people who knows him best, and is likely seeing the progress and further potential that Siddhartha has not yet discovered about himself. She both measures and predicts where Siddhartha is and will be, and this foreshadows him finally reaching true enlightenment later in the book.
“Now, he thought, as all these most fleeting things have slipped away from me, now again I stand under the sun, as I once did as a child, nothing is mine, I know nothing, I can do nothing, I have learned nothing. How strange this is! Now, no longer young, my hair already half gray, my powers failing, now I begin again at the beginning as a child! Again he had to smile. Yes, his fate was odd. Things went downhill for him, and again he stood naked in the world, vacant and slow. But he felt no regret over it, in fact, he felt a great impulse to laugh, to laugh at himself, to laugh at this strange, foolish world.” (Hesse, page 75). Hesse here uses anaphora to emphasize the concept of Siddhartha starting over anew with this next chapter of his life. Siddhartha states how “nothing is mine, I know nothing, I can do nothing, I have learned nothing”, as a reflection of how after all of his lessons in various teachings of the Brahmin and the Shramana, and all that he has learned, such as how to fast, stay patient, the ability to think clearly, has all been lost to him after becoming absorbed in a life of wealth and temporary pleasures. Siddhartha is proclaiming how he now is as a child again, a blank slate that must absorb knowledge and wisdom from now forward, because in his downward spiral with the child people, Siddhartha has lost all of this progress. Though he recognizes the period of his life as a merchant was “downhill”, Siddhartha finds joy in that he is beginning again to relearn and remaster what he’s lost, and feels no regret because it has all been a process he needed in order to grow. Life, to Siddhartha, seems to have no definite order, as seen from how though he’s growing old, he’s become an empty child once more. This passage is significant to the novel in how it marks a great turning point in Siddhartha’s existence, where he accepts and recognizes that he is imperfect, can move backwards instead of forwards, but is still able to start over and continue. Siddhartha’s downfall as a merchant taught him that this one decline will not be the end of his world, that he is still capable of improvement. The line where Hesse describes Siddhartha as “naked in the world, vacant and slow”, can be interpreted as Siddhartha’s vulnerability after losing all abilities he once took pride in, and becoming no better than the people he once thought to be lesser. Siddhartha can now only improve, creating a main idea that no matter how far one strays, or how long it takes them, progression is always possible.
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ReplyDelete‘“But as it is, I am only a ferryman, and my task is to take people across this river. I have taken many across, thousands, and for all of them my river has been nothing, but an obstacle on their journey. They were traveling for money and business, to weddings, on pilgrimages, and the river was in their way. The ferryman was there to take them quickly past the obstacle. For a few among the thousands—very few, four or five of them—the river stopped being an obstacle”’ (Hesse 83)
In the second chapter, “The Ferryman”, Siddhartha feels as though he has been reborn again. He has just left his previous life of possessions, riches, and pleasures after realizing none of those things brought him happiness. His experience in the material world was not what he expected and he didn’t receive the contentment he had hoped for. Siddhartha ends up back at the river that originally brought him to the big city. After much deliberation over his past choices Siddhartha goes to the ferryman and asks to become his apprentice. The ferryman brings people to their destinations using the river, but is truly a guide for many people on their own path of enlightenment. He helps people, like Siddhartha and guides them to bliss. Previously in an earlier chapter when Siddhartha first encountered the river and the ferryman, the ferryman predicted Siddhartha would return, ‘“For sure. I have learned that from the river too—everything comes back again. You, too, shramana, will come back”’(Hesse 40). Hesse used the ferryman to foreshadow Siddhartha’s return from his miserable life in the city. When Vasudeva states that he “learned that from the river” it was also foreshadowing about the rivers future teachings to Siddhartha. Siddhartha would learn the real power behind the river when looked at more closely. Hesse uses a ferryman --a literal guide—to be a symbol for internal guidance. The ferryman helps people get to where they want to be, both figuratively and literally. He is the guide for travelers’ journeys and helps set them on their own paths of enlightenment. When Vasudeva, the ferrymen states the different reasons travelers want to cross the river, all of these reasons are subjects that are believed to bring joy to humans. Money, work, and weddings are a few things that radiant the idea of pure joy. Many people become caught up by these possessions and pleasures even though they won’t seek true happiness from these objects. The ferryman states that for a couple people “the river stopped being an obstacle” (Hesse 83). Not all people become infatuated with the wealth of the world. The people who no longer saw the river as an obstacle found enlightenment as well as peace with themselves. They listened to the river and found out the wisdom and peace it brought people. The river represents life and teaches joy. Most travelers were overlooking true happiness and instead searching for material objects that they believed were the key to enlightenment. The people who saw the river as more than an obstacle saw past the illumination of the material items, Siddhartha is one of the many who at first saw the river as an obstacle to his happiness, but later saw the truth behind the river. Siddhartha was able to start achieving enlightenment after Vasudeva helped guide him by first allowing him to learn about the material world. This experience showed Siddhartha what he really wanted verse what he thought he was looking for.
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ReplyDelete“All this had always existed, and he had never seen it, he had never been present. Now he was there, he belonged to it. Light and shadow ran through his eyes, star and moon ran through his heart” (Hesse 44).
In this passage, from the beginning of the chapter “Kamala”, Siddhartha has recently left Govinda, who has decided to follow the Buddha. Siddhartha is set on becoming enlightened through his own self experiential learning, so he continues without Govinda by his side to achieve this. Just beginning his journey, it occurs to Siddhartha that in all of his past, he has not been living in the present which leaves him now with a thirst to appreciate the beauty and passion in front of him. This new sense of presence can be seen as a foreshadow of Siddhartha’s upcoming overly materialistic stage. Siddhartha believes that he used to see all of life’s beauty through a deceptive veil, but now he is acknowledging visibility and not just reality, which is beyond the world of sight. At the start of his travels, Siddhartha sees a woman, and with a little eye contact and a few words, she gestures for him to come over. Siddhartha meets her and they exchange a kiss. This is an example of Siddhartha’s new mindset of feeling pleasure and presence in the things right in front of him. As a Semana, Siddhartha would have never succumb to these feelings, in fact, they weren’t ever on his list of motivations. He continues on his journey until one day he meets Kamala, who is being carried on a sedan by servants in a fenced off beautiful grove. Kamala is the essence of a materialistic lifestyle, and in a way, Hesse uses her character to show Siddhartha another life lesson. Siddhartha falls in love with her and yearns to be with her so much that he devotes his life to becoming a wealthy man so that she will accept him. Throughout his journey of working as a merchant and gaining money and love, it is all being done under Siddhartha’s new perspective of living in the present moment and experiencing the beauty in front of him, which seems to be Kamala. Siddhartha is taking this outlook to an extreme, and becomes a servant to the materialistic world. Just years ago, Siddhartha was living with nothing as a Semana, and now he has everything, yet both stages tell a story of two extremes, in which Siddhartha is lost and has yet to wake up and continue his journey to self experiential enlightenment.
“That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future.” (Hesse 87)
ReplyDeleteThis passage is very intriguing as we learn about the metaphorical power and permeating presence of the river by the Vasudeva’s hut. The paragraph discusses, through examples, of the omnipresence of the river, showing how the river is more metaphorical than literal. Hesse chose water as the symbol for Siddhartha’s awakening because of the ideas we typically associated with water. Water is a universal symbol for life, as all living things require it, and rebirth, as water is used a cleanser. Hesse specifically chose a river instead of any other collection of water, because it has several unique properties. First, it only flows downstream, which is a metaphor for the passage of time on moving forward, as seen in, “...the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future.” (Hesse 87) Next, unlike an ocean, river water is relatively calm and peaceful and has gentle swells. Why would a lake not work to serve Hesse’s purpose here? Is a lake not more peaceful than a river? It may be, but a lake lacks the activity that a river has, thus making the river a better option for the representation of Siddhartha’s spiritual awakening and the challenges he encountered on the way. Another interesting design of the river was its dimensions making it crossable only through a ferry. This gives the reader an impression that the passengers of the ferry are crossing over, while the true destination is the water beneath them, considering at both the ferryman and Siddhartha found enlightenment at this location. Lastly, the contributions of a river to the water cycle is a trait that Hesse uses to speak of the river as an panoramic force that exists, “everywhere at the same time.” (Hesse 87) The river not only feeds off the snowfall of the snow from the mountains, but flows into the ocean, where the cycle can start over again.
Yes indeed! I agree that the river was in fact the ideal image for Hesse to use, but does it really represent time passing? Even the quote differs from this belief: “only the present exists for [the river], and not the shadow of the future” (Hesse 94). This is the very quote that you used (from a different translation) and I believe that it is saying the lake shows that there is not time. Siddhartha asks Vasudeva: “Did the river,’ he once asked, ‘also teach you this secret: that time does not exist” (Hesse 94). Vasudeva confirms this. I liked how you pointed out that the water in the river goes through a cycle. The fact that the river also represents the cycle of rebirth and the world as a whole has not occurred to me. Water and the river are definitely representative of many important themes in Siddhartha.
Delete“With a twisted face he stared into the water, saw his face reflected, and he spit at it. In deep fatigue, he loosened his arm from the tree trunk and turned slightly in order to plunge in a sheer drop, to go under at last. Closing his eyes, he leaned toward death” (Hesse 78).
ReplyDeleteAt this point in the story, Siddhartha has realized how unforgiving the materialistic world is and the only way to succeed and be liked is through wealth. After meeting Kamala’s wealth standards. he has the chance to see her whenever he pleases. But after years of this, Siddhartha begins to hurt inside of unhappiness and wonders how a man like him could get so off track for such a long period of time. Siddhartha leaves Kamala and his job as a merchant and disappears after having a dream that Kamala’s songbird dies. Ironically, when Kamala is notified about his disappearance, she goes to the songbird’s cage and opens the door. She sets the songbird free from being locked in her house. Hesse uses this as a clever metaphor to show that the songbird represents Siddhartha. Siddhartha has a dream this he (songbird) is dying from this constant materialistic game, and cannot not take it anymore so he disappears right around the time Kamala sets him (the songbird) free. Siddhartha travels to find his senses, and ends up under a coconut tree by the river. He feels so deeply distraught and ashamed by his choices during these years with Kamala that his only immediate answer is to drown himself in the river. Hesse seems to portray a pattern in this novel in which Siddhartha is never satisfied with himself and where he is spiritually. He continues to try new extremes of living, but ends up in the same spiritual loop, where he only seems to be getting himself into a deeper hole. When Siddhartha wants to drown himself in the river, it shows an all new low in acceptance for himself. But the fact that he is having these thoughts near the river means more. Hesse uses this river as a symbol of life. The river is where he wants to end his life, but after having the mystical word “om” come to him, Siddhartha realizes here, at the river, that this is where he wants to begin his life again. With this word, “om”, which also means “the perfect”, he comes to terms that he had to sink down to an all new low of suicidal thoughts in order to feel for a better direction he wants to go instead. Siddhartha comes to another conclusion that throughout his whole life he has been trying to let go of his ego, but in fact he was building it up even more by always being the prideful and clever one who would strive to find enlightenment by himself. It was all apart of a cycle to go through these extreme stages so that he could suffer like this and desperately figure out what was really happening. And so, Siddhartha again comes out with a new mindset, ready start a fresh chapter in his journey to enlightenment.
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ReplyDelete“Siddhartha listened. He was now all listener, completely one with listening, completely empty, completely receptive. He felt now that he had completed his learning of how to listen. He had often heard all these things before, these many voices in the river, but today he heard it in a new way. No he no longer distinguished the many voices the happy from the grieving, the childlike from the manly. They were all part of each other --- longing laments, the laughter of the wise, cries of anger, and the moans of the dying--- all were one, all were interwoven and linked, intertwined in a thousand ways. And everything together, all the voices, all the goals, all the striving, all the suffering, all the pleasure--- everything together was the river of what is, the music of life. And when Siddhartha listened attentively to the thousandfold song of the river, when he did not fasten on the suffering or the laughing, when he did not attach his mind to any one voice and become involved in it with his ego --- when he listened to all of them, the whole, when he perceived the unity, then the great song of a thousand voices formed one single word: OM, perfection” (Hesse, 105).
ReplyDeleteThis passage takes place in the chapter, “OM”. In this chapter, Siddhartha meditates near the riverbank and hears many different voices from the river. However, this time Siddartha focuses not only on one particular voice but on all voices present in the river. Doing so led him to hear the word “OM”, which completed the goal Siddhartha had had since the beginning of his journey: attaining enlightenment.
In this passage, symbolism is used to determine the point in which Siddhartha was enlightened. This is shown in the narration, “And when Siddhartha listened attentively to the thousandfold song of the river,... the great song of a thousand voices formed one single word: OM, perfection” (Hesse, 105). This quote tells the readers that after Siddhartha has meditated near the river, he heard the word, “OM”. Siddartha heard “OM” a number of times throughout the story, but what’s significant is that he hears the word when he goes through a change. This indicates that the word “OM” represents the changes that Siddhartha undergoes throughout the story. Siddhartha has also heard the word “OM” in this passage, and this symbol indicates that he has again went through a change. Since Siddhartha had gone close to attaining enlightenment through the previous changes he has undergone, the change Siddhartha goes through in this passage would have to be attaining enlightenment. Thus, the use of symbolism helped convey to the readers that Siddhartha hearing the word, “OM” marked his reach of enlightenment.
Symbolism in this passage also illustrates how Siddhartha reached enlightenment. This is evident when it written, “No he no longer distinguished the many voices the happy from the grieving, the childlike from the manly. They were all part of each other... all were one, all were interwoven and linked, intertwined in a thousand ways. And everything together, all the voices, all the goals, all the striving, all the suffering, all the pleasure--- everything together was the river” (Hesse, 105). In this quote, Siddhartha recognizes that all the voices in the river are “linked” and says that these unified voices are the river itself. This indicates that the river symbolizes unity. In addition, the passage indicates that after Siddhartha recognizes the unity in the river, he hears the word, “OM”. With the fact that “OM” is referring to attaining enlightenment, the readers will be able to understand that Siddhartha had attained enlightenment just before recognizing unity. Thus, Hesse’s use of symbolism conveyed to the readers that Siddhartha had attained enlightenment through recognition of unity.
DeleteI agree with your statement and I also noticed the symbolism you discussed of OM representing change. The symbolism of OM was also used in the chapter “By the River” after Siddhartha has left the materialistic world. Just as Siddhartha is ready to end his life, reminisce of the word OM awakens Siddhartha. His self loathing mindset is gone and he decides to make a change in his life, “The moment the sound of OM reached Siddhartha’s ear, suddenly his slumbering mind awakened, and he recognized the foolishness of his actions” (Hesse 70). The symbolism of OM is used quite frequently throughout the book during crucial moments. I liked how you mentioned that this symbolism of OM was used when Siddhartha reached enlightenment after understanding unity through the river. I definitely agreed and thought OM was a very significant symbol.
“At that moment Siddhartha stopped fighting with destiny, stopped suffering. On his face the serenity of knowledge blossomed, knowledge that no will can resist, that knows perfection, that agrees with the flow of events, with the river of life, full of compassion, full of shared pleasure, devoted to the flowing, belonging to the oneness” (Hesse 119).
ReplyDeleteThis passage is essentially the pinnacle to the book, all that we’ve read, every decision Siddhartha’s made, every thought and experience he’s had, they were all in hopes of reaching this one moment, of reaching bliss. The entire purpose of Siddhartha’s life and the book, was for him to reach this moment, and, sitting by the river next to the old ferryman Vasudeva, he has achieved it. Hesse uses the classic syntax that she has been using almost the entire book, with very long and flowing sentences with multiple commas to split up ideas, but keeping everything into one big thought. The reader is being barraged with all these different emotions, and it puts emphasis on the moment, and the image of Siddhartha being lifted from all his misery sticks in the reader’s mind. Reading the passage brought an overwhelming feeling of happiness and pleasure to me, not only from the satisfaction of Siddhartha finally reaching his goal, but also because I felt the moment from within. We’ve all had moments like this, of course not on this scale, but I could feel his happiness, I could feel his suffering float away. In the book Hesse speaks often about the motif of knowledge, and its importance in everyone’s lives. Knowledge was all the Siddhartha seeked in his youth, and now knowledge is what pushes him into his blissful state. Hesse states that “the serenity of knowledge blossomed”, meaning that he has finally come to his peaceful, calm, blissful state once he has attained the knowledge given to his by the river. After listening closely to what the river was speaking to him, Siddhartha was finally hearing everything it had to say, learning all he needed to know about life and the world to end his suffering. When it comes down to it, nothing in this world with get you closer to enlightenment than knowledge.
I agree with your statement of how this is a pinnacle moment and passage in Siddhartha's life. He has finally achieved enlightenment, and we are filled with emotions that are very raw, and coincide nicely with what he is actually feeling; this way we gain empathy. I like how you mentioned that we are barraged with different emotions, because this shows the reader that once you accomplish something you've spent so long trying to achieve, there is not only one emotion you feel. There can be happiness of course, but there can also be sadness and frustration. Siddhartha not only had to leave his family behind (by choice) but he also lost his mad family, his son and Kamala. These significant importances were also super important in Siddhartha's quest for peace, and even though these might seem more like stressors, Hesse allows the reader to connect with Siddhartha on an emotional level.
Delete"'He understood them, he understood and shared their lives, which were led not by thoughts and insights, but solely by drives and wishes. And he felt like them. Although he was close to perfection, and enduring his final wound, he saw these child people as his brothers. Their greed. Their vanity, their silliness had lost their silliness for him, became understandable, became lovable, became even venerable for him. A mother's blind love for her child, a conceited father's blond and stupid love for his only little son...'" (Hesse pg. 113)
ReplyDeleteIn this passage Hesse uses repetition and metaphors to show Siddhartha's relationship to the rest of human kind. There is the metaphor he shared their lives, and this shows symbolically how he has gained sympathy for these people. He technically does not share their lives per say, but he does begin to understand how others act and how that is acceptable. The repetition of their is to show the group of humans themselves and how their love influenced Siddhartha's. There is also the characterization of child people that suggests the innocence and maturity level of humans. Although Siddhartha is not apart of this group, he feels love for him. As a reader, I was able to interpret his feelings as more mentor to student or leader to follower; these people represent Govinda. Lastly, Hesse uses metaphors to describe his love for humans, despite all their flaws. A mother's blind love shows how he loves humans so much that he subconsciously looks past all their fatal flaws. A father's conceited and stupid love suggests that he sees the potential of humans becoming as great as him. He has the hope for humanity, but for now, he is able to accept their point in life, and use it to reach his final stage of nirvana.
I agree with it being necessary for him to reach nirvana. In the end of the book, he realizes he has to love all people and things equally, which he did not in the beginning; back then, he looked down upon them and tried to detach himself. This passage is the culmination of this character development, a vital step in his journey. he likely wouldn't have reached it if he hadn't experienced all of these things, which makes his low point among the rich and selfish such a necessary part of the story. You also point out how these people represent Govinda. He was always friends with Govinda, and therefore always loved people like this. It was always within him even when he hated them, which ties into his explanation of everything being everything else at once, of someone's potential, both good and bad, always lying within them.
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ReplyDelete“Brahma in each of their passions, each of their deeds. Lovable and admirable were these people in their blind devotion, their blind strength and tenacity. They lacked nothing, the knower and thinker had nothing over them but a single trifle, a single tiny little thing: the consciousness, the conscious thought of the oneness of all life. And at times, Siddhartha even doubted whether this knowing, this thinking were so valuable, whether they were not childish things of the thought people, the thought-child-people. In all other respects, the worldings were the equals of the sage, were often far superior, just as at times, animals, in their tenacious, unswerving, necessary actions, may seem superior to human beings” (Hesse 114).
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting turn for Siddhartha’s thinking, to admire the child-people. Before his experience among the child-people he scorned them, hated them. I believe that this is a positive change in Siddhartha’s mindset, for to be enlightened one must love everything. Indeed this is another reason Siddhartha had to go through that experience, for he needed to understand and relate to everyone to fully understand everything. The child-people seem to be perfect in their own way, because the seem to be content when they really have nothing. They can find happiness in fleeting pleasures, since this is their self they have found. It is almost like they are in a quest of their own, to find a sort of child-enlightenment. Since it seems this way Siddhartha doubts just how childish they really are. Perhaps Siddhartha is the one who is the child? Hesse uses a simile for comparison between how the child-people are like sages just like how animals often seems superior to humans. The fact of the matter, however, is that Siddhartha thinks of what he calls the thought-people as foolish because he is thinking of all the people he has seen before that are so-called sages, like the samanas in the woods. People who can think are not necessarily perfect-ones. Siddhartha at this time is still a fake-sage, he must go even beyond thought-people, to become enlightened. Siddhartha still has to realize that the child-people are most certainly not truly wise. Overcoming this illusion will bring him that much closer to enlightenment. Still, this revelation of Siddhartha’s ideas will be invaluable to his quest.
Your analysis is really interesting. It made me think about the chapter, “By the River”, because the chapter also describes Siddartha being a child person. In this chapter, Siddhartha realizes that he has lost his ability to think, wait, and fast in exchange of attaining pleasure and wealth. This exchange has transformed Siddartha from a thinker to a child person. Despite all of this, Siddartha in this chapter says that his “journey was good” (Hesse, 75). Again, I though that your passage ties back to the passage in this chapter, because in both passages he does not grieve about his connection to the child people. Instead, he believes that experiencing the sense of pleasure that he has thought of as foolish was necessary to fully understand and accept the child people and everyone else, which is the crucial factor in attaining enlightenment.
DeleteI think you bring up a great point. I definitely agree that Siddhartha gains a newfound understanding and respect for the child-people, but I think that he holds the people of the world attracted to material wealth to be much higher in his respect tham you dicussed. For instance, he talks about how the "one small, one tiny little thing" that seperates the sages and the travellers he encountered, as, "the consciousness of the unity of all life." (Hesse 106) The fact that Hesse describes the difference as being so small, shows that Siddharthas certainly does have more respect for the sages, but not so much that he would consider the everyday people "unwise".
Delete“This Siddhartha is a strange man, the ideas he expresses are strange, his teaching is so much foolishness...But Siddhartha’s hands and feet, his eyes, his forehead, his breathing, his smile, his greeting, and his gait strike me entirely differently than his ideas” (Hesse 114).
ReplyDeleteIn the final chapter of the book, Govinda returns and asks Siddhartha to share his wisdom to assist in Govinda’s path to enlightenment. However, he does not understand the teachings, saying it all sounds foolish. This passage, which narrates Govinda’s thoughts, proves what Siddhartha was saying; words and ideas conveying wisdom are always foolish, even when coming from a wise man’s mouth. Siddhartha’s words to him seem to make no sense and only seem ridiculous. However, he acknowledges that the wisdom Siddhartha holds itself is valuable and that Siddhartha has reached enlightenment with it. Govinda is understanding Siddhartha’s point without even realizing it, which says a lot about his character. He never truly understood his friend, which was shown when Siddhartha decided to leave him for his own path and Govinda kept asking why he was doing it. He doesn’t even understand that he is experiencing exactly what Siddhartha told him. This confusion and lack of understanding on his part gives off the impression that he is still much like a child even at this old age, or a sheep that needs to be guided. Siddhartha led him for a long period of time in the beginning, and is continuing to do so at the end. Govinda needs him in order to finally reach enlightenment, which is how the book concludes, despite never truly understanding these concepts for himself.
“Slowly it blossomed, and slowly too it ripened in Siddhartha, the knowledge, the knowing that was actually wisdom, concerning the goal of his long seeking. It was nothing but a readiness of the soul, a capability, a secret art, to think the thought of unity at every moment in life, to be able to feel and inhale unity. Slowly this unfolded within him, streamed back at him from Vasudeva’s aged childlike face: harmony, knowledge of the eternal perfection of the world, the smile, unity.” (Hesse, page 102). This passage takes place in Siddhartha’s realization that he has finally found the enlightenment he had been yearning for his whole life. The repetition Hesse used of the word “slowly”, to describe how Siddhartha’s knowledge “slowly…blossomed, and slowly too…ripened…Slowly this unfolded within him”, was used in order to convey a tone that knowledge and wisdom are acquired in a gradual process of life experiences and self-growth. The long struggle for knowledge to blossom is seen clearly in Siddhartha’s “long seeking”, and how his knowledge accumulated over time from experiences with the Brahmin, the Shramana, the Buddha, the child people, and the river, and from these finally discovered unity and overall inner peace. This passage through the line “…a readiness of the soul, a capability, a secret art, to think the thought of unity at every moment in life, to be able to feel and inhale unity” portrays how Siddhartha has overcome his hubris characteristics; his superiority complex over the child people, and now realizes that all people who make up a community are born equally, and all have value. Siddhartha now no longer feels separated from society as he did in the beginning of the novel, where all he felt was disgust for non-Shramana, but at this point feels connected to all people he encounters as a ferryman, and engages with them with more understanding and acceptance. Siddhartha has found that knowledge lies in having a sense of unity with your community, with other people, and came to this realization through his meditation over the river. Hesse hints towards the river being the source of Siddhartha’s enlightenment in this passage, through using river connotations in the phrase describing knowledge to have “streamed back at him”. Siddhartha overall discovered the importance of unity and achieved enlightenment through meditating over the river, due to how running rivers are prime examples of “harmony” and “eternal perfection”. They are continuous, never-ending streams, always leading into other sources of water; the current never ceasing, uniting all by quenching all thirsts; never discriminating as Siddhartha once had.
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ReplyDelete“But words I can not love. That is why teachings are nothing for me. They have no hardness, no softness, no colors, no edges, no odor, no taste. They have nothing but words. Perhaps that is what prevents you from finding contentment—perhaps it is all in the words” (Hesse 112)
In this passage of the chapter “Govinda”, Govinda and Siddhartha’s paths cross for possibly the last time. Through their encounter Govinda asks for some wisdom for Siddhartha and one aspect Siddhartha is trying to explain to Govinda is experience. For Siddhartha, he would’ve never have been able to obtain contentment had he not gone on his journey. All of his experiences from being a shramana to his life with Kalama and the teachings of the ferryman all helped him to achieve his happiness. He had to experience each different situation to obtain his feelings of bliss. Siddhartha would have never learned about true happiness if he had stayed or followed the teachings of any of the guides. Teachings don’t have an effect on him; he needs to experience in order to learn. In the passage he states, “They have no hardness, no softness, no colors, no edges…” (Hesse 112) there isn’t a way to fully understand a teaching when you haven't gone through the experience yourself. How are you supposed to truly understand an idea or concept if you are not aware and cannot connect to its meaning? There’s a vast difference between knowing and learning about an idea verse experiencing it firsthand. Also, Hesse’s use of anaphora in this passage of “no” helps to extenuate Siddhartha’s point. The repetition of no shows Siddhartha’s that beliefs are clear and firm. This artistic effect of repetition helps to emphasize Siddhartha’s idea, that you need experiences to understand the lessons taught by others.
In the end of the passage Siddhartha tells Govinda, “perhaps it is all in the words” (Hesse 112). Govinda, living his life through the idealistic of a follower lived the complete opposite life in relation to Siddhartha’s. Throughout Govinda’s whole life he has only learned from the teachings of others; the shramanas and the Buddha. Govinda has never journeyed by himself or had his own experiences, only listening and hearing of the experience of others. It is clear that Govinda, although following great teachers, has still not found his own path of enlightenment and Siddhartha suggests that this reason is due to his lack of experience. Through Siddhartha’s life he’s gone through some hardships and his life has been very dynamic, but without his many problems Siddhartha would’ve never reached enlightenment.
I agree with the points you brought up in your post. I think that Govinda has been a follower for all of his life and now struggles to understand Siddhartha's meaning in that enlightenment must be attained through personal experience, and not through a blind following of others. Even on the last pages of the novel, Govinda is practically begging Siddhartha as he says, "Tell me one word, my esteemed friend, tell me something that I can conceive, something I can understand!" Although he was respected by the other monks for his progress and age, he still seems to be hold out it metaphorical alms bowl and begging Siddartha for some of his wisdom. It is only after Siddhartha communicated to him the secrets of river, that he understands Siddhartha's meaning that teachings will not lead you on the path to enlightenment and an end to the cycles of rebirth.
Delete“He could no longer distinguish the different voices —the merry voice from the weeping voice, the childish voice from the manly voice. They all belonged to each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the wise, the cry of indignation and the groan of the dying. They were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand ways. And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world.” (Hesse 110)
ReplyDeleteAs Siddhartha reaches the end of the story, we see him experience some transformative character development.The cumulative events of this novel had led to this moment, the moment where Siddhartha finds enlightenment. Although he has heard the voices many people in the river, and seen the faces of those close to him in life, like his father, Kamala, and his son, it is not until this passage does he realize the river is the sum of all the voices in the world. Through his inability to differentiate the voices, he recognizes the interconnectivity and oneness of the world, which he describes as, “all of them together was the world.” (Hesse 110) This is a pivotal moment in the book because Siddhartha’s goals and emotions seemed to line up perfectly, as when Siddhartha hears the “Om” (Hesse 111), his anguish over the loss of his son begins to disappear. Through this passage, we see Siddhartha’s grow tremendously as a character as he leaves behind his pain, sorrow, and desire. The transition is so obvious that Vasudeva himself realized Siddhartha had finally the solution to problem immediately after this epiphany.This is obviously the climax of the book as most of Siddhartha's problems are solved when he finally finds enlightenment.
“Do you not force him, the arrogant and pampered boy…? You must take him to his mother’s house. Some servants must still be there...” (Hesse 105).
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, Kamala has just recently died after being bitten by a venomous snake during a pilgrimage to see the ill Buddha with her son. Coincidentally, she is bitten right before they reach the river, so Vasudeva is able to hear the son’s agonizing scream and comes to rescue them. Hesse uses irony to show a mirror relationship between Kamala’s son, Siddhartha and her own self. Previously, Kamala was a very materialistic and needy woman. She was always catered to and would take nothing but the best. Because this is all she was taught, Kamala raised her son luxuriously. Meanwhile, while to two were making their way on their pilgrimage, Siddhartha, the son, has to stop many times because he feels as if he can not go on. This lack of motivation to continue from the son stems from the fact that he is used to being catered, rather than feeling a slight sense of tiredness from hard work. When the two stop to take a rest because Siddhartha is “exhausted”, Kamala gets bit by the venomous snake and dies. This is ironic because Kamala has in a sense died because of her son’s lack of motivation to continue, which can be traced back to how spoiled he has been raised. This connects back to Kamala’s relationship with Siddhartha. Siddhartha was told by Kamala that the only way he had a chance with her was to become wealthy and hold a better appearance to fit her luxurious lifestyle. Siddhartha then has to sacrifice his whole lifestyle for the love of Kamala. Similarly, Kamala ends up having to sacrifice her whole life for her son because he is exactly the same way as she was back then, spoiled and used to a life of luxury. Kamala in a sense received karma for what she put Siddhartha through, a major sacrifice, but this time it was her life.