In the beginning of the novel, Siddhartha analyzes the thoughts he has about himself and about those around him. Hesse writes, "He aroused joy in everyone, he was a delight to all. But Siddhartha was no joy to himself; he brought no pleasure to himself." He goes on to explain that he does not believe his mother, father or even Govinda can bring him "enduring happiness" and "contentment and satisfaction". This is the key to how he begins to make change. Siddhartha soon after leaves the life he knows in order to rid his ego. "Siddhartha had one single goal before him-to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of desire, empty of dreams, empty of joy and sorrow." He is on the road to becoming at peace with himself, but to do so he must encounter realizations and struggles he would never had imagined. The big struggles he feels of himself are that of being discontent and the need to believe there is more than what he knows. Hesse explores these inclinations in Siddhartha through the growing and teachings of religion and self-discovery.
The opening passages of Siddhartha struck me as odd because they treat Siddhartha as this perfect being. His village loves him, he's handsome, he's clever, his family adores him, and yet he doesn't think it's enough. The source of conflict in Siddhartha is his own unhappiness, which draws from selfishness. "He had started feeling that his father's love, and his mother's love, and also his friend Govinda's love would not make him happy forever and always, not please him, gratify him, satisfy him," (Hesse, 5). The love of those he cares about isn't enough for him to be happy, no he needs more, he needs something else. This need for MORE drives him to become a samana, to follow kamala, to stay at the river, it's all about him. True, we are only creatures of our own minds, but Siddhartha allows this to consume him. Never in the story does he do something for Govinda, for Kamala, for Vasudeva. Even when he's doing everything for his son, it's because Siddartha desperately wants his son's love, his happiness, to make the father feel wonderful. The opening passage makes this evident, and then it slips into a background as the story continues, but ultimately, Siddhartha's ultimate flaw was his selfishness. I know we're only supposed to comment on the opening passages, but I could only think of his selfishness in later chapters as I read of Siddhartha's flawlessness and blessed beginnings.
I really love your analysis! I never would have thought that Siddhartha could be selfish if it weren’t for your post. I’m used to seeing him in this positive light - an ordinary person striving to make something greater of his life. But your insight into Siddhartha’s selfishness made me stop and consider his actions throughout the novel. You make a very good point at describing that every action that he does is selfish. However, I’d like to argue that even though his actions may seem selfish, Siddhartha does leave a lasting effect on each person that has the fortune of interacting with him. For instance, with Kamala, she ceased to be a materialistic woman that is only concerned with her looks. After being with Siddhartha, she became more selfless, which is evidenced by page 86. In this, the novel describes, “She had long since withdrawn from her former life, had made a gift of her garden to the monks of Gotama, had taken refuge in the teaching, and was among the friends and benefactors of those traveling to see the Buddha” (Hesse 86). If it were not for Siddhartha, she would probably remain materialistic and greedy, and as she would approach old age, she would have many regrets. Being with Siddhartha, however, changed her into a compassionate matron filled with satisfaction. She even converted her religion to Buddhism.
Answering from school the school computer, I'm fully aware that Siddahartha left a positive mark on those he touched, but that was never his intention. He went out into the world to fulfill his own purpose and never deviated from that. His time with Kamala showed that completely as this selfishness consumed him. Sure, he left positive changes behind, but he never meant to do that until it was with his son, and even then it was so Siddhartha could feel like a good father. - Sarah Welch
Towards the end of the first chapter of Siddhartha, the main character Siddhartha yearns to become a shramana after a group of them passed through his city. Naturally, his father objects to this, but after seeing Siddhartha’s immense determination to achieve his desire, he eventually capitulates to him. However, the passage that describes Siddhartha’s determination strikes a great feeling of restlessness in the reader. The passage begins on page 9 with Siddhartha standing with his arms crossed after his father rejects his desire to become a shramana. The novel explains, “‘What are you waiting for?’ said his father. ‘You know,’ said Siddhartha’” (Hesse 9). Throughout the entirety of this section, Siddhartha stands in the exact same spot that he was in, his arms crossed and his heart set on his aspiration. The excerpt then continues with immeasurable repetition. Each paragraph essentially begins the same way. Each one describes how his father came to his son after each hour since he could not sleep, and he sees him still standing there with his arms crossed. His father’s heart fills with innumerable emotions, and he notices the moonlight around his son. This repetitiveness causes the reader to crave for direction, for something new. This effectively removes any uncertainty about Siddhartha’s decision to become a shramana. The reader has become so restless that they cannot stay in this city with Siddhartha anymore. They need to advance somewhere else or else their minds will fill with intense boredom. Everything in this city just recurs. The passage even ends the exact same way that it started. It explains, “‘Siddhartha,’ [his father] said, ‘what are you waiting for?’ ‘You know’” (9). This, in my opinion, exemplifies a thematic effect - It causes the reader to question the recurrence of their life. In this way, he or she wishes to become akin to Siddhartha and begin their life anew, and consequently, they are sucked into the story. In a more literal sense, the similarity of the beginning and the end of the passage is the first indicator of Siddhartha’s great willpower - a trait that is seen many times throughout the novel. All in all, the display of Siddhartha’s extraordinary thirst for variation in his life illustrates his profound self-discipline and motivates the reader to ponder the cyclical nature of their life and make an effort to change it.
In Siddhartha, the opening passage talked about Siddhartha as a person and how people would love him, the way people respected him and his father. The passage also gave a description of who Siddhartha was as a person for example, "the young falcon" , mentioning he was wise and was starting develop religion. Also the way people expected him to be like his father didn't satisfy him as a person made him wonder what he was missing. In the book, Siddhartha changes his views by being in a different group but still feels unsatisfied which is what happens in the real world. But he sees things differently than others but still wanted to continue to try and satisfy himself. Later he finds himself searching for the meaning of life that he isn't able to find to satisfy himself.
The falcon also shows strength and it is a foreshadowing of Siddhartha using his strength to become a better person that he already is so he can help other people become better.
The beginning of the novel sets a seemingly perfect, peaceful world where it introduces the character that everyone views as flawless, Siddhartha. Siddhartha is portrayed as being incredibly smart, good-looking, and amazing at everything that he does. Through the use of diction, Hesse describes Siddhartha's character by using advanced adjectives and nouns like "ardent" and "orator" to show just how far above everyone else he is. The whole village he lives in loves him and he makes everyone happy, especially his best friend Govinda. His parents are full of pride and happiness, and his father sees him as being one of the greatest of the Brahmins. Though Siddhartha could be great, greater than he already is, he was not satisfied, and this was his source of conflict. It says that "he delighted and made everyone else happy. But [he] himself was not happy" (Hesse 5). Siddhartha was a waiting vessel, yearning to acquire more and more knowledge and to find himself, but he he suspected that all of the Brahmin's wisdom had already been passed on, and there was nothing left for them to offer. After much contemplation, a group of Samanas passed through the town, and Siddhartha sees this as his golden opportunity to go his own way. Govinda is shocked by this sudden decision, but is almost immediately ready to follow Siddhartha wherever he may go. His father, however, was not so easy to convince. Siddhartha goes to see his father and asks for permission to leave. His father thinks about this for a long time, so long that Hesse uses the movement of stars to show the passage of time, but when his father finally comes to a decision and says no, Siddhartha continues to wait. He waits all throughout the night until the first light of day shines in the room, and his father realizes that he had to send Siddhartha on his own way. Just about everything that was mentioned in this first chapter of the book is something that will come up later or be a continuous presence all throughout the book. The river, Govinda, the peacefulness, and his thirst for knowledge and self are all brought up later and have some meaning of importance to the story.
In this passage it is clear that Siddhartha is not like the other like the other people in his village. He is well respected and seems to be wiser than most people. Hesse describes Siddhartha as if he already is a godly figure. But this may also just be forecasting for what he’s destined for. One thing that was quite noticeable from this passage to me, was the fact that Hesse described Siddhartha as a “young falcon” (3). But why a falcon? Why not an eagle or just simply, a bird? To get a deeper understand of what Hesse meant by this, I looked up the term “falcon”. I found from it’s original latin term that it means “traveler or foreigner”. By putting the pieces together, it is quite obvious why Siddhartha is very similar to a falcon. He has learned every single way of the Brahmin but yet he is a foreigner; in a place where he does not belong. Just because Siddhartha has mastered everything that the Brahmin’s have taught him, does not mean that he is at peace. It makes me question “he already has everything anyone could possibly want, how can he still be discontent?” Thinking about this led me to relating it back to the real world. People are exactly like how Siddhartha had felt. Once people achieve or gain something, they are always hungry for more. Could it be that because Siddhartha learned everything quicker than others that he was the first to be hungry for more? As a reader, I feel for Siddhartha because he should not feel that he is completely shaming his people or disrespecting them, in fact he just happens to be the first to realize that the way of the Brahmin is not the way to Nirvana.
The first few pages of Siddhartha really stood out to me because they have a much different feel than the rest of the first chapter. You first learn that the main character Siddhartha is loved by all and is destined to be a great man, only to find out that he “did not bring joy to himself, he did not delight himself (4).” Siddhartha thirsted for more, feeling that his current life would “not make him happy forever”(5). I found it interesting how Siddhartha decided to leave his village in order to seek the Buddha in hopes of achieving Nirvana when everyone else thought he should stay. He knew that if he ever wanted to reach Nirvana he could not do that with the Brahmin. Siddhartha is also referred to as “the young falcon (3)” which symbolizes strength, victory, freedom, and traveler. Birds are a motif throughout the story. Kamala keeps a songbird in a cage to represent lack of freedom, but she eventually releases it. This bird has parallels to Siddhartha’s life such as Kamala lets them both go free to live their own paths. Herman Hesse uses a variety of literary devices throughout Siddhartha allowing the reader to understand the characters and their actions and thoughts better.
When Siddhartha and Govinda become informed of this man called Buddha, Govinda is eager to hear the teachings he has to offer. The name has everyone buzzing with excitement and curious to hear of this enlightenment. But when Siddhartha finally lays eyes on Gautama, he doesn’t seem like a god. Hesse writes, “Just like all his monks he wore a robe and placed his feet precisely, according to precept” (Hesse 23). He must do as the rest of them to eat and survive. However, just by sight Siddhartha and Govinda or wholly inspired by Buddha. The way he simply holds himself assures them of his holiness. “But his face and gait; his still, lowered gaze; his still, loose-hanging hand; and even every finger on his still, loose-hanging hand were expressions of peace, of perfection” (Hesse 23). After hearing the teachings of the Exalted One, Siddhartha still believed that he could not achieve his own enlightenment purely by the teachings of another. The key for Siddhartha, however, was what Gautama did to break his own cycle, and is Siddhartha following the right path to breaking his own?
I love your analysis of the Gautama! It really makes you think about the effect that simple things like posture and the way you walk can have on your personality and how others perceive you. And yes, I would agree that Siddhartha is following the right path. We can always be taught about something, but we can never fully comprehend this thing until we experience it. Your analysis reminded me of the scene in "Good Will Hunting" where Sean Maguire, a therapist, sits on a park bench with Will Hunting, one of his clients, and conveys to him Will's frivolous ideology of life. He explains how Will always spouts out information about ideas and places but has only read about them in a book. He says how he may know art, but he does not know the smell of the Sistine Chapel and the experience of looking up at the beautiful art displayed on the ceiling. Will can know about love, but he will never truly know what it means until he can look at a woman and be totally vulnerable - to feel that God had put on angel on the earth just for him. So you can always be taught ideas, but you will never have the chance to understand them until you can experience them for yourself. This highlights the difference between intelligence and wisdom. Siddhartha has chosen the right path in discovering his true self - he has chosen wisely in his quest for wisdom.
Siddhartha has finally realized what he has been missing in his life. So far, on his journey he has made the decision to leave his people and family behind. Shortly after, he decides to try the way of the Samanas. But this did not work out for him. Siddhartha realizes that he does not know who he is. This eventually leads to his main question; “How can I find enlightenment within, if I do not even know myself”. This passage is a great example of the maxim, “When writers send character south, it’s so they can run amok”. In this case, Siddhartha leaves the Brahmins to go find true happiness. At first his father is very hesitant and will not let him go. His life was paved out for him by his family but he chose to find out where he could find nirvana by himself. This can be seen as a sign of rebellion and in other words almost “running amok”. But by “running amok” Siddhartha learns that the way of the Samanas is not the way to nirvana. At first, Siddhartha was in denial that he was not conquering himself, but rather only tricking himself into thinking so (38). He finally comes to a realization that he could only deceive, fly, and hide from himself. Siddhartha treats this “self” as if it is a whole nother person. It is as if he fears this “self” and is trying to stay away from it as far as possible. If Siddhartha did not run away he may have never discovered that he needed to learn about himself. Throughout Siddhartha’s life he has learned from teachings and teachers and though he has mastered everything they have taught him, he has not gotten any closer to enlightenment (38). He then realizes that the one thing teachers and mentors cannot teach him is about the nature and character of himself (38). This is an eye-opening moment for Siddhartha because he now knows the first step he must take to reach enlightenment.
Selected Passage: Awakening (Pg. 31 - from the start of the paragraph on the top to three quarters of the page)
During the beginning of “Awakening,” Siddhartha ponders what his teachers were unable to teach him, and he figures out that it was the meaning of himself and his ego. The excerpt that states this revelation, however, contains many literary elements and devices that make it stand out as a personal favorite of the chapter. First of all, the passage involves much parallel structure. For instance, the book repeats the phrase “the ego” in the beginning of the passage, saying how, “It was the ego whose meaning and essence I wanted to learn. It was the ego that I wanted to get rid of, to overcome” (Hesse 31). The book also repeats the phrase “that I am” when describing Siddhartha’s internal revelation of himself and his purpose in life and “I was” when explaining what he had been trying so long to find and how it affected him. This parallel structure is intended to show that everything that Siddhartha is contemplating is important - not one thing is more important than the other. Every thought is equally connected. This application of parallel structure displays Hesse’s purpose of the passage - to cause the reader to contemplate every single thing that Siddhartha is contemplating. This, in turn, allows he or she to fully discern what Siddhartha is thinking and possibly sympathize with him. Also, notice how the syntax is quite long during the passage. For example, it states that, “I was looking for atman, I was looking for Brahman; I was determined to tear my ego apart, to peel it layer by layer in order to find an unknown innards the pith behind all the husks, atman, life, the divine, the ultimate” (31). Long sentences are frequently used in this passage to involve the reader in Siddhartha’s thoughts - the length shows that this is Siddhartha’s actual thoughts while walking, not just a recap of them. In this way, the reader feels that they have a true insight into Siddhartha himself - they could feel exactly what he’s feeling if they know what is exactly on his mind. However, there are moments in the passage where the syntax is short. This usually appears when he realizes something. For instance, short syntax is used when he recognizes his true desire to learn from teachings. “It was the ego whose meaning and essence I wanted to learn. It was the ego that I wanted to get rid of, to overcome” (31). This briefness indicates Siddhartha’s “lightbulb” moments, displaying more insight into the mind of Siddhartha for the reader to comprehend. He or she is effectively sucked into the story.
You're analysis is very interesting! I really like how you observed the syntax. Just to add to your thoughts, I agree with you. I also made note of how important the beginning of the awakening was. It definitely was a turning point for Siddhartha and opened his eyes up to what he was missing. I also found it very interesting of how you elaborated on the part when Siddhartha talked about his ego. Ego is a person’s self-worth and self-importance. We often think of ego as a bad and very negative thing but everyone has it. It's your self-confidence. In this case, siddhartha wanted to learn his self-worth and more about him. When living with the Samanas, he was not able to learn anything about himself. In a way, it's as if Siddhartha is speaking about ego as a whole other person. I included that in my blog, but overall I think this whole chapter is him discovering another part of him. Like he is just seeing himself for the first time. I also really liked how you pointed out how syntax affects the mood of the story. It definitely helps us understand better how Siddhartha was feeling and how important this moment was to him. Great job catching the different ways that Hesse used to create the mood!
I also noticed that the syntax often portrays how Siddhartha is feeling. However, I think Hesse is trying to connect the reader to the narrator more than Siddhartha himself. By following Siddhartha’s journey, rather than being actively in it, the reader can relate his journey to their own. I noticed also that Hesse uses a lot of rhetorical questions, which we then apply to our own life, not Siddhartha’s. Siddhartha’s journey is simply a template of our own, and we are being guided by Hesse. In essence, the reader becomes the narrator.
As we get further into Siddhartha we learn more about what the characters and their lives are like. One character I find really interesting is Govinda. Govinda is Siddhartha’s friend, but he follows around Siddhartha like a “shadow (34)” as he is referred to many times within the first few chapters. One fantastic analogy I found while looking on the internet about the symbolism of a shadow was Peter’s shadow in Peter Pan. Peter’s shadow, like any, stays with him until Mrs. Darling locks it up in a drawer which has parallels to Siddhartha and Govinda. Once the shadow becomes detached it is much harder to reattach it, as we see later in the book when Siddhartha and Govinda cross paths again. When starting to read the first part of this book I wondered why the author had chosen to include a character like Govinda other than for the reader to see through his eyes how amazing Siddhartha is. “Govinda listened ecstatically and wanted to ask and hear a lot more. But Siddhartha said they would have to go on (26)” Up until the point when Govinda decides to “take refuge with the Sublime One and his Teaching” he follows around Siddhartha and hangs on his every word. Govinda shows character development when he chooses to begin his own path following a new teaching. Not only does Govinda begin his own path, but Siddhartha does as well for when he says “The Buddha has robbed me (34)” referring to Govinda staying, “But he has given me Siddhartha, has given me my self (34).” Without Govinda as his constant companion Siddhartha is free to continue his quest in hopes of reaching Nirvana.
During my reading of the chapters three and four, Gautama and Awakening, a few things stood out to me, especially the idea of change. In the beginning of Gautama, you can see the breaking up of Siddhartha and Govinda well before it happens. Each character is ready to take steps in their own direction, Govinda’s being toward Gautama and Siddhartha’s being down his own road. Upon reaching the town of Savathi, Govinda says, “Fine, then we have reached our goal and our journey is over!” (Hesse 25). At the same time, Siddhartha is thinking that this whole trip is going to end up being a waste and that he’s not expecting much. Hesse also uses language in a few places throughout the chapter to create a more perturbed feel rather than it’s normal peacefulness. This also continues into chapter four, Awakening, when Siddhartha undergoes his biggest change yet. Siddhartha’s view on life changes completely, and Hesse uses repetition to show his exclamation. He also uses animals to show this change, and in particular, the snake. Hesse says on page 37, “Siddhartha halted again, suddenly, as if a serpent were lying in his path. A snake, like change, is generally feared by most people and would make you want to stop in your path and back away from it. Snakes go unseen in the world, like most change that happens without us even realizing it, and the there’s the obvious one, snakes lose their skin. Another comparison Hesse uses is the river. The river is a constant theme in the book, and here it represents change. Sure, a river is constantly flowing with no end, but it also brings change in the world. Over time, rivers can completely change a landscape. Rivers can take things away, or give things back, it just depends on how you look at it. This isn’t the first, nor the last change that Siddhartha goes through, but it certainly is one of his biggest.
I did not make the connection of the snake and Siddhartha in connection to the idea of change, and I think that it is a very good and interesting connection you made! One thing that I did notice in terms of this idea of change you discussed was looking at how Siddhartha's actions changed. Previously at brahmin, Siddhartha was rather obedient where he grew up, but when you look at were we are now in the book, you see Siddhartha speaking boldly to the Buddha in a manner that is almost like objection. He speaks respectfully to the Buddha, but remains very firm in his thoughts. Looking at this contrast can potentially be a good way to expand/strengthen the theme of change throughout Siddhartha's life. The literary devices aspect has a great start on you end, adding the significance of Siddhartha's action would be really interesting. Overall I enjoyed reading your response, Andrew!
Reading further into Siddhartha we begin to hear of a legendary monk name Gautama, AKA Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, as in, the real Slim Shady. It'd be an easy misconception to think of the protagonist Siddhartha as the real deal, for all you would have to know is the name of the Buddha and a vague understanding of his story to come to the false conclusion that the protagonist is the Buddha. But despite them being so similar, Gautama and our Siddhartha are very different. For one, Gautama leaves everything and lets go of it, he moves on to an open and free lifestyle and believes the world to be whole. Our Siddhartha, however, does not see it as such and finds a vague imperfection, in himself, an impasse to such enlightenment. Our Siddhartha cannot rid himself of his desire to learn, to know, to want, it's in the very core of his being, to overcome that is how he reaches enlightenment. In the very very end he finally does not want, he has a home and friend with the river, he doesn't fear the future, and he wants no more than he has and even then, that ownership is only temporary as this incarnation. The fact is, our Siddhartha is nowhere near close to the real Siddhartha Gautama, only because of his self-centeredness and selfishness. The only true similarities they share are the blessed beginnings and a name that now symbolizes enlightenment. -Sarah Welch, posting from school computer
In chapter five, we begin to see Siddhartha physically start to lust after the women he meets. He is beginning to become increasingly aware of the human connections and urges that he had repressed as a shramana. Hesse writes, "Siddhartha felt his blood heating up, and because his dream returned to his mind at that moment, he bent down over the woman and kissed the brown tip of her breast with his lips" (Hesse 41). But his inner voice stops him from pursuing more. When Siddhartha reaches the town, he lays eyes on the woman known as Kamala. Unlike the previous woman, Siddhartha is very interestingly drawn to Kamala. She is decorated by jewels and radiates beauty. "Beneath black hair coifed high on her head, he saw a very bright, very tender, very intelligent face, a bright red mouth like a fig newly broken open, eyebrows that had been trained and painted into lofty arches, dark eyes, intelligent and alert, a pale long neck emerging from a green and gold mantle, and pale hands resting loose, long and narrow, with broad gold bands at the wrists" (Hesse 42). The analogy Hesse uses by comparing Kamala's lips to a newly broken fig strikes me as interesting, because in the the life of Siddhartha Gautama, he finds enlightenment when he chooses to meditate under a fig tree. I believe Hesse uses this analogy in order to indicate that Kamala will become an important factor in Siddhartha's journey to reaching enlightenment.
I was really close to doing my blog post on this quote from my translation of the book (it just uses a couple different words than yours), cause I found a couple interesting things.
In both of our translations, notice how Kamala is described with words either meaning or connoting intelligence. Her description starting with the top of her head (which is where your brain is), "bright", "intelligent", "trained", "alert", "green and gold" (colors of freshness and wealth, which is usually gained because of your intelligence), and in my translation, "well-tended", "smart", "watchful", and "clear". I like the connection you made about the fig analogy. In my translation, the words are "like a freshly cracked fig" (Hesse 33% on kindle). To me, "fresh" connotes some form of presence, and the sharp consonant sounds in "cracked" have a sophisticated feel. Hesse introduces us to Kamala as beautiful, but uses words that also imply that she is very smart and cognizant. This is done to put Kamala on the same tier as Sidd., as an adult above the "childlike people." The events before this, with Sidd.'s encounter with the woman at the well, further places Kamala above everyone else. The woman at the well, after Sidd. hears The Self tell him to not engage with her, becomes "a female animal in heat" (Hesse 32% on kindle). With this woman placed so low in Sidd.'s desires, meeting Kamala next and not being described as an animal in heat is already a step up.
I find it peculiar how Siddhartha lusts after the woman he met but decides not to have sex with her, yet he lusts after Kamala and decides to court her (so that he could have sex with her). I believe this shows that Siddhartha does not care solely on physical attributes. He is further interested in mental attributes, as evidenced by the reasoning for his lust for Kamala. The book even explains how he saw the woman as “a rutting female animal” (Hesse 41). But when he sees Kamala, he not only sees a physical beauty within her, but also sees “a very intelligent face” (42). In this way, Siddhartha’s character and personality is greatly expanded. He does not want the “goods.” He wants the goodness.
Siddhartha has now just started his journey to find himself. After his eye opening experience in chapter 4 he has now opened up to the world more. One thing I noticed is how this novel is split up into two parts. Chapter five is when part two begins because Siddhartha has just had a turning point in his life. Instead of blocking and shutting the world out, he is able to gain and benefit from the it. Chapter five begins with Siddhartha gazing and admiring how beautiful the world is (45). Something that stood out to me is when Hesse explained how the wonders and beauty of the world had always been present but it had meant nothing to Siddhartha expect a fleeting and illusive veil before his eyes (45). After reading this passage it started to make sense to me of how little and meaningless the world meant to Siddhartha. To have a better understanding of what Hesse meant by “Illusive veil” I decided to search for what these words mean. The word illusive means to be misleading or deceiving. In this case Siddhartha viewed the world as a place that was untruthful and full of lies. Some words that associate with “illusive” are false, imaginary, and fake. I took note of the importance of this because I also noticed that the word “illusive” not only means “to lie” but also to be imaginary or fake. The word “veil” means to cover, separate, or conceal. What I take away from these two words is the fact that Siddhartha was being separated by a veil that was imaginary and untruthful. From my perspective the veil is like a person that has kept Siddhartha from the beauty truth of the world by lying to him about the true nature of the world.
I agree with this! Sid has finally started his new life path towards enlightenment where he is guiding himself. He is no longer shielded by the deceiving teachings of the Samanas. He is now seeing the world with a fresh, clear perspective. I think the illusive veil is the metaphoric tool Hesse uses to describe Sid's emotions through this new discovery. It coincides with the original meaning of “lifting the veil” from Greek philosophy; meaning to reveal something once not known/uncovering the falsehood and deceit. Your person explanation is a little confusing, I see what you’re getting at but who specifically are you referring to?
Selected Passage - Pg. 43-44 (from the first quotation by Kamala on the page to the end of the last quotation by Siddhartha on the page)
After seeing Kamala for the first time, entering the city, and cleaning himself up, Siddhartha encounters Kamala once more. He speaks to her about his desire for her. The novel explains, “‘I would like to ask you, Kamala, to be my friend and my teacher, for as yet I know nothing of the art of which you are a master’” (Hesse 43-44). However, as discussed earlier in the book, Siddhartha does not have the desire to be taught anymore. In the beginning of the chapter “Awakening,” the book explains, “He realized that there was one thing he had left behind. . . the desire to have a teacher and to hear teachings” (30). So why does Siddhartha desire to learn more when he explicitly said that he does not want to be taught anything more? In my opinion, this sudden change in desire displays that everyone is always trying to learn. No matter what one says, he or she is always aiming to improve themselves whether they consciously know it or not. This change also echoes part of the literary maxim where the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge since Siddhartha is attempting to improve his self-knowledge with Kamala’s assistance. He wants to learn more in order to better understand himself. Also, to discuss a more literary element of the passage, Siddhartha refers to himself in the third person throughout this passage. The novel describes, “‘You saw Siddhartha the brahmin’s son. . . You are the first woman to whom Siddhartha has spoken other than with downcast eyes” (43). This referral to himself in the third person displays a disconnect within Siddhartha, differentiating himself from his body and his soul or ego. He seems to see his body as something that desires physical attributes since he refers to himself in the third person when speaking about traveling and his desire for Kamala.
Looking at the selected passage, I can really get that contradictory feeling of Siddhartha suddenly wanting to learn when he completely dismissed the notion of learning through others in the previous chapter. I think that part of the reason that Siddhartha is referring to himself in the third person here specifically can to argued to be because he does not want to admit that he wants to learn from others. He rejected the notion previously, and since most people have a sense of pride for their word that must be upheld, I think that Siddhartha creating that disconnect shows that he has pride in his word, which he does not wish to break, yet proceeds to do so. One thing that you mentioned was that Siddhartha whether he knew it consciously or not is working towards self-improvement. Sigmund Freud theorized the conscious and subconscious of the human mind, otherwise known as the id, ego, and superego. The id is that kid like prideful version of oneself that's only goal is to satisfy himself. The id may be that disconnect that Siddhartha makes in order to separate himself from his physical desires. Good point of bringing in that maxim as well.
In the next 2 chapters of Siddhartha “Kamala” and “Among the Child People” we see a lot of foreshadowing. “And I expected no fare from you and no gift. You will give me the gift another time (46)” is what the ferryman says to Siddhartha on his first passing over the river. We know that later in the story Siddhartha comes upon the ferryman and the river again and does indeed pay him back. The ferryman also says “let friendship be my fee” which does happen as they become friends once Siddhartha decides to stay at the river. While Siddhartha spends the night by the river in the ferryman’s hut he has a dream about Govinda in which Govinda asks “Why did you leave me (45)?” This is foreshadowing to when Siddhartha and Govinda will meet again which just so happens to be at the river. The quote “if you toss a stone into water, it takes the swiftest way to the bottom (56)” can be interpreted many different ways. I think that one of its meanings could be that Siddhartha is committed to his goal to impress and learn from Kamala and he will find the quickest way to do so. However this quote could also mean that first you have to hit the bottom only then can you begin to climb back up. Siddhartha came to Kamala homeless with long hair and a beard. After he sees her and she tells him he needs to become rich and wear luxurious clothes and shoes, he does exactly that. He builds himself up from nothing into a rich merchant to impress Kamala. All of these things I listed that Siddhartha experiences connect back to water and the river. A river can symbolize life or beginning which happens when Siddhartha begins a new path after crossing the river. These are only a few examples of the foreshadowing in these two chapters since there are a lot, but there are some of the ones that stood out to me the most.
It's very interesting that the place where Siddhartha finally attains enlightenment is the place that he just so happened to pass by one day, and it's the ferryman who predicts that he will return. This comparison between swimming from the bottom to the top is really good for describing how Siddhartha changed himself for Kamala, and it also comes into play in chapter seven when he really ruins himself with money, women, and gambling. The swiftest way to the bottom was by getting himself involved with money and women, and it will take a lot to swim up from there.
At the beginning of part two, it starts out by stating that Siddhartha can see everything in the world that seems really obvious. "He saw trees, stars, animals, clouds, rainbows,..." (Hesse 43). Hesse takes the time to go over each and every one of these to show just how much Siddhartha was blinded before and how much he can see now. He went from an attitude of trying to rid himself of all his senses and experience life from outside his body to find himself, to realizing that his self is already within him and he needs only to listen to it. Throughout the beginning of his "new life," he continues to note all of the plants animals which were never before mentioned in his previous life, not even with the Samanas, who lived their whole life outside. Another thing Hesse does is change between first and third person when Siddhartha is referring to himself. When he uses the third person, he is using it because he is not content with himself and doesn't wish for that particular statement to be his true self. When talking to Kamala for the first time, he says, " you saw Siddhartha, the Brahmin's son..." (Hesse 50). Because he's talking about his previous life, the one he is not as satisfied with, he talked in the third person. In comparison, when he is again talking to Kamala before meeting with Kamaswami, he used first person to say, " When I walked into your grove, I was taking the first step" (Hesse 56). This is him talking about his new and improved life, so he talked in the first person. Another way Hesse used to show Siddhartha's internal conflicts is through the use of children. At the beginning of part two, he used children to show the innocence and ignorance of life, like how most children are. At this point, Siddhartha also considered himself to be one of these children. As the story progresses into chapters six and seven, Siddhartha grows farther and farther away from the children until it gets to the point where he despises them. He becomes corrupted and his soul begins to rot away, as it is compared to with the potter's wheel. When he thought he was progressing towards self knowledge by exploring all the wonders of life, he was actually getting further and further away and ended up losing himself.
You made some really interesting points. I never noticed that Siddhartha switched from third to first person, but now that you pointed it out it makes perfect sense. I also agree that Siddhartha was blind to the world in his past. I think that this chapter is all about him being reborn, another reason for the use of children, and that he is shedding his past and reverting to a more "base" version of himself.
I also agree with what you and Epiphany said. However, the rebirth of Siddhartha is not who we would image Siddhartha to be. Not myself at least. A person that has nothing and finds peace in this, becoming a materialistic person who only cares about what he has and what he does not? He was again following the path of Kamaswami in order to gain the love of Kamala.
I used the same quote as you and agreed with Epiphany that Siddhartha was blind to the real world before he met Kamala and Kamaswami and he fell under the spell that the rest of the world is in and become obsessed with materialistic things
The way of the child people has caught Siddhartha after living in the town for a great while and Siddhartha breeds dissatisfaction with petty things that have suddenly become important to him. Hesse states, “The world had caught him-pleasure, greed, and indifference-and finally even the vice that he had always despised and derided as the most foolish of all, craving for possessions” (Hesse 62). Siddhartha also gets into gambling, thriving on the “..dread and uncanny fear he felt throwing the dice with big stakes hanging in the balance” (Hesse 62). What Siddhartha is experiencing is addiction and greed, something he thought was for those below him. The gambling gives him short-term excitement and profit, however these achievements begin to deeply affect qualities that we as readers were thought to be essential to Siddhartha, like his generosity and patience. The giant ego we all see in Siddhartha at the beginning of this novel is completely deteriorated in this chapter. Siddhartha’s hubris and egocentric thoughts and behavior over the child people is what leads him to become like them.
But would you not agree that becoming one of the “childpeople” as Siddhartha calls them essential to his journey for self-improvement? Because without it, I doubt he would have stumbled upon the river again, found contrition within it, and meet the influential Vasudeva. He would not have been able to reach true happiness as displayed in the end of the book. So yes, you could argue that Siddhartha had a huge ego that led him down a path of greed and materialism and make mistakes. But our lives are supposed to contain mistakes, no? Every human being is supposed to make innumerable mistakes throughout their life, and they are made so that we could learn from them. Siddhartha may have made a huge mistake. But this huge mistake allowed for a huger repentance.
Selected Passage: Pg. 69-70 (Start of the second paragraph of the page to the end of the second paragraph on the next page)
After leaving the city and Kamala due to his recognition of his materialism, Siddhartha wanders into the forest that he had been in before arriving in the city many years ago. He stumbles upon the river that he had passed through a long time ago and stared at the water, wanting to jump into the river and be rid of himself. The passage selected contains this desire of death and has many literary elements that reinforce this. For one, the excerpt contains much finality diction. It has words such as “emptiness,” “end,” “extinguish,” “smash,” “death,” “rotten,” “devour,” and “tear.” These words instill the effect of helplessness and suffering in the reader. They force the reader to feel as powerless as Siddhartha does at that time, aiding him or her to understand Siddhartha’s thought process and why he wants to do it. If these words were not present in the passage, Siddhartha’s desire to execute himself by drowning would not have had as strong of an effect. It would have made the reader just believe that Siddhartha is weak and giving up after experiencing hardship. Instead, the reader is moved by his decision and feels that he should not jump and just repent. Also, there is some variance with the length of syntax within the passage. Before Siddhartha jumps into the river, the sentence length is fairly long. For instance, the book states how, “Siddhartha leaned his shoulder against [the tree,] laid his arm over the trunk, and gazed down into the green water that flowed endlessly by, gazed down and found himself wholly and completely filled with the desire to be rid of himself and sink beneath this water” (Hesse 69). This represents his inner turmoil and conflict within himself and how challenging it is at that moment. But when he jumps into the river, the sentence length shortens down considerably, as shown by the book stating how, “He sank, his eyes closed, toward death” (69). This briefness greatly shows the abruptness of Siddhartha’s decision. He decides to jump into the river without a second thought. Syntax does a terrific job at portraying Siddhartha’s thought process throughout the book. Finally, Siddhartha deciding not to drown himself and coming out of the river with newfound courage and hope contains a major biblical allusion. This action of water is akin to baptism in Christianity, which rids the body of original sin that is passed down from Adam and Eve. So just as baptism repents people of their sins, Siddhartha’s actions repented him of his sins, and he was washed away into a clean slate.
My favorite part of your analysis is how you call attention to the sentence length, beginning with long sentences to show Siddhartha's usual thought process and ending in short sentences to indicate the abruptness of his decision. I personally believe sentence length is largely important for excellent delivery of dramatic scenes in stories. Your mention of how the words Hesse uses in this chapter sets a 'powerless' mood I also find very compelling, as well as how Siddhartha is 'baptised' when he jumps into the river as in reference to Christianity. Overall, your analysis of this chapter is very well thought out and expressed in your post.
SARAH WELCH At the beginning of his time with Kamala, SIddhartha is convinced he can’t learn enlightenment from anyone but himself. And while this is partially true, he never would’ve reached his ending learned without the time he spent with Kamala and Kamiswami. Because of that time, Siddhartha learned the limits of his own selfishness, “ONly slowly, amid his grown riches, had Siddhartha himslf taken on something of the ways of the child people, something of their childishness and anxiety,” (Hesse, 69, Samsara). He learned what lust and greed could be,”Propety, ownership, and wealth had also finally captured him, were no longer glitter and glamour for him, had become a chain and a charge,” (Hesse, 70, Samsara). And the true depths of self hatred, “He yearned to know nothing more about himself, to find peace, to be dead. If only lightning could come and kill him! If only a tiger could come and devour him!” (Hesse, 77, By The River). Without learning those facts about himself, Siddhartha never would’ve been able to accept his truth in the end. That time, when “his senses had come alive; they had learned a lot, experienced a lot,” (Hesse, 68, Samara), showed Siddhartha his flaws, showed him he was not this perfect person his family, his village, his friends all thought him to be, showed him how he had to learn. He saw what he was really like and though, at first, all he wished was to destroy it, but eventually he came to accept himself by what the river taught him. He never would’ve learned from the river if he hadn’t learned first what the from Kamala and Kamiswami. He wouldn’t have learned alone, not on his own. He needed their flaws, their influence, to show him his own flaws and the path to his truth.
After realizing the error of his ways, Siddhartha finds himself starring at the same river that was the gateway to a new life before coming across the child people. Now he looks into the river and sees his current self, a nasty, dreadful, and empty soul, and wishes to end everything right then and there. However, he comes to a realization and finds his self, and this is where the idea of Samsara comes in. Hesse uses sleep to symbolize the continuous cycle of life for Siddhartha. He says, "What a wonderful sleep this has been! Never had a sleep refreshed him, renewed him, rejuvenated him so profoundly!" (Hesse 80). Sleep is used as a symbol of awakening, and it had completely changed Siddhartha's life. He went from suicidal to set for life, almost as if he really did die and had been reborn. Continuing on the motif of Samsara, Hesse also uses children to emphasize his point. Siddhartha speaks to himself in dramatic monologue, "I am starting all over again, like a child!" (Hesse 84). Children are young, innocent, and carefree, and to be reborn as one would to be almost like starting your life over completely. Siddhartha's long, deep sleep, as well as the comparison of him to a child shows just how much the effects of Samsara play into his life.
I find your interpretation of sleep very interesting! I do agree with you of how sleep is a symbol of of a new life. People cannot live without sleep and it definitely regenerates us. After we sleep, we feel refreshed, ready to begin again, and (hopefully) we are in better/happier moods. I also agree with your interpretation of children! Yes, children are innocent, happy, carefree, and simple. I also believe this implies that Siddhartha was clouded with too many thoughts before. Could he have thought too hard, and long? One thing I did catch while reading chapters 7 and 8, is the fact that Siddhartha see's himself above everyone else. He has so much pride that he believes that he will always be on the right course to enlightenment. He see's himself as a child but not like the other people. What do you think about this? Is he any different than the child people?
In this chapter, Siddhartha begins working with the successful merchant Kamaswami. He is taught “The art of love” by Kamala and he begins to understand what the “secret” of ordinary people is. One thing that stood out to me in this chapter is the ego of Siddhartha. As he lives amongst ordinary people he sees himself above them all. Siddhartha has a conversation with Kamala about how they are not like ordinary people. He believes that they both have some sort of sanctuary in their minds that they can go to anytime. I found it interesting when he said to Kamala that “most people are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path” (72). This struck me because I realized how much pride Siddhartha has. He sees himself as a star that travels only on one path and does not stray. Wind does not bother him, or in other words; he does not face any obstacles because his path is so clear. Even though Siddhartha is different and special, no one’s plan is 100% correct or perfect. He continues this conversation with Kamala and ends with the statement that ordinary people “have not the wisdom and guide within themselves” (72). Here he is eventually saying that he is full of wisdom and guidance. One thing I took in mind, is that being wise and being smart are two different things. Being wise can be seen as common knowledge and the quality of good judgement because of experience. Being smart is showing quick witted-intelligence. Anyone can be smart if they study, learn from a teaching, focus and pay good attention but not everyone is wise. Wisdom comes from understanding, experience, and good sense. Not only does Siddhartha believe he is smart but that he wise. But can one really be wise if they exalt and praise themselves? Could this be the reason Siddhartha was not actually in love with Kamala?
I also noticed the ego of Siddhartha in these two chapters, especially in the beginning of Amongst the people when he is acclimating himself to this new lifestyle solely based on money and material things. He feels like the ordinary people are silly and childish. I like all the points you raise towards the end about love and his philosophy on learning from teaching versus learning from personal experience. It ties in with the main goal in Siddhartha's life; to find Nirvana. How does his ego play a role in Siddhartha's story? How does it shape his path to enlightenment throughout the book?
The Brahmin’s Son, passage on page 9 The passage on page 9 of Siddhartha, in which Siddhartha's father and he have a standoff over Siddhartha's choice to join the sramanas really jumps out to the reader. It does a great job of characterizing Siddartha as a stubborn person from the beginning. We as readers see how determined and willing Siddhartha is, and in doing this, Hesse gives the reader the chance to root for his character. Hesse uses imagery in many instances to describe his determination, he writes, “There stood Siddartha, motionless, his arms crossed, with the moonlight playing on his bare shins… [Siddhartha's father] saw Siddhartha standing there in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the darkness…” In using this description, the reader can understand how long and difficult standing alone and bored all night was for Siddartha, but his willpower charged him through it. Hesse also used personification in this passage, writing, “[Siddhartha's father’s] heart filled with anger, filled with concern, filled with uncertainty, filled with pain.” Here Hesse creates an atmosphere of longing. We as readers see the shift in his thinking and in his decision making, but can also feel for and understand why Siddhartha's father is so hesitant in letting his son leave. It was interesting to see the differences in what maturity means in different cultures too.
Awakening, P. 30-31 Siddhartha's revelation after meeting the Buddha is an interesting plot point. Hesse writes on page 30, “[Siddhartha] realized that he was no longer a youth but had become a man...He realized that there was one he had left behind as a snake leaves behind an old skin...the desire to have a teacher and hear teachings.” In this segment Siddhartha reveals his first revelation. Hesse uses the symbol of a snake here, and then ties back to it later in the chapter when a snake encounters him in the woods. In Buddhism, a snake can represent rebirth or it can represent death, and while in this chapter it seems indicative of rebirth we later find its ties with death, as he meets a snake in the forest and then meets Kamala, who is years later killed by a snake. On page 31, Hesse also writes, “From this thought another sprang, a new thought, which was this: That I know nothing of myself, that Siddhartha remains to alien and unknown to me - there is one cause for this… I was afraid of myself, I was running away from myself!” While I find this passage quite ironic because Siddartha seems very involved in only himself, I also found it striking in its writing. To say that Siddhartha hadn’t reached enlightenment because he hadn’t reached himself first is a very inspiring ideal, and demonstrates a theme of self being the path to self actualization.
Samsara, Passage on Page 63-64 Siddhartha's warning dream on page 63 is a very fascinating passage. In the dream, he is sitting and talking with Kamala about The Buddha, and they then have sex. During this, Hesse writes, “Their lovemaking had locked him to her in painful throes of lust...as though she was trying to squeeze the last drops out of vain...Never was it clearer to Siddhartha how closely related love’s pleasure is to death.” Dreams hold a lot of meaning in all cultures, and in this dream, whether it be Siddhartha’s subconscious or the Gods, it is clear that Siddhartha no longer receives joy in his relationship. This is a sign of Siddhartha’s need to leave Kamala and the child people. The dream then moves to Siddhartha partying with dancing girls and drinking. During this he feels miserable, angry at everything in the room. Hesse writes, “But above all he felt revulsion toward himself, his perfumed hair, the winy smell of his mouth, the loose tiredness and slackness of his skin…” This imagery greatly describes how much he has changed. From a sramana, starving on the streets, walking for days, and hardly showering, to a grossly rich man. The diction Hesse uses are all harsh words, like he is making fun of Siddhartha. It is striking to see the change that has occurred so quickly to Siddhartha, and how angry he is at himself for allowing himself to be taken by the child people.
Passage on p.79 Hesse uses visual imagery on page 79 to create an atmosphere of rebirth for Siddartha. Hesse writes, “Tenderly he gazed into the translucent greenness of the flowing water, at the crystalline lines of depths and still bubbles floating on the surface with the image of the blue sky in them.” Words like “translucent” and “crystalline” and “bubbles” all establish an atmosphere of calmness with the river. The river represents the extension of life and the feeling of forever. The river is there with Siddartha in the beginning, when he leaves the sramanas, and again when he leaves the child people. It is a sign of the ever changing way of life, as Hesse demonstrates writing, “He saw that the river flowed and flowed, yet every moment new! Oh, if one could grasp that, understand that!” Siddhartha had believed he had already achieved enlightenment, but the river and the ferryman proved him wrong, both taking him along the journey to the peace and transcendence he seeks.
Siddhartha has many similarities to that of Kamala’s “small, rare golden songbird in a gold cage (73)”. Both Siddhartha and the bird are trapped, unable to escape even if Siddhartha is not literally in a cage. In his dream Siddhartha sees “the little bird was dead, lying stiff on the bottom (73)” As he threw away the bird he felt as if “he had thrown away all the value and goodness (73)” which can be compared to Siddhartha being unhappy because of the path he has chosen. “When had he ever been happy, felt true bliss?” Siddhartha thinks that all along he has been on the wrong path to reach Nirvana and that not there was no longer a point to his life. The most curious thing about the bird is it isn't real. It is simply a character in Siddhartha’s dream. Because Siddhartha dreamed about the bird it shows even more parallels to his life since he was the one who came up with it. You could also think of the bird as foreshadowing Kamala’s death since in the dream it's her bird and Siddhartha watches it die. After he had this dream he realizes that he has “been leading a worthless life (73)” which leads him to change his ways and leave Kamala.
Om, Passage on P. 102 After Siddhartha’s son leaves him and Siddhartha is heart stricken, Hesse writes, “His face resembled that of another person, whom he had once known and loved and even feared. It resembled the face of his father, the Brahmin.” Siddhartha realizes that he is exactly as his father was when he left him. He realizes that his sons leaving was inevitable as his own leaving was. Hesse writes, “Had not he suffered the same pain that he was now suffering for his son?” Siddhartha finally comes to term with the fact that his son has left him and that there is nothing he can do about it, which is an interesting revelation for Siddhartha because he is generally a very controlling person. His entire life only he has made decisions about his life, whether good or bad, and in this situation he has no say in it at all. The river is symbolized as a symbol of life, ever flowing and recurring, patterns occurring again and again. Siddhartha is enlightened once again, understanding the harshness of time and the new notions of peace.
Your analysis is really interesting. It made me contemplate the connections between Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy on life and Siddhartha’s philosophy on life. Siddhartha recognizing the ever-recurring patterns of life could be associated with Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence, where humanity lives in a constant state of suffering. And just as you said, Siddhartha realizes the harshness of this repetition. Yet he seems to have overcome this suffering. One could even argue that Siddhartha had reached Nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch, a person who transcends suffering and becomes one with peace. And it’s awesome how after Siddhartha becomes content with the repetition of life, he realizes the true meaning of life and how everything in the world is truly connected, becoming peaceful and tranquil. It is almost as if Hermann Hesse intentionally did this to display Nietzsche’s philosophy. Perhaps he was inspired by Nietzsche’s ideas when writing this story.
Siddhartha has met his son, and now that the boy’s mother has passed away he must take care of him. However, what Siddhartha discovers is that the boy is quite stubborn and refuses to help work and doesn’t show any respect for the two older men. Hesse uses the reoccuring theme of birds to have Vasudeva explain, “The young bird is used to another life, another kind of nest” (Hesse 92). This example also fits under the maxim of ‘flight is freedom’. While Siddhartha has escaped the ‘cage’ described in the last chapter into freedom, his son was raised in a privileged lifestyle and doesn’t know anything else. Another thing I noticed during this reading was that Siddhartha experiences important character development in the fact that he acknowledges the love he has for this boy is like those of the child people, but in a lighter sense. Hesse writes, “He suffered from it, suffered pitifully, but was nevertheless touched by bliss, was in some way renewed and in some way richer” (Hesse 95). Before this, nearly every mention of them was a negative connotation. This is the largest piece of proof that Siddhartha really has reached nirvana. To end the chapter, the boy takes off in a fit of anger and resentment towards the life his father had forced him to live. Siddhartha goes after him in desperation until he reaches the edge of the city. “He lived through all these things again, breathed in samsara, became old and tired again, felt again the revulsion, felt again the desire to put an end to himself, and healed once again through the sacred om” (Hesse 98). With all these thoughts and emotions pouring through him, he is touched by a hand, a hand who belongs to Vasudeva. This interruption by the ferryman is an indication to the peace he once again finds.
I totally agree! There are so many different ways of interpreting Siddhartha's relationship with his son and the meaning behind it. I like the points you bring up here with the state of peace Siddhartha is now in. Vasudeva was Siddhartha's only connection to his old life with Kamala and as a rich man. This time in his life was something that I beleive he needed to let go of in order to move on and continue on his path to enlightenment. Once doing so, he freed his soul and got even closer to nirvana; or maybe even reached nirvana.
Selected Passage: Pg. 108 (Start of the first paragraph to the end of the page)
Towards the end of the novel, Govinda visits a sage at the river when he is of old age, not knowing that Siddhartha is actually the sage. The passage selected contains the conversation between the two when they first meet. In the passage, Govinda asks Siddhartha about his inability to stop seeking - specifically about what to do about this constant desire. Siddhartha suggests that the reason could possibly be that Govinda seeks too much and does not find what he wants, but the grace of his words when giving the advice radiates a poetic feeling. For instance, his advice contains much repetition. The book states, “‘When someone seeks. . . his eyes only see the thing he is seeking and. . . he is incapable of finding anything, incapable of taking anything in, because. . . he has an object, a goal, because he is possessed by this goal. Seeking means having a goal, but finding means being free, open, having no goal.’” (Hesse 108). The repetition of the phrases “incapable of” and “goal” create an almost rhythmic mood. Siddhartha’s words, as a result, are calming and relaxing to the reader, much like a poem. The tranquility of his words seem to suggest that Siddhartha has known this revelation for a while now - perhaps from his personal experience of seeking too much and failing throughout the book, especially during his time in the river with Vasudeva. Next, Hesse utilizes a flashback when describing how Siddhartha reminisced about him and Govinda from many years ago. In this, Siddhartha explains how ages ago, Govinda came to the river and found a man sleeping, but he didn’t recognize him. And at that moment, Govinda realizes that Siddhartha is the sage. After this, Siddhartha explains how, “‘Certain people. . . must change a lot, must wear all kinds of outfits’” (108). This flashback and the quotation about changing outfits strongly highlight Siddhartha’s altering appearances due to his multiple instances of Samsara throughout the book. It reminds the reader of the milestones of his journey in the story. In this way, the reader reflects on Siddhartha’s journey as the story approaches it cessation, which in turn causes the reader to reflect on himself or herself.
While re-reading The Ferryman and The Sonn, I was distracted by family to go watch the movie adaptation of "The Little Prince". I found myself still going back to Siddhartha, and I couldn't figure out why until the end of the movie. "The Little Prince" is the story of a young boy leaving his home in search of answers about why he was unhappy, and his journey leads him to meet many strange people with quirks that aren't so strange in our world. The path he takes is almost identical to that of Siddhartha, though while Siddhartha lives the lives of those he encounters, the Little Prince merely observed them. But the theme of "The Little Prince" was very similar to the themes within Samsara and By The River, one of which was that the things we care so deeply about don't matter. Be it, money, power, none of it truly matters, "Is this what you mean: that the river is everywhere at once, at its source and at its mouth, at the the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and only the present exists for it, and not the shadow of the future?" (Hesse, 94, The Ferryman). Another theme that was shared was the idea that this physical form is not our true form, that without it we are something else entirely, "He could no longer distinguish the many vioces, the cheerful frm the weeping, the children's from the men's: they all belonged together. The lament of the knower's yearning and laughing, the screaming of the angry, the moaning of the dying-everything was one, everything was entwined and entwisted, was interwoven a thousandfold," (Hesse, 118, OM).
In the chapter Amongst the People, Siddhartha is tested to see how well he is able to do business or if he could take things seriously since he isn't really able to love anyone at all. He is mainly very selfish and only care about his journey and finding the meaning of life. The symbol of the river basically represent the flow of the water as people live their life until they are at least satisfied with what they have. He later realizes that all of Kamala's advice was more meaningful than Kamaswami is as Kamala opens up and teaches Siddhartha how to love. Both Kamala and Kamaswami have different impacts in Siddhartha's life but only one is being true in the new world Siddhartha is current surrounded by.
I totally agree that Kamala and Kamaswami had two very different impacts on Siddhartha. But, in my opinion I think that Kamala and Kamaswami's teachings can be equally important. Yes, Kamaswami only taught him how ordinary wealthy people lived, but this was important for Siddhartha to learn because he was completely alien to how ordinary people lived. I think this was important for him to know, that way he could reach all aspects of happiness/satisfaction. By knowing what many people get their happiness from, he could have determined if he was missing a piece in his life. Kamala taught Siddhartha on a more spiritual level. He is taught the art of love, and also how to love emotionally. Because of how selfish Siddhartha was, it was difficult for him to love others. His selfishness left no room for him to love. Kamala taught him something that he would carry for the rest of his life.
Siddhartha is now a brand new person. He see’s himself as a child once again because he has been reborn. As a new person he is very satisfied and happy with his life. He learns to love the river and he even states that he could stay by the river forever. He believes that his path has led him to this new life by the river. The beginning of the chapter “Ferryman” starts out with Siddhartha gazing at the river and admiring how beautiful it is. Hesse uses visual imagery to portray Siddhartha’s perspective of the river.
“The river looked at him with a thousand eyes-green, white, crystal, sky blue. How he loved this river, how it enchanted him, how grateful he was to it! In his heart he heard the newly awakened voice speak, and it said to him: “Love this river, stay by it, learn from it.” Yes, he wanted to learn from it, he wanted to listen to it.”
This part of the chapter really stood out to me because I noticed how similar this quote is to when Siddhartha met Kamala. At first glance of Kamala, Siddhartha was immediately in love. He wanted to be taught the art of love by her. In the first couple pages of the chapter “Kamala”, Siddhartha expresses how he feels about Kamala and her beauty. We can see from this, that he is lusting after her. Similar to the way Hesse described how Siddhartha acted around Kamala, the river can be seen as a women. As if Siddhartha is lusting after someone else and a new lifestyle. In this passage, the river looks at him with her enchanting eyes, wanting to teach him. This is a perfect example for the maxim, “important? Introduce it before you need it”. The theme of love is introduced early on in the novel. In the first chapter we can see how Siddhartha is loved by everyone in his village and how many women admire him. This recurring theme can be seen through Govinda’s love for Siddhartha, Kamala desire to show him the art of love, and now the river. Siddhartha has fallen in love with the river and his desire is to live by the river and learn from it.
In the chapter The son, Hesse compares Siddhartha's son to Siddhartha himself by creating many situations from Siddhartha's youth that he has gone through. All of Siddhartha's youth, he had everything handed to him. He had a nice house, plenty of food, clothing, and family and friends that loved him. He was what you could call, a spoiled child. Now many many years later, Siddhartha has his own son, and because he "loves" him, he hands him everything. Hesse says, "He did not force him, he did some chores for him, he always picked out the best morsel for him" (Hesse 103). He gives him the best food, does his work for him, sacrifices his own comfort for his child's, and makes him spoiled. In this situation, the best thing to do would be to let him go, but like Siddhartha's father not wanting to let him go, Siddhartha doesn't want to let his son go either. Like many other things in this book, that also has a connection to Samsara and never ending life. Siddhartha's son is like a version of Siddhartha reborn, who is living the same life over again.
The relationship between Siddhartha and his son is very similar to that of Siddhartha and his father. Both Siddhartha and his father have to watch their sons go on a new path away from them even if it’s not what they want. While Siddhartha wants his son to stay with him he eventually comes to the conclusion that his son would be better off back in the village where Kamala lived since that was the life the boy was used to. At some point in their lives every child has to leave their parents and discover the world for themselves whether the parents want them to or not. Neither Siddhartha or his son felt like they belonged with their fathers. Siddhartha longed for more, wishing to reach Nirvana he decided that he couldn’t do that if he stayed with his father and the Brahmins. Siddhartha’s son had been used to the lifestyle his mother Kamala lived which was vastly different than his father’s life “Siddhartha understood that his son did not know him (103)” so he chose to go find his own path, a place where he could belong. Siddhartha’s son is also called “the young bird (104)” by Vasudeva and throughout the story birds have been strong symbols typically for Siddhartha’s life. While Vasudeva is talking to Siddhartha he says that Siddhartha’s son is “used to a different life, a different nest (104)” which is how he tells Siddhartha that it is time to let his son go because flight is freedom and in this case the son is the bird rather than Siddhartha.
Siddhartha began to view life differently in this chapter. Kamala had just passed away and Siddhartha had found out that he had a son. This can be seen as a turning point for Siddhartha because throughout his journey he has held his pride up high. He has always felt that he was more valuable than ordinary people. Becoming a ferryman changed Siddhartha’s perspective on the world. He no longer believed that he was better than everyone but rather that he was similar to them. Hesse described that Siddhartha “regarded people in a different light than he had previously: not very clever, not very proud and therefore all the more warm, curious and sympathetic” (129). Being a ferryman meant that Siddhartha had to take a vast amount of different people on his ferry. Businessmen, soldiers, and women that he had taken no longer seemed alien to him as they once had (129). He did not understand or share their thoughts and views, but he shared with them life’s urges and desires. Although he had attained self-discipline he felt as if these ordinary people were his brothers and sisters. These people were no longer absurd or strange to Siddhartha. In fact he saw them as understandable, worthy of respect and lovable (130). Siddhartha realized that people have flaws. There is pride, anger, dishonestly, and lust within them, but these imperfections do not not keep people from their success. He saw people live and do great things. They were worthy of his love and respect. Living beside the river and taking people across the river helped him understand ordinary people and realize that he was no different from them. A phrase in this chapter that was important to me was when Hesse stated that Siddhartha “regarded people in a different light than he had previously”. The word light really stood out to me because it can interpreted in many ways. In this case, I believe that the word light means an understanding of a problem or a mystery. Siddhartha had finally solved a mystery he had been trying to solve on his journey. The mystery of ordinary people. He did not understand them at all. He believed they were foolish, thoughtless, and unintelligent. He wanted to know how they could only care about the things of the world. Is Siddhartha similar to the people of the world? Is he also imperfect and lured by the treasures of the world?
SARAH WELCH One of the themes of Siddhartha seems to be about allowing yourself to move on. In the beginning, Siddhartha has to realize and admit that the path he took was wrong. "Siddhartha said: "Yesterday, O Sublime One, I was granted the privilege of hearing our wondrous Teaching. Together with m friend I came from far away to hear the Teaching. And now my friend will remain with your followers, he has taken refuge with you. Bur I am resuming my pilgrimage," (Hesse, 30). He realizes that he will not gain happiness this way and moves on, seeking something new.He doesn't dwell on his mistake, his incorrect choice, but he allows it to fall off his shoulders before trying again. It happens after his time with Kamisalami and Kamala, "Now Siddhartha knew that the game was done, that he could play it no longer. A shudder ran through his body: inside him, he felt, something had died," (Hesse, 74). This time, it takes longer or Siddhartha to move on, for he must leave something he spent so much time with, so much time that it became a part of him. He dwells on it, thinks on it, regrets and mourns, but in the end he still continues. He travels to the ferryman, Vasudeva, and starts over. When his son leaves, that is the change, the "moving on" that finally releases Siddhartha. "Ah, the wound was not blossoming yet, his heart was still defying fate, serenity and victory were not yet beaming from his sorrow. Still, he felt hope, and upon returning to th ehut, he had an invincible desire to open up to Vasudeva, to disclose everything to him, reveal everything to him, the master of listening," (Hesse, 115). And when Siddhartha finally lets go of the sorrow his son caused him, there is nothing left to hurt his heart, to weigh him down. He finally learns his truth and reaches enlightenment. Dwelling on what had caused him pain rooted Siddhartha to Samsara, and when he finally stopped trying to cling to those feelings, he was released. In real life, dwelling on things that make you furious, that make you sad or bitter or even just upset, isn't worth it. People spend hours of their lives despising others, waiting and watching for a time when they can strike back at the one who hurt them. In the end it does nothing, no one is better off, no one is happier, revenge and grudges only hurt people. So by letting go, and moving on, one can be released from pain and suffering, just as Siddhartha was. And suddenly this sounds like a therapy ad ^_^ ~ Sarah Welch
In the beginning of the novel, Siddhartha analyzes the thoughts he has about himself and about those around him. Hesse writes, "He aroused joy in everyone, he was a delight to all. But Siddhartha was no joy to himself; he brought no pleasure to himself." He goes on to explain that he does not believe his mother, father or even Govinda can bring him "enduring happiness" and "contentment and satisfaction". This is the key to how he begins to make change. Siddhartha soon after leaves the life he knows in order to rid his ego. "Siddhartha had one single goal before him-to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of desire, empty of dreams, empty of joy and sorrow." He is on the road to becoming at peace with himself, but to do so he must encounter realizations and struggles he would never had imagined. The big struggles he feels of himself are that of being discontent and the need to believe there is more than what he knows. Hesse explores these inclinations in Siddhartha through the growing and teachings of religion and self-discovery.
ReplyDeleteYes! Absolutely! What do you think is going on literarily-speaking?
DeleteMs. Ballard
The opening passages of Siddhartha struck me as odd because they treat Siddhartha as this perfect being. His village loves him, he's handsome, he's clever, his family adores him, and yet he doesn't think it's enough. The source of conflict in Siddhartha is his own unhappiness, which draws from selfishness. "He had started feeling that his father's love, and his mother's love, and also his friend Govinda's love would not make him happy forever and always, not please him, gratify him, satisfy him," (Hesse, 5). The love of those he cares about isn't enough for him to be happy, no he needs more, he needs something else. This need for MORE drives him to become a samana, to follow kamala, to stay at the river, it's all about him. True, we are only creatures of our own minds, but Siddhartha allows this to consume him. Never in the story does he do something for Govinda, for Kamala, for Vasudeva. Even when he's doing everything for his son, it's because Siddartha desperately wants his son's love, his happiness, to make the father feel wonderful. The opening passage makes this evident, and then it slips into a background as the story continues, but ultimately, Siddhartha's ultimate flaw was his selfishness. I know we're only supposed to comment on the opening passages, but I could only think of his selfishness in later chapters as I read of Siddhartha's flawlessness and blessed beginnings.
ReplyDeleteI really love your analysis! I never would have thought that Siddhartha could be selfish if it weren’t for your post. I’m used to seeing him in this positive light - an ordinary person striving to make something greater of his life. But your insight into Siddhartha’s selfishness made me stop and consider his actions throughout the novel. You make a very good point at describing that every action that he does is selfish. However, I’d like to argue that even though his actions may seem selfish, Siddhartha does leave a lasting effect on each person that has the fortune of interacting with him. For instance, with Kamala, she ceased to be a materialistic woman that is only concerned with her looks. After being with Siddhartha, she became more selfless, which is evidenced by page 86. In this, the novel describes, “She had long since withdrawn from her former life, had made a gift of her garden to the monks of Gotama, had taken refuge in the teaching, and was among the friends and benefactors of those traveling to see the Buddha” (Hesse 86). If it were not for Siddhartha, she would probably remain materialistic and greedy, and as she would approach old age, she would have many regrets. Being with Siddhartha, however, changed her into a compassionate matron filled with satisfaction. She even converted her religion to Buddhism.
DeleteGood discussion/reply! That is the whole purpose--good points, Sarah, and good job reading/replying, Jonathan! :)
DeleteMs. Ballard
Answering from school the school computer, I'm fully aware that Siddahartha left a positive mark on those he touched, but that was never his intention. He went out into the world to fulfill his own purpose and never deviated from that. His time with Kamala showed that completely as this selfishness consumed him. Sure, he left positive changes behind, but he never meant to do that until it was with his son, and even then it was so Siddhartha could feel like a good father.
Delete- Sarah Welch
Towards the end of the first chapter of Siddhartha, the main character Siddhartha yearns to become a shramana after a group of them passed through his city. Naturally, his father objects to this, but after seeing Siddhartha’s immense determination to achieve his desire, he eventually capitulates to him. However, the passage that describes Siddhartha’s determination strikes a great feeling of restlessness in the reader. The passage begins on page 9 with Siddhartha standing with his arms crossed after his father rejects his desire to become a shramana. The novel explains, “‘What are you waiting for?’ said his father. ‘You know,’ said Siddhartha’” (Hesse 9). Throughout the entirety of this section, Siddhartha stands in the exact same spot that he was in, his arms crossed and his heart set on his aspiration. The excerpt then continues with immeasurable repetition. Each paragraph essentially begins the same way. Each one describes how his father came to his son after each hour since he could not sleep, and he sees him still standing there with his arms crossed. His father’s heart fills with innumerable emotions, and he notices the moonlight around his son. This repetitiveness causes the reader to crave for direction, for something new. This effectively removes any uncertainty about Siddhartha’s decision to become a shramana. The reader has become so restless that they cannot stay in this city with Siddhartha anymore. They need to advance somewhere else or else their minds will fill with intense boredom. Everything in this city just recurs. The passage even ends the exact same way that it started. It explains, “‘Siddhartha,’ [his father] said, ‘what are you waiting for?’ ‘You know’” (9). This, in my opinion, exemplifies a thematic effect - It causes the reader to question the recurrence of their life. In this way, he or she wishes to become akin to Siddhartha and begin their life anew, and consequently, they are sucked into the story. In a more literal sense, the similarity of the beginning and the end of the passage is the first indicator of Siddhartha’s great willpower - a trait that is seen many times throughout the novel. All in all, the display of Siddhartha’s extraordinary thirst for variation in his life illustrates his profound self-discipline and motivates the reader to ponder the cyclical nature of their life and make an effort to change it.
ReplyDeleteIn Siddhartha, the opening passage talked about Siddhartha as a person and how people would love him, the way people respected him and his father. The passage also gave a description of who Siddhartha was as a person for example, "the young falcon" , mentioning he was wise and was starting develop religion. Also the way people expected him to be like his father didn't satisfy him as a person made him wonder what he was missing. In the book, Siddhartha changes his views by being in a different group but still feels unsatisfied which is what happens in the real world. But he sees things differently than others but still wanted to continue to try and satisfy himself. Later he finds himself searching for the meaning of life that he isn't able to find to satisfy himself.
ReplyDeleteYes! Why falcon, do you think??
DeleteThe falcon also shows strength and it is a foreshadowing of Siddhartha using his strength to become a better person that he already is so he can help other people become better.
DeleteThe beginning of the novel sets a seemingly perfect, peaceful world where it introduces the character that everyone views as flawless, Siddhartha. Siddhartha is portrayed as being incredibly smart, good-looking, and amazing at everything that he does. Through the use of diction, Hesse describes Siddhartha's character by using advanced adjectives and nouns like "ardent" and "orator" to show just how far above everyone else he is. The whole village he lives in loves him and he makes everyone happy, especially his best friend Govinda. His parents are full of pride and happiness, and his father sees him as being one of the greatest of the Brahmins. Though Siddhartha could be great, greater than he already is, he was not satisfied, and this was his source of conflict. It says that "he delighted and made everyone else happy. But [he] himself was not happy" (Hesse 5). Siddhartha was a waiting vessel, yearning to acquire more and more knowledge and to find himself, but he he suspected that all of the Brahmin's wisdom had already been passed on, and there was nothing left for them to offer. After much contemplation, a group of Samanas passed through the town, and Siddhartha sees this as his golden opportunity to go his own way. Govinda is shocked by this sudden decision, but is almost immediately ready to follow Siddhartha wherever he may go. His father, however, was not so easy to convince. Siddhartha goes to see his father and asks for permission to leave. His father thinks about this for a long time, so long that Hesse uses the movement of stars to show the passage of time, but when his father finally comes to a decision and says no, Siddhartha continues to wait. He waits all throughout the night until the first light of day shines in the room, and his father realizes that he had to send Siddhartha on his own way. Just about everything that was mentioned in this first chapter of the book is something that will come up later or be a continuous presence all throughout the book. The river, Govinda, the peacefulness, and his thirst for knowledge and self are all brought up later and have some meaning of importance to the story.
ReplyDeleteLots of good insight! Feel free to use more text! :)
DeleteSelected Passage: The Brahmin’s Son (Pgs 3-5)
ReplyDeleteIn this passage it is clear that Siddhartha is not like the other like the other people in his village. He is well respected and seems to be wiser than most people. Hesse describes Siddhartha as if he already is a godly figure. But this may also just be forecasting for what he’s destined for. One thing that was quite noticeable from this passage to me, was the fact that Hesse described Siddhartha as a “young falcon” (3). But why a falcon? Why not an eagle or just simply, a bird? To get a deeper understand of what Hesse meant by this, I looked up the term “falcon”. I found from it’s original latin term that it means “traveler or foreigner”. By putting the pieces together, it is quite obvious why Siddhartha is very similar to a falcon. He has learned every single way of the Brahmin but yet he is a foreigner; in a place where he does not belong. Just because Siddhartha has mastered everything that the Brahmin’s have taught him, does not mean that he is at peace. It makes me question “he already has everything anyone could possibly want, how can he still be discontent?” Thinking about this led me to relating it back to the real world. People are exactly like how Siddhartha had felt. Once people achieve or gain something, they are always hungry for more. Could it be that because Siddhartha learned everything quicker than others that he was the first to be hungry for more? As a reader, I feel for Siddhartha because he should not feel that he is completely shaming his people or disrespecting them, in fact he just happens to be the first to realize that the way of the Brahmin is not the way to Nirvana.
The first few pages of Siddhartha really stood out to me because they have a much different feel than the rest of the first chapter. You first learn that the main character Siddhartha is loved by all and is destined to be a great man, only to find out that he “did not bring joy to himself, he did not delight himself (4).” Siddhartha thirsted for more, feeling that his current life would “not make him happy forever”(5). I found it interesting how Siddhartha decided to leave his village in order to seek the Buddha in hopes of achieving Nirvana when everyone else thought he should stay. He knew that if he ever wanted to reach Nirvana he could not do that with the Brahmin.
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha is also referred to as “the young falcon (3)” which symbolizes strength, victory, freedom, and traveler. Birds are a motif throughout the story. Kamala keeps a songbird in a cage to represent lack of freedom, but she eventually releases it. This bird has parallels to Siddhartha’s life such as Kamala lets them both go free to live their own paths. Herman Hesse uses a variety of literary devices throughout Siddhartha allowing the reader to understand the characters and their actions and thoughts better.
When Siddhartha and Govinda become informed of this man called Buddha, Govinda is eager to hear the teachings he has to offer. The name has everyone buzzing with excitement and curious to hear of this enlightenment. But when Siddhartha finally lays eyes on Gautama, he doesn’t seem like a god. Hesse writes, “Just like all his monks he wore a robe and placed his feet precisely, according to precept” (Hesse 23). He must do as the rest of them to eat and survive. However, just by sight Siddhartha and Govinda or wholly inspired by Buddha. The way he simply holds himself assures them of his holiness. “But his face and gait; his still, lowered gaze; his still, loose-hanging hand; and even every finger on his still, loose-hanging hand were expressions of peace, of perfection” (Hesse 23). After hearing the teachings of the Exalted One, Siddhartha still believed that he could not achieve his own enlightenment purely by the teachings of another. The key for Siddhartha, however, was what Gautama did to break his own cycle, and is Siddhartha following the right path to breaking his own?
ReplyDeleteI love your analysis of the Gautama! It really makes you think about the effect that simple things like posture and the way you walk can have on your personality and how others perceive you. And yes, I would agree that Siddhartha is following the right path. We can always be taught about something, but we can never fully comprehend this thing until we experience it. Your analysis reminded me of the scene in "Good Will Hunting" where Sean Maguire, a therapist, sits on a park bench with Will Hunting, one of his clients, and conveys to him Will's frivolous ideology of life. He explains how Will always spouts out information about ideas and places but has only read about them in a book. He says how he may know art, but he does not know the smell of the Sistine Chapel and the experience of looking up at the beautiful art displayed on the ceiling. Will can know about love, but he will never truly know what it means until he can look at a woman and be totally vulnerable - to feel that God had put on angel on the earth just for him. So you can always be taught ideas, but you will never have the chance to understand them until you can experience them for yourself. This highlights the difference between intelligence and wisdom. Siddhartha has chosen the right path in discovering his true self - he has chosen wisely in his quest for wisdom.
DeleteWhat do you make of the different way that Govinda approaches this meeting? (Good job posting early again!) :)
ReplyDeleteSelected passage: The Awakening (pgs 38-39)
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha has finally realized what he has been missing in his life. So far, on his journey he has made the decision to leave his people and family behind. Shortly after, he decides to try the way of the Samanas. But this did not work out for him. Siddhartha realizes that he does not know who he is. This eventually leads to his main question; “How can I find enlightenment within, if I do not even know myself”. This passage is a great example of the maxim, “When writers send character south, it’s so they can run amok”. In this case, Siddhartha leaves the Brahmins to go find true happiness. At first his father is very hesitant and will not let him go. His life was paved out for him by his family but he chose to find out where he could find nirvana by himself. This can be seen as a sign of rebellion and in other words almost “running amok”. But by “running amok” Siddhartha learns that the way of the Samanas is not the way to nirvana. At first, Siddhartha was in denial that he was not conquering himself, but rather only tricking himself into thinking so (38). He finally comes to a realization that he could only deceive, fly, and hide from himself. Siddhartha treats this “self” as if it is a whole nother person. It is as if he fears this “self” and is trying to stay away from it as far as possible. If Siddhartha did not run away he may have never discovered that he needed to learn about himself. Throughout Siddhartha’s life he has learned from teachings and teachers and though he has mastered everything they have taught him, he has not gotten any closer to enlightenment (38). He then realizes that the one thing teachers and mentors cannot teach him is about the nature and character of himself (38). This is an eye-opening moment for Siddhartha because he now knows the first step he must take to reach enlightenment.
Selected Passage: Awakening (Pg. 31 - from the start of the paragraph on the top to three quarters of the page)
ReplyDeleteDuring the beginning of “Awakening,” Siddhartha ponders what his teachers were unable to teach him, and he figures out that it was the meaning of himself and his ego. The excerpt that states this revelation, however, contains many literary elements and devices that make it stand out as a personal favorite of the chapter. First of all, the passage involves much parallel structure. For instance, the book repeats the phrase “the ego” in the beginning of the passage, saying how, “It was the ego whose meaning and essence I wanted to learn. It was the ego that I wanted to get rid of, to overcome” (Hesse 31). The book also repeats the phrase “that I am” when describing Siddhartha’s internal revelation of himself and his purpose in life and “I was” when explaining what he had been trying so long to find and how it affected him. This parallel structure is intended to show that everything that Siddhartha is contemplating is important - not one thing is more important than the other. Every thought is equally connected. This application of parallel structure displays Hesse’s purpose of the passage - to cause the reader to contemplate every single thing that Siddhartha is contemplating. This, in turn, allows he or she to fully discern what Siddhartha is thinking and possibly sympathize with him. Also, notice how the syntax is quite long during the passage. For example, it states that, “I was looking for atman, I was looking for Brahman; I was determined to tear my ego apart, to peel it layer by layer in order to find an unknown innards the pith behind all the husks, atman, life, the divine, the ultimate” (31). Long sentences are frequently used in this passage to involve the reader in Siddhartha’s thoughts - the length shows that this is Siddhartha’s actual thoughts while walking, not just a recap of them. In this way, the reader feels that they have a true insight into Siddhartha himself - they could feel exactly what he’s feeling if they know what is exactly on his mind. However, there are moments in the passage where the syntax is short. This usually appears when he realizes something. For instance, short syntax is used when he recognizes his true desire to learn from teachings. “It was the ego whose meaning and essence I wanted to learn. It was the ego that I wanted to get rid of, to overcome” (31). This briefness indicates Siddhartha’s “lightbulb” moments, displaying more insight into the mind of Siddhartha for the reader to comprehend. He or she is effectively sucked into the story.
You're analysis is very interesting! I really like how you observed the syntax. Just to add to your thoughts, I agree with you. I also made note of how important the beginning of the awakening was. It definitely was a turning point for Siddhartha and opened his eyes up to what he was missing. I also found it very interesting of how you elaborated on the part when Siddhartha talked about his ego. Ego is a person’s self-worth and self-importance. We often think of ego as a bad and very negative thing but everyone has it. It's your self-confidence. In this case, siddhartha wanted to learn his self-worth and more about him. When living with the Samanas, he was not able to learn anything about himself. In a way, it's as if Siddhartha is speaking about ego as a whole other person. I included that in my blog, but overall I think this whole chapter is him discovering another part of him. Like he is just seeing himself for the first time. I also really liked how you pointed out how syntax affects the mood of the story. It definitely helps us understand better how Siddhartha was feeling and how important this moment was to him. Great job catching the different ways that Hesse used to create the mood!
DeleteI also noticed that the syntax often portrays how Siddhartha is feeling. However, I think Hesse is trying to connect the reader to the narrator more than Siddhartha himself. By following Siddhartha’s journey, rather than being actively in it, the reader can relate his journey to their own. I noticed also that Hesse uses a lot of rhetorical questions, which we then apply to our own life, not Siddhartha’s. Siddhartha’s journey is simply a template of our own, and we are being guided by Hesse. In essence, the reader becomes the narrator.
ReplyDeleteAs we get further into Siddhartha we learn more about what the characters and their lives are like. One character I find really interesting is Govinda. Govinda is Siddhartha’s friend, but he follows around Siddhartha like a “shadow (34)” as he is referred to many times within the first few chapters. One fantastic analogy I found while looking on the internet about the symbolism of a shadow was Peter’s shadow in Peter Pan. Peter’s shadow, like any, stays with him until Mrs. Darling locks it up in a drawer which has parallels to Siddhartha and Govinda. Once the shadow becomes detached it is much harder to reattach it, as we see later in the book when Siddhartha and Govinda cross paths again. When starting to read the first part of this book I wondered why the author had chosen to include a character like Govinda other than for the reader to see through his eyes how amazing Siddhartha is. “Govinda listened ecstatically and wanted to ask and hear a lot more. But Siddhartha said they would have to go on (26)” Up until the point when Govinda decides to “take refuge with the Sublime One and his Teaching” he follows around Siddhartha and hangs on his every word. Govinda shows character development when he chooses to begin his own path following a new teaching. Not only does Govinda begin his own path, but Siddhartha does as well for when he says “The Buddha has robbed me (34)” referring to Govinda staying, “But he has given me Siddhartha, has given me my self (34).” Without Govinda as his constant companion Siddhartha is free to continue his quest in hopes of reaching Nirvana.
ReplyDeleteDuring my reading of the chapters three and four, Gautama and Awakening, a few things stood out to me, especially the idea of change. In the beginning of Gautama, you can see the breaking up of Siddhartha and Govinda well before it happens. Each character is ready to take steps in their own direction, Govinda’s being toward Gautama and Siddhartha’s being down his own road. Upon reaching the town of Savathi, Govinda says, “Fine, then we have reached our goal and our journey is over!” (Hesse 25). At the same time, Siddhartha is thinking that this whole trip is going to end up being a waste and that he’s not expecting much. Hesse also uses language in a few places throughout the chapter to create a more perturbed feel rather than it’s normal peacefulness. This also continues into chapter four, Awakening, when Siddhartha undergoes his biggest change yet. Siddhartha’s view on life changes completely, and Hesse uses repetition to show his exclamation. He also uses animals to show this change, and in particular, the snake. Hesse says on page 37, “Siddhartha halted again, suddenly, as if a serpent were lying in his path. A snake, like change, is generally feared by most people and would make you want to stop in your path and back away from it. Snakes go unseen in the world, like most change that happens without us even realizing it, and the there’s the obvious one, snakes lose their skin. Another comparison Hesse uses is the river. The river is a constant theme in the book, and here it represents change. Sure, a river is constantly flowing with no end, but it also brings change in the world. Over time, rivers can completely change a landscape. Rivers can take things away, or give things back, it just depends on how you look at it. This isn’t the first, nor the last change that Siddhartha goes through, but it certainly is one of his biggest.
ReplyDeleteI did not make the connection of the snake and Siddhartha in connection to the idea of change, and I think that it is a very good and interesting connection you made! One thing that I did notice in terms of this idea of change you discussed was looking at how Siddhartha's actions changed. Previously at brahmin, Siddhartha was rather obedient where he grew up, but when you look at were we are now in the book, you see Siddhartha speaking boldly to the Buddha in a manner that is almost like objection. He speaks respectfully to the Buddha, but remains very firm in his thoughts. Looking at this contrast can potentially be a good way to expand/strengthen the theme of change throughout Siddhartha's life. The literary devices aspect has a great start on you end, adding the significance of Siddhartha's action would be really interesting. Overall I enjoyed reading your response, Andrew!
DeleteReading further into Siddhartha we begin to hear of a legendary monk name Gautama, AKA Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, as in, the real Slim Shady. It'd be an easy misconception to think of the protagonist Siddhartha as the real deal, for all you would have to know is the name of the Buddha and a vague understanding of his story to come to the false conclusion that the protagonist is the Buddha.
ReplyDeleteBut despite them being so similar, Gautama and our Siddhartha are very different. For one, Gautama leaves everything and lets go of it, he moves on to an open and free lifestyle and believes the world to be whole. Our Siddhartha, however, does not see it as such and finds a vague imperfection, in himself, an impasse to such enlightenment. Our Siddhartha cannot rid himself of his desire to learn, to know, to want, it's in the very core of his being, to overcome that is how he reaches enlightenment. In the very very end he finally does not want, he has a home and friend with the river, he doesn't fear the future, and he wants no more than he has and even then, that ownership is only temporary as this incarnation.
The fact is, our Siddhartha is nowhere near close to the real Siddhartha Gautama, only because of his self-centeredness and selfishness. The only true similarities they share are the blessed beginnings and a name that now symbolizes enlightenment.
-Sarah Welch, posting from school computer
I agree but if you could find quotes to support your idea that would be great. I totally understand what you are saying.
DeleteIn chapter five, we begin to see Siddhartha physically start to lust after the women he meets. He is beginning to become increasingly aware of the human connections and urges that he had repressed as a shramana. Hesse writes, "Siddhartha felt his blood heating up, and because his dream returned to his mind at that moment, he bent down over the woman and kissed the brown tip of her breast with his lips" (Hesse 41). But his inner voice stops him from pursuing more. When Siddhartha reaches the town, he lays eyes on the woman known as Kamala. Unlike the previous woman, Siddhartha is very interestingly drawn to Kamala. She is decorated by jewels and radiates beauty. "Beneath black hair coifed high on her head, he saw a very bright, very tender, very intelligent face, a bright red mouth like a fig newly broken open, eyebrows that had been trained and painted into lofty arches, dark eyes, intelligent and alert, a pale long neck emerging from a green and gold mantle, and pale hands resting loose, long and narrow, with broad gold bands at the wrists" (Hesse 42). The analogy Hesse uses by comparing Kamala's lips to a newly broken fig strikes me as interesting, because in the the life of Siddhartha Gautama, he finds enlightenment when he chooses to meditate under a fig tree. I believe Hesse uses this analogy in order to indicate that Kamala will become an important factor in Siddhartha's journey to reaching enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteI was really close to doing my blog post on this quote from my translation of the book (it just uses a couple different words than yours), cause I found a couple interesting things.
DeleteIn both of our translations, notice how Kamala is described with words either meaning or connoting intelligence. Her description starting with the top of her head (which is where your brain is), "bright", "intelligent", "trained", "alert", "green and gold" (colors of freshness and wealth, which is usually gained because of your intelligence), and in my translation, "well-tended", "smart", "watchful", and "clear". I like the connection you made about the fig analogy. In my translation, the words are "like a freshly cracked fig" (Hesse 33% on kindle). To me, "fresh" connotes some form of presence, and the sharp consonant sounds in "cracked" have a sophisticated feel. Hesse introduces us to Kamala as beautiful, but uses words that also imply that she is very smart and cognizant. This is done to put Kamala on the same tier as Sidd., as an adult above the "childlike people." The events before this, with Sidd.'s encounter with the woman at the well, further places Kamala above everyone else. The woman at the well, after Sidd. hears The Self tell him to not engage with her, becomes "a female animal in heat" (Hesse 32% on kindle). With this woman placed so low in Sidd.'s desires, meeting Kamala next and not being described as an animal in heat is already a step up.
I find it peculiar how Siddhartha lusts after the woman he met but decides not to have sex with her, yet he lusts after Kamala and decides to court her (so that he could have sex with her). I believe this shows that Siddhartha does not care solely on physical attributes. He is further interested in mental attributes, as evidenced by the reasoning for his lust for Kamala. The book even explains how he saw the woman as “a rutting female animal” (Hesse 41). But when he sees Kamala, he not only sees a physical beauty within her, but also sees “a very intelligent face” (42). In this way, Siddhartha’s character and personality is greatly expanded. He does not want the “goods.” He wants the goodness.
DeleteSelected passage: Kamala (pgs 45-48)
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha has now just started his journey to find himself. After his eye opening experience in chapter 4 he has now opened up to the world more. One thing I noticed is how this novel is split up into two parts. Chapter five is when part two begins because Siddhartha has just had a turning point in his life. Instead of blocking and shutting the world out, he is able to gain and benefit from the it. Chapter five begins with Siddhartha gazing and admiring how beautiful the world is (45). Something that stood out to me is when Hesse explained how the wonders and beauty of the world had always been present but it had meant nothing to Siddhartha expect a fleeting and illusive veil before his eyes (45). After reading this passage it started to make sense to me of how little and meaningless the world meant to Siddhartha. To have a better understanding of what Hesse meant by “Illusive veil” I decided to search for what these words mean. The word illusive means to be misleading or deceiving. In this case Siddhartha viewed the world as a place that was untruthful and full of lies. Some words that associate with “illusive” are false, imaginary, and fake. I took note of the importance of this because I also noticed that the word “illusive” not only means “to lie” but also to be imaginary or fake. The word “veil” means to cover, separate, or conceal. What I take away from these two words is the fact that Siddhartha was being separated by a veil that was imaginary and untruthful. From my perspective the veil is like a person that has kept Siddhartha from the beauty truth of the world by lying to him about the true nature of the world.
I agree with this! Sid has finally started his new life path towards enlightenment where he is guiding himself. He is no longer shielded by the deceiving teachings of the Samanas. He is now seeing the world with a fresh, clear perspective. I think the illusive veil is the metaphoric tool Hesse uses to describe Sid's emotions through this new discovery. It coincides with the original meaning of “lifting the veil” from Greek philosophy; meaning to reveal something once not known/uncovering the falsehood and deceit. Your person explanation is a little confusing, I see what you’re getting at but who specifically are you referring to?
DeleteSelected Passage - Pg. 43-44 (from the first quotation by Kamala on the page to the end of the last quotation by Siddhartha on the page)
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing Kamala for the first time, entering the city, and cleaning himself up, Siddhartha encounters Kamala once more. He speaks to her about his desire for her. The novel explains, “‘I would like to ask you, Kamala, to be my friend and my teacher, for as yet I know nothing of the art of which you are a master’” (Hesse 43-44). However, as discussed earlier in the book, Siddhartha does not have the desire to be taught anymore. In the beginning of the chapter “Awakening,” the book explains, “He realized that there was one thing he had left behind. . . the desire to have a teacher and to hear teachings” (30). So why does Siddhartha desire to learn more when he explicitly said that he does not want to be taught anything more? In my opinion, this sudden change in desire displays that everyone is always trying to learn. No matter what one says, he or she is always aiming to improve themselves whether they consciously know it or not. This change also echoes part of the literary maxim where the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge since Siddhartha is attempting to improve his self-knowledge with Kamala’s assistance. He wants to learn more in order to better understand himself. Also, to discuss a more literary element of the passage, Siddhartha refers to himself in the third person throughout this passage. The novel describes, “‘You saw Siddhartha the brahmin’s son. . . You are the first woman to whom Siddhartha has spoken other than with downcast eyes” (43). This referral to himself in the third person displays a disconnect within Siddhartha, differentiating himself from his body and his soul or ego. He seems to see his body as something that desires physical attributes since he refers to himself in the third person when speaking about traveling and his desire for Kamala.
Looking at the selected passage, I can really get that contradictory feeling of Siddhartha suddenly wanting to learn when he completely dismissed the notion of learning through others in the previous chapter. I think that part of the reason that Siddhartha is referring to himself in the third person here specifically can to argued to be because he does not want to admit that he wants to learn from others. He rejected the notion previously, and since most people have a sense of pride for their word that must be upheld, I think that Siddhartha creating that disconnect shows that he has pride in his word, which he does not wish to break, yet proceeds to do so. One thing that you mentioned was that Siddhartha whether he knew it consciously or not is working towards self-improvement. Sigmund Freud theorized the conscious and subconscious of the human mind, otherwise known as the id, ego, and superego. The id is that kid like prideful version of oneself that's only goal is to satisfy himself. The id may be that disconnect that Siddhartha makes in order to separate himself from his physical desires. Good point of bringing in that maxim as well.
DeleteIn the next 2 chapters of Siddhartha “Kamala” and “Among the Child People” we see a lot of foreshadowing. “And I expected no fare from you and no gift. You will give me the gift another time (46)” is what the ferryman says to Siddhartha on his first passing over the river. We know that later in the story Siddhartha comes upon the ferryman and the river again and does indeed pay him back. The ferryman also says “let friendship be my fee” which does happen as they become friends once Siddhartha decides to stay at the river. While Siddhartha spends the night by the river in the ferryman’s hut he has a dream about Govinda in which Govinda asks “Why did you leave me (45)?” This is foreshadowing to when Siddhartha and Govinda will meet again which just so happens to be at the river. The quote “if you toss a stone into water, it takes the swiftest way to the bottom (56)” can be interpreted many different ways. I think that one of its meanings could be that Siddhartha is committed to his goal to impress and learn from Kamala and he will find the quickest way to do so. However this quote could also mean that first you have to hit the bottom only then can you begin to climb back up. Siddhartha came to Kamala homeless with long hair and a beard. After he sees her and she tells him he needs to become rich and wear luxurious clothes and shoes, he does exactly that. He builds himself up from nothing into a rich merchant to impress Kamala. All of these things I listed that Siddhartha experiences connect back to water and the river. A river can symbolize life or beginning which happens when Siddhartha begins a new path after crossing the river. These are only a few examples of the foreshadowing in these two chapters since there are a lot, but there are some of the ones that stood out to me the most.
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting that the place where Siddhartha finally attains enlightenment is the place that he just so happened to pass by one day, and it's the ferryman who predicts that he will return. This comparison between swimming from the bottom to the top is really good for describing how Siddhartha changed himself for Kamala, and it also comes into play in chapter seven when he really ruins himself with money, women, and gambling. The swiftest way to the bottom was by getting himself involved with money and women, and it will take a lot to swim up from there.
DeleteAt the beginning of part two, it starts out by stating that Siddhartha can see everything in the world that seems really obvious. "He saw trees, stars, animals, clouds, rainbows,..." (Hesse 43). Hesse takes the time to go over each and every one of these to show just how much Siddhartha was blinded before and how much he can see now. He went from an attitude of trying to rid himself of all his senses and experience life from outside his body to find himself, to realizing that his self is already within him and he needs only to listen to it. Throughout the beginning of his "new life," he continues to note all of the plants animals which were never before mentioned in his previous life, not even with the Samanas, who lived their whole life outside. Another thing Hesse does is change between first and third person when Siddhartha is referring to himself. When he uses the third person, he is using it because he is not content with himself and doesn't wish for that particular statement to be his true self. When talking to Kamala for the first time, he says, " you saw Siddhartha, the Brahmin's son..." (Hesse 50). Because he's talking about his previous life, the one he is not as satisfied with, he talked in the third person. In comparison, when he is again talking to Kamala before meeting with Kamaswami, he used first person to say, " When I walked into your grove, I was taking the first step" (Hesse 56). This is him talking about his new and improved life, so he talked in the first person. Another way Hesse used to show Siddhartha's internal conflicts is through the use of children. At the beginning of part two, he used children to show the innocence and ignorance of life, like how most children are. At this point, Siddhartha also considered himself to be one of these children. As the story progresses into chapters six and seven, Siddhartha grows farther and farther away from the children until it gets to the point where he despises them. He becomes corrupted and his soul begins to rot away, as it is compared to with the potter's wheel. When he thought he was progressing towards self knowledge by exploring all the wonders of life, he was actually getting further and further away and ended up losing himself.
ReplyDeleteYou made some really interesting points. I never noticed that Siddhartha switched from third to first person, but now that you pointed it out it makes perfect sense. I also agree that Siddhartha was blind to the world in his past. I think that this chapter is all about him being reborn, another reason for the use of children, and that he is shedding his past and reverting to a more "base" version of himself.
DeleteI also agree with what you and Epiphany said. However, the rebirth of Siddhartha is not who we would image Siddhartha to be. Not myself at least. A person that has nothing and finds peace in this, becoming a materialistic person who only cares about what he has and what he does not? He was again following the path of Kamaswami in order to gain the love of Kamala.
DeleteI used the same quote as you and agreed with Epiphany that Siddhartha was blind to the real world before he met Kamala and Kamaswami and he fell under the spell that the rest of the world is in and become obsessed with materialistic things
DeleteThe way of the child people has caught Siddhartha after living in the town for a great while and Siddhartha breeds dissatisfaction with petty things that have suddenly become important to him. Hesse states, “The world had caught him-pleasure, greed, and indifference-and finally even the vice that he had always despised and derided as the most foolish of all, craving for possessions” (Hesse 62). Siddhartha also gets into gambling, thriving on the “..dread and uncanny fear he felt throwing the dice with big stakes hanging in the balance” (Hesse 62). What Siddhartha is experiencing is addiction and greed, something he thought was for those below him. The gambling gives him short-term excitement and profit, however these achievements begin to deeply affect qualities that we as readers were thought to be essential to Siddhartha, like his generosity and patience. The giant ego we all see in Siddhartha at the beginning of this novel is completely deteriorated in this chapter. Siddhartha’s hubris and egocentric thoughts and behavior over the child people is what leads him to become like them.
ReplyDeleteBut would you not agree that becoming one of the “childpeople” as Siddhartha calls them essential to his journey for self-improvement? Because without it, I doubt he would have stumbled upon the river again, found contrition within it, and meet the influential Vasudeva. He would not have been able to reach true happiness as displayed in the end of the book. So yes, you could argue that Siddhartha had a huge ego that led him down a path of greed and materialism and make mistakes. But our lives are supposed to contain mistakes, no? Every human being is supposed to make innumerable mistakes throughout their life, and they are made so that we could learn from them. Siddhartha may have made a huge mistake. But this huge mistake allowed for a huger repentance.
DeleteSelected Passage: Pg. 69-70 (Start of the second paragraph of the page to the end of the second paragraph on the next page)
ReplyDeleteAfter leaving the city and Kamala due to his recognition of his materialism, Siddhartha wanders into the forest that he had been in before arriving in the city many years ago. He stumbles upon the river that he had passed through a long time ago and stared at the water, wanting to jump into the river and be rid of himself. The passage selected contains this desire of death and has many literary elements that reinforce this. For one, the excerpt contains much finality diction. It has words such as “emptiness,” “end,” “extinguish,” “smash,” “death,” “rotten,” “devour,” and “tear.” These words instill the effect of helplessness and suffering in the reader. They force the reader to feel as powerless as Siddhartha does at that time, aiding him or her to understand Siddhartha’s thought process and why he wants to do it. If these words were not present in the passage, Siddhartha’s desire to execute himself by drowning would not have had as strong of an effect. It would have made the reader just believe that Siddhartha is weak and giving up after experiencing hardship. Instead, the reader is moved by his decision and feels that he should not jump and just repent. Also, there is some variance with the length of syntax within the passage. Before Siddhartha jumps into the river, the sentence length is fairly long. For instance, the book states how, “Siddhartha leaned his shoulder against [the tree,] laid his arm over the trunk, and gazed down into the green water that flowed endlessly by, gazed down and found himself wholly and completely filled with the desire to be rid of himself and sink beneath this water” (Hesse 69). This represents his inner turmoil and conflict within himself and how challenging it is at that moment. But when he jumps into the river, the sentence length shortens down considerably, as shown by the book stating how, “He sank, his eyes closed, toward death” (69). This briefness greatly shows the abruptness of Siddhartha’s decision. He decides to jump into the river without a second thought. Syntax does a terrific job at portraying Siddhartha’s thought process throughout the book. Finally, Siddhartha deciding not to drown himself and coming out of the river with newfound courage and hope contains a major biblical allusion. This action of water is akin to baptism in Christianity, which rids the body of original sin that is passed down from Adam and Eve. So just as baptism repents people of their sins, Siddhartha’s actions repented him of his sins, and he was washed away into a clean slate.
My favorite part of your analysis is how you call attention to the sentence length, beginning with long sentences to show Siddhartha's usual thought process and ending in short sentences to indicate the abruptness of his decision. I personally believe sentence length is largely important for excellent delivery of dramatic scenes in stories. Your mention of how the words Hesse uses in this chapter sets a 'powerless' mood I also find very compelling, as well as how Siddhartha is 'baptised' when he jumps into the river as in reference to Christianity. Overall, your analysis of this chapter is very well thought out and expressed in your post.
DeleteGood discussion of the finality diction!
ReplyDeleteSARAH WELCH
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of his time with Kamala, SIddhartha is convinced he can’t learn enlightenment from anyone but himself. And while this is partially true, he never would’ve reached his ending learned without the time he spent with Kamala and Kamiswami. Because of that time, Siddhartha learned the limits of his own selfishness, “ONly slowly, amid his grown riches, had Siddhartha himslf taken on something of the ways of the child people, something of their childishness and anxiety,” (Hesse, 69, Samsara). He learned what lust and greed could be,”Propety, ownership, and wealth had also finally captured him, were no longer glitter and glamour for him, had become a chain and a charge,” (Hesse, 70, Samsara). And the true depths of self hatred, “He yearned to know nothing more about himself, to find peace, to be dead. If only lightning could come and kill him! If only a tiger could come and devour him!” (Hesse, 77, By The River). Without learning those facts about himself, Siddhartha never would’ve been able to accept his truth in the end. That time, when “his senses had come alive; they had learned a lot, experienced a lot,” (Hesse, 68, Samara), showed Siddhartha his flaws, showed him he was not this perfect person his family, his village, his friends all thought him to be, showed him how he had to learn. He saw what he was really like and though, at first, all he wished was to destroy it, but eventually he came to accept himself by what the river taught him. He never would’ve learned from the river if he hadn’t learned first what the from Kamala and Kamiswami. He wouldn’t have learned alone, not on his own. He needed their flaws, their influence, to show him his own flaws and the path to his truth.
After realizing the error of his ways, Siddhartha finds himself starring at the same river that was the gateway to a new life before coming across the child people. Now he looks into the river and sees his current self, a nasty, dreadful, and empty soul, and wishes to end everything right then and there. However, he comes to a realization and finds his self, and this is where the idea of Samsara comes in. Hesse uses sleep to symbolize the continuous cycle of life for Siddhartha. He says, "What a wonderful sleep this has been! Never had a sleep refreshed him, renewed him, rejuvenated him so profoundly!" (Hesse 80). Sleep is used as a symbol of awakening, and it had completely changed Siddhartha's life. He went from suicidal to set for life, almost as if he really did die and had been reborn. Continuing on the motif of Samsara, Hesse also uses children to emphasize his point. Siddhartha speaks to himself in dramatic monologue, "I am starting all over again, like a child!" (Hesse 84). Children are young, innocent, and carefree, and to be reborn as one would to be almost like starting your life over completely. Siddhartha's long, deep sleep, as well as the comparison of him to a child shows just how much the effects of Samsara play into his life.
ReplyDeleteI find your interpretation of sleep very interesting! I do agree with you of how sleep is a symbol of of a new life. People cannot live without sleep and it definitely regenerates us. After we sleep, we feel refreshed, ready to begin again, and (hopefully) we are in better/happier moods. I also agree with your interpretation of children! Yes, children are innocent, happy, carefree, and simple. I also believe this implies that Siddhartha was clouded with too many thoughts before. Could he have thought too hard, and long? One thing I did catch while reading chapters 7 and 8, is the fact that Siddhartha see's himself above everyone else. He has so much pride that he believes that he will always be on the right course to enlightenment. He see's himself as a child but not like the other people. What do you think about this? Is he any different than the child people?
DeleteSelected Passage: Amongst the People (pg 72-73)
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter, Siddhartha begins working with the successful merchant Kamaswami. He is taught “The art of love” by Kamala and he begins to understand what the “secret” of ordinary people is. One thing that stood out to me in this chapter is the ego of Siddhartha. As he lives amongst ordinary people he sees himself above them all. Siddhartha has a conversation with Kamala about how they are not like ordinary people. He believes that they both have some sort of sanctuary in their minds that they can go to anytime. I found it interesting when he said to Kamala that “most people are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path” (72). This struck me because I realized how much pride Siddhartha has. He sees himself as a star that travels only on one path and does not stray. Wind does not bother him, or in other words; he does not face any obstacles because his path is so clear. Even though Siddhartha is different and special, no one’s plan is 100% correct or perfect. He continues this conversation with Kamala and ends with the statement that ordinary people “have not the wisdom and guide within themselves” (72). Here he is eventually saying that he is full of wisdom and guidance. One thing I took in mind, is that being wise and being smart are two different things. Being wise can be seen as common knowledge and the quality of good judgement because of experience. Being smart is showing quick witted-intelligence. Anyone can be smart if they study, learn from a teaching, focus and pay good attention but not everyone is wise. Wisdom comes from understanding, experience, and good sense. Not only does Siddhartha believe he is smart but that he wise. But can one really be wise if they exalt and praise themselves? Could this be the reason Siddhartha was not actually in love with Kamala?
I also noticed the ego of Siddhartha in these two chapters, especially in the beginning of Amongst the people when he is acclimating himself to this new lifestyle solely based on money and material things. He feels like the ordinary people are silly and childish. I like all the points you raise towards the end about love and his philosophy on learning from teaching versus learning from personal experience. It ties in with the main goal in Siddhartha's life; to find Nirvana. How does his ego play a role in Siddhartha's story? How does it shape his path to enlightenment throughout the book?
DeleteThe Brahmin’s Son, passage on page 9
ReplyDeleteThe passage on page 9 of Siddhartha, in which Siddhartha's father and he have a standoff over Siddhartha's choice to join the sramanas really jumps out to the reader. It does a great job of characterizing Siddartha as a stubborn person from the beginning. We as readers see how determined and willing Siddhartha is, and in doing this, Hesse gives the reader the chance to root for his character. Hesse uses imagery in many instances to describe his determination, he writes, “There stood Siddartha, motionless, his arms crossed, with the moonlight playing on his bare shins… [Siddhartha's father] saw Siddhartha standing there in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the darkness…” In using this description, the reader can understand how long and difficult standing alone and bored all night was for Siddartha, but his willpower charged him through it. Hesse also used personification in this passage, writing, “[Siddhartha's father’s] heart filled with anger, filled with concern, filled with uncertainty, filled with pain.” Here Hesse creates an atmosphere of longing. We as readers see the shift in his thinking and in his decision making, but can also feel for and understand why Siddhartha's father is so hesitant in letting his son leave. It was interesting to see the differences in what maturity means in different cultures too.
Awakening, P. 30-31
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha's revelation after meeting the Buddha is an interesting plot point. Hesse writes on page 30, “[Siddhartha] realized that he was no longer a youth but had become a man...He realized that there was one he had left behind as a snake leaves behind an old skin...the desire to have a teacher and hear teachings.” In this segment Siddhartha reveals his first revelation. Hesse uses the symbol of a snake here, and then ties back to it later in the chapter when a snake encounters him in the woods. In Buddhism, a snake can represent rebirth or it can represent death, and while in this chapter it seems indicative of rebirth we later find its ties with death, as he meets a snake in the forest and then meets Kamala, who is years later killed by a snake. On page 31, Hesse also writes, “From this thought another sprang, a new thought, which was this: That I know nothing of myself, that Siddhartha remains to alien and unknown to me - there is one cause for this… I was afraid of myself, I was running away from myself!” While I find this passage quite ironic because Siddartha seems very involved in only himself, I also found it striking in its writing. To say that Siddhartha hadn’t reached enlightenment because he hadn’t reached himself first is a very inspiring ideal, and demonstrates a theme of self being the path to self actualization.
Samsara, Passage on Page 63-64
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha's warning dream on page 63 is a very fascinating passage. In the dream, he is sitting and talking with Kamala about The Buddha, and they then have sex. During this, Hesse writes, “Their lovemaking had locked him to her in painful throes of lust...as though she was trying to squeeze the last drops out of vain...Never was it clearer to Siddhartha how closely related love’s pleasure is to death.” Dreams hold a lot of meaning in all cultures, and in this dream, whether it be Siddhartha’s subconscious or the Gods, it is clear that Siddhartha no longer receives joy in his relationship. This is a sign of Siddhartha’s need to leave Kamala and the child people. The dream then moves to Siddhartha partying with dancing girls and drinking. During this he feels miserable, angry at everything in the room. Hesse writes, “But above all he felt revulsion toward himself, his perfumed hair, the winy smell of his mouth, the loose tiredness and slackness of his skin…” This imagery greatly describes how much he has changed. From a sramana, starving on the streets, walking for days, and hardly showering, to a grossly rich man. The diction Hesse uses are all harsh words, like he is making fun of Siddhartha. It is striking to see the change that has occurred so quickly to Siddhartha, and how angry he is at himself for allowing himself to be taken by the child people.
Passage on p.79
ReplyDeleteHesse uses visual imagery on page 79 to create an atmosphere of rebirth for Siddartha. Hesse writes, “Tenderly he gazed into the translucent greenness of the flowing water, at the crystalline lines of depths and still bubbles floating on the surface with the image of the blue sky in them.” Words like “translucent” and “crystalline” and “bubbles” all establish an atmosphere of calmness with the river. The river represents the extension of life and the feeling of forever. The river is there with Siddartha in the beginning, when he leaves the sramanas, and again when he leaves the child people. It is a sign of the ever changing way of life, as Hesse demonstrates writing, “He saw that the river flowed and flowed, yet every moment new! Oh, if one could grasp that, understand that!” Siddhartha had believed he had already achieved enlightenment, but the river and the ferryman proved him wrong, both taking him along the journey to the peace and transcendence he seeks.
Siddhartha has many similarities to that of Kamala’s “small, rare golden songbird in a gold cage (73)”. Both Siddhartha and the bird are trapped, unable to escape even if Siddhartha is not literally in a cage. In his dream Siddhartha sees “the little bird was dead, lying stiff on the bottom (73)” As he threw away the bird he felt as if “he had thrown away all the value and goodness (73)” which can be compared to Siddhartha being unhappy because of the path he has chosen. “When had he ever been happy, felt true bliss?” Siddhartha thinks that all along he has been on the wrong path to reach Nirvana and that not there was no longer a point to his life. The most curious thing about the bird is it isn't real. It is simply a character in Siddhartha’s dream. Because Siddhartha dreamed about the bird it shows even more parallels to his life since he was the one who came up with it. You could also think of the bird as foreshadowing Kamala’s death since in the dream it's her bird and Siddhartha watches it die. After he had this dream he realizes that he has “been leading a worthless life (73)” which leads him to change his ways and leave Kamala.
ReplyDeleteOm, Passage on P. 102
ReplyDeleteAfter Siddhartha’s son leaves him and Siddhartha is heart stricken, Hesse writes, “His face resembled that of another person, whom he had once known and loved and even feared. It resembled the face of his father, the Brahmin.” Siddhartha realizes that he is exactly as his father was when he left him. He realizes that his sons leaving was inevitable as his own leaving was. Hesse writes, “Had not he suffered the same pain that he was now suffering for his son?” Siddhartha finally comes to term with the fact that his son has left him and that there is nothing he can do about it, which is an interesting revelation for Siddhartha because he is generally a very controlling person. His entire life only he has made decisions about his life, whether good or bad, and in this situation he has no say in it at all. The river is symbolized as a symbol of life, ever flowing and recurring, patterns occurring again and again. Siddhartha is enlightened once again, understanding the harshness of time and the new notions of peace.
Your analysis is really interesting. It made me contemplate the connections between Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy on life and Siddhartha’s philosophy on life. Siddhartha recognizing the ever-recurring patterns of life could be associated with Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence, where humanity lives in a constant state of suffering. And just as you said, Siddhartha realizes the harshness of this repetition. Yet he seems to have overcome this suffering. One could even argue that Siddhartha had reached Nietzsche’s concept of the Übermensch, a person who transcends suffering and becomes one with peace. And it’s awesome how after Siddhartha becomes content with the repetition of life, he realizes the true meaning of life and how everything in the world is truly connected, becoming peaceful and tranquil. It is almost as if Hermann Hesse intentionally did this to display Nietzsche’s philosophy. Perhaps he was inspired by Nietzsche’s ideas when writing this story.
DeleteSiddhartha has met his son, and now that the boy’s mother has passed away he must take care of him. However, what Siddhartha discovers is that the boy is quite stubborn and refuses to help work and doesn’t show any respect for the two older men. Hesse uses the reoccuring theme of birds to have Vasudeva explain, “The young bird is used to another life, another kind of nest” (Hesse 92). This example also fits under the maxim of ‘flight is freedom’. While Siddhartha has escaped the ‘cage’ described in the last chapter into freedom, his son was raised in a privileged lifestyle and doesn’t know anything else. Another thing I noticed during this reading was that Siddhartha experiences important character development in the fact that he acknowledges the love he has for this boy is like those of the child people, but in a lighter sense. Hesse writes, “He suffered from it, suffered pitifully, but was nevertheless touched by bliss, was in some way renewed and in some way richer” (Hesse 95). Before this, nearly every mention of them was a negative connotation. This is the largest piece of proof that Siddhartha really has reached nirvana. To end the chapter, the boy takes off in a fit of anger and resentment towards the life his father had forced him to live. Siddhartha goes after him in desperation until he reaches the edge of the city. “He lived through all these things again, breathed in samsara, became old and tired again, felt again the revulsion, felt again the desire to put an end to himself, and healed once again through the sacred om” (Hesse 98). With all these thoughts and emotions pouring through him, he is touched by a hand, a hand who belongs to Vasudeva. This interruption by the ferryman is an indication to the peace he once again finds.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! There are so many different ways of interpreting Siddhartha's relationship with his son and the meaning behind it. I like the points you bring up here with the state of peace Siddhartha is now in. Vasudeva was Siddhartha's only connection to his old life with Kamala and as a rich man. This time in his life was something that I beleive he needed to let go of in order to move on and continue on his path to enlightenment. Once doing so, he freed his soul and got even closer to nirvana; or maybe even reached nirvana.
DeleteSelected Passage: Pg. 108 (Start of the first paragraph to the end of the page)
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of the novel, Govinda visits a sage at the river when he is of old age, not knowing that Siddhartha is actually the sage. The passage selected contains the conversation between the two when they first meet. In the passage, Govinda asks Siddhartha about his inability to stop seeking - specifically about what to do about this constant desire. Siddhartha suggests that the reason could possibly be that Govinda seeks too much and does not find what he wants, but the grace of his words when giving the advice radiates a poetic feeling. For instance, his advice contains much repetition. The book states, “‘When someone seeks. . . his eyes only see the thing he is seeking and. . . he is incapable of finding anything, incapable of taking anything in, because. . . he has an object, a goal, because he is possessed by this goal. Seeking means having a goal, but finding means being free, open, having no goal.’” (Hesse 108). The repetition of the phrases “incapable of” and “goal” create an almost rhythmic mood. Siddhartha’s words, as a result, are calming and relaxing to the reader, much like a poem. The tranquility of his words seem to suggest that Siddhartha has known this revelation for a while now - perhaps from his personal experience of seeking too much and failing throughout the book, especially during his time in the river with Vasudeva. Next, Hesse utilizes a flashback when describing how Siddhartha reminisced about him and Govinda from many years ago. In this, Siddhartha explains how ages ago, Govinda came to the river and found a man sleeping, but he didn’t recognize him. And at that moment, Govinda realizes that Siddhartha is the sage. After this, Siddhartha explains how, “‘Certain people. . . must change a lot, must wear all kinds of outfits’” (108). This flashback and the quotation about changing outfits strongly highlight Siddhartha’s altering appearances due to his multiple instances of Samsara throughout the book. It reminds the reader of the milestones of his journey in the story. In this way, the reader reflects on Siddhartha’s journey as the story approaches it cessation, which in turn causes the reader to reflect on himself or herself.
While re-reading The Ferryman and The Sonn, I was distracted by family to go watch the movie adaptation of "The Little Prince". I found myself still going back to Siddhartha, and I couldn't figure out why until the end of the movie. "The Little Prince" is the story of a young boy leaving his home in search of answers about why he was unhappy, and his journey leads him to meet many strange people with quirks that aren't so strange in our world. The path he takes is almost identical to that of Siddhartha, though while Siddhartha lives the lives of those he encounters, the Little Prince merely observed them. But the theme of "The Little Prince" was very similar to the themes within Samsara and By The River, one of which was that the things we care so deeply about don't matter. Be it, money, power, none of it truly matters, "Is this what you mean: that the river is everywhere at once, at its source and at its mouth, at the the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once, and only the present exists for it, and not the shadow of the future?" (Hesse, 94, The Ferryman). Another theme that was shared was the idea that this physical form is not our true form, that without it we are something else entirely, "He could no longer distinguish the many vioces, the cheerful frm the weeping, the children's from the men's: they all belonged together. The lament of the knower's yearning and laughing, the screaming of the angry, the moaning of the dying-everything was one, everything was entwined and entwisted, was interwoven a thousandfold," (Hesse, 118, OM).
ReplyDeleteIn the chapter Amongst the People, Siddhartha is tested to see how well he is able to do business or if he could take things seriously since he isn't really able to love anyone at all. He is mainly very selfish and only care about his journey and finding the meaning of life. The symbol of the river basically represent the flow of the water as people live their life until they are at least satisfied with what they have. He later realizes that all of Kamala's advice was more meaningful than Kamaswami is as Kamala opens up and teaches Siddhartha how to love. Both Kamala and Kamaswami have different impacts in Siddhartha's life but only one is being true in the new world Siddhartha is current surrounded by.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that Kamala and Kamaswami had two very different impacts on Siddhartha. But, in my opinion I think that Kamala and Kamaswami's teachings can be equally important. Yes, Kamaswami only taught him how ordinary wealthy people lived, but this was important for Siddhartha to learn because he was completely alien to how ordinary people lived. I think this was important for him to know, that way he could reach all aspects of happiness/satisfaction. By knowing what many people get their happiness from, he could have determined if he was missing a piece in his life. Kamala taught Siddhartha on a more spiritual level. He is taught the art of love, and also how to love emotionally. Because of how selfish Siddhartha was, it was difficult for him to love others. His selfishness left no room for him to love. Kamala taught him something that he would carry for the rest of his life.
DeleteSelected Passage: The Ferryman (pgs 101-102)
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha is now a brand new person. He see’s himself as a child once again because he has been reborn. As a new person he is very satisfied and happy with his life. He learns to love the river and he even states that he could stay by the river forever. He believes that his path has led him to this new life by the river. The beginning of the chapter “Ferryman” starts out with Siddhartha gazing at the river and admiring how beautiful it is. Hesse uses visual imagery to portray Siddhartha’s perspective of the river.
“The river looked at him with a thousand eyes-green, white, crystal, sky blue. How he loved this river, how it enchanted him, how grateful he was to it! In his heart he heard the newly awakened voice speak, and it said to him: “Love this river, stay by it, learn from it.” Yes, he wanted to learn from it, he wanted to listen to it.”
This part of the chapter really stood out to me because I noticed how similar this quote is to when Siddhartha met Kamala. At first glance of Kamala, Siddhartha was immediately in love. He wanted to be taught the art of love by her. In the first couple pages of the chapter “Kamala”, Siddhartha expresses how he feels about Kamala and her beauty. We can see from this, that he is lusting after her. Similar to the way Hesse described how Siddhartha acted around Kamala, the river can be seen as a women. As if Siddhartha is lusting after someone else and a new lifestyle. In this passage, the river looks at him with her enchanting eyes, wanting to teach him. This is a perfect example for the maxim, “important? Introduce it before you need it”. The theme of love is introduced early on in the novel. In the first chapter we can see how Siddhartha is loved by everyone in his village and how many women admire him. This recurring theme can be seen through Govinda’s love for Siddhartha, Kamala desire to show him the art of love, and now the river. Siddhartha has fallen in love with the river and his desire is to live by the river and learn from it.
In the chapter The son, Hesse compares Siddhartha's son to Siddhartha himself by creating many situations from Siddhartha's youth that he has gone through. All of Siddhartha's youth, he had everything handed to him. He had a nice house, plenty of food, clothing, and family and friends that loved him. He was what you could call, a spoiled child. Now many many years later, Siddhartha has his own son, and because he "loves" him, he hands him everything. Hesse says, "He did not force him, he did some chores for him, he always picked out the best morsel for him" (Hesse 103). He gives him the best food, does his work for him, sacrifices his own comfort for his child's, and makes him spoiled. In this situation, the best thing to do would be to let him go, but like Siddhartha's father not wanting to let him go, Siddhartha doesn't want to let his son go either. Like many other things in this book, that also has a connection to Samsara and never ending life. Siddhartha's son is like a version of Siddhartha reborn, who is living the same life over again.
ReplyDeleteThe relationship between Siddhartha and his son is very similar to that of Siddhartha and his father. Both Siddhartha and his father have to watch their sons go on a new path away from them even if it’s not what they want. While Siddhartha wants his son to stay with him he eventually comes to the conclusion that his son would be better off back in the village where Kamala lived since that was the life the boy was used to. At some point in their lives every child has to leave their parents and discover the world for themselves whether the parents want them to or not. Neither Siddhartha or his son felt like they belonged with their fathers. Siddhartha longed for more, wishing to reach Nirvana he decided that he couldn’t do that if he stayed with his father and the Brahmins. Siddhartha’s son had been used to the lifestyle his mother Kamala lived which was vastly different than his father’s life “Siddhartha understood that his son did not know him (103)” so he chose to go find his own path, a place where he could belong. Siddhartha’s son is also called “the young bird (104)” by Vasudeva and throughout the story birds have been strong symbols typically for Siddhartha’s life. While Vasudeva is talking to Siddhartha he says that Siddhartha’s son is “used to a different life, a different nest (104)” which is how he tells Siddhartha that it is time to let his son go because flight is freedom and in this case the son is the bird rather than Siddhartha.
ReplyDeleteSelected Passage: Om (pgs 129 - 130)
ReplyDeleteSiddhartha began to view life differently in this chapter. Kamala had just passed away and Siddhartha had found out that he had a son. This can be seen as a turning point for Siddhartha because throughout his journey he has held his pride up high. He has always felt that he was more valuable than ordinary people. Becoming a ferryman changed Siddhartha’s perspective on the world. He no longer believed that he was better than everyone but rather that he was similar to them. Hesse described that Siddhartha “regarded people in a different light than he had previously: not very clever, not very proud and therefore all the more warm, curious and sympathetic” (129). Being a ferryman meant that Siddhartha had to take a vast amount of different people on his ferry. Businessmen, soldiers, and women that he had taken no longer seemed alien to him as they once had (129). He did not understand or share their thoughts and views, but he shared with them life’s urges and desires. Although he had attained self-discipline he felt as if these ordinary people were his brothers and sisters. These people were no longer absurd or strange to Siddhartha. In fact he saw them as understandable, worthy of respect and lovable (130). Siddhartha realized that people have flaws. There is pride, anger, dishonestly, and lust within them, but these imperfections do not not keep people from their success. He saw people live and do great things. They were worthy of his love and respect. Living beside the river and taking people across the river helped him understand ordinary people and realize that he was no different from them. A phrase in this chapter that was important to me was when Hesse stated that Siddhartha “regarded people in a different light than he had previously”. The word light really stood out to me because it can interpreted in many ways. In this case, I believe that the word light means an understanding of a problem or a mystery. Siddhartha had finally solved a mystery he had been trying to solve on his journey. The mystery of ordinary people. He did not understand them at all. He believed they were foolish, thoughtless, and unintelligent. He wanted to know how they could only care about the things of the world. Is Siddhartha similar to the people of the world? Is he also imperfect and lured by the treasures of the world?
SARAH WELCH
ReplyDeleteOne of the themes of Siddhartha seems to be about allowing yourself to move on.
In the beginning, Siddhartha has to realize and admit that the path he took was wrong. "Siddhartha said: "Yesterday, O Sublime One, I was granted the privilege of hearing our wondrous Teaching. Together with m friend I came from far away to hear the Teaching. And now my friend will remain with your followers, he has taken refuge with you. Bur I am resuming my pilgrimage," (Hesse, 30). He realizes that he will not gain happiness this way and moves on, seeking something new.He doesn't dwell on his mistake, his incorrect choice, but he allows it to fall off his shoulders before trying again.
It happens after his time with Kamisalami and Kamala, "Now Siddhartha knew that the game was done, that he could play it no longer. A shudder ran through his body: inside him, he felt, something had died," (Hesse, 74). This time, it takes longer or Siddhartha to move on, for he must leave something he spent so much time with, so much time that it became a part of him. He dwells on it, thinks on it, regrets and mourns, but in the end he still continues. He travels to the ferryman, Vasudeva, and starts over.
When his son leaves, that is the change, the "moving on" that finally releases Siddhartha. "Ah, the wound was not blossoming yet, his heart was still defying fate, serenity and victory were not yet beaming from his sorrow. Still, he felt hope, and upon returning to th ehut, he had an invincible desire to open up to Vasudeva, to disclose everything to him, reveal everything to him, the master of listening," (Hesse, 115). And when Siddhartha finally lets go of the sorrow his son caused him, there is nothing left to hurt his heart, to weigh him down. He finally learns his truth and reaches enlightenment. Dwelling on what had caused him pain rooted Siddhartha to Samsara, and when he finally stopped trying to cling to those feelings, he was released.
In real life, dwelling on things that make you furious, that make you sad or bitter or even just upset, isn't worth it. People spend hours of their lives despising others, waiting and watching for a time when they can strike back at the one who hurt them. In the end it does nothing, no one is better off, no one is happier, revenge and grudges only hurt people. So by letting go, and moving on, one can be released from pain and suffering, just as Siddhartha was.
And suddenly this sounds like a therapy ad ^_^
~ Sarah Welch