Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

In the novel Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, the main character Siddhartha accepts the fact that he too, is like the child people, and realizes this after losing his son, young Siddhartha. After so much suffering and sacrifice throughout his journey in life he finally reaches his happiness. His epiphany taught him that he had to have sacrificed something in order to finally be happy. Siddhartha loses his son, which was very painful for him, but because of this he became stronger and was looked on as the "Sublime One". Siddhartha starts out his journey in life as a young intelligent son of the Brahmin. His father saw Siddhartha growing up as a "great sage and priest, a prince among the Brahmins" (3). Siddhartha, however, was not happy with his life. "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"(5). So in search for satisfaction Siddhartha leaves his family to become a Samana and Govinda is his follower. Seeing the child people made him disgusted and he knew he was more superior. "Everything was unworthy of his eyes, everything lied, everything stank, everything stank of lies, everything shammed meaning and happiness and beauty, and everything was unacknowledged decay"(13). This character had become a Samana so that he could "reach a goal: to become empty" (13). He conquered his ego and learned how to control his needs. Becoming a Samana, however, was not enough for Siddhartha. He believed that "he had grown no wiser, had gathered no knowledge, had ascended no levels"(17). His next stop in the journey was going back to the ego and fulfilling all needs and pleasures. At this point in life, Govinda and Siddhartha get separated due to their different beliefs. Siddhartha sets out into this foreign world and now -in contrast to before- the world is "beautiful, colorful, bizarre and enigmatic" (37). He decides that this is a new chapter in his life where he will start all over and be mentally reborn. He meets Kamala, a woman who is a courtesan and valued highly in society. Because of her, Siddhartha's love becomes clothes money and materialistic things. Kamala and Siddhartha share a very close bond. They not only share an intimate friendship but they also become close friends. They both need each other to survive in the society they're living in." "Perhaps people like us cannot love. The child people can; that is their secret"(65). Kamala and Siddhartha believe they are not like the child people; therefore, they can not love. For a while Siddhartha pursued his journey with Kamala, but the actions he made was not enough for him. He "was disgusted at himself" and he did not feel as if he had ascended any levels (72). "He had, it seemed to him, been leading a worthless life, worthless and senseless"(73). Since this journey is not fulfilling the dream and life Siddhartha was pursuing, he decides it's time for a change and leaves Kamala in search for something new and inspiring. Siddhartha is feeling very pessimistic at this point in his life. " Let the fish eat him, this dog Siddhartha, this madman, this foul and fetid body, this exhausted and misused soul! Let the fish and the crocodile eat him, let the demons dismember him (78). He felt that he had "lost himself in pleasure and power", and was not good enough to live anymore (88). While sitting all by himself, exhausted and disgusted from this entire life journey, Govinda meets Siddhartha, and after having some motivation and joy put back into him, Siddhartha is back on his feet and ready for another journey. He meets a ferryman named Vasudeva while crossing the river. Vasudeva invites Siddhartha to live with him where Siddhartha tells Vasudeva about his "hour of despair" (91). Vasudeva shows Siddhartha the river that teaches. " 'You will learn from it,'said Vasudeva,'but not from me. It was the river that taught me how to listen; you too will learn how from the river. The river knows everything, one can learn everything from it"(92). Because of the river, Siddhartha learns much about his life but it's not until Siddhartha gets to know his son that he learns from the river that he, as well as the child people, can love. Siddhartha is so delighted to have a son. "I, who was rich and happy, have now become even richer and happier. I have been given my son"(101). What seemed like delight and happiness actually turned into a pain for Siddhartha. His son did not want to be with him and it seemed that all the love Siddhartha gave his son was never returned. "Siddhartha began to realize that his son had brought now peace and happiness to him but sorrow and suffering"(103). Siddhartha wants his son to be with him and love him, but his son would rather be in the society he had lived in his whole life. His son decides to run away and Siddhartha goes looking for him without any luck. He is feeling pain and despair because of this loss. With the help of Vasudeva he learns to cope with his pain and suffering, but most importantly, the river helps Siddhartha to see why he is suffering like this. Because he left his family Siddhartha is feeling the same lonely pain that his father was feeling. "This face resembled another face, that he had once known and loved and also feared. It resembled the face of his father, the Brahmin. Had not his father suffered the same sorrow that Siddhartha was now suffering for his own son"(115). At this point in Siddhartha's life he realizes that he also has feelings and also loves people and things, just like the child people. He now realizes he is not superior or better than them. He is just like them and he accepts that. Siddhartha understands that he had to go through pain and suffering in order to come to this realization. After this loss, Siddhartha gains power from inside himself and becomes mentally stronger. His friend Govinda see this and knows that "everything about him radiates a parity, radiates a peace, radiates a mildness and serenity and saintliness, which he seen in no other person since the final death of the sublime teacher"(129). Siddhartha finally sees the light after going through many journeys in his life which had caused him only pain and disappointment. From his life, Siddhartha as well as the reader, see that because Siddhartha had gone through some stuggles and did lose something very valuable to him, he in the end becomes stronger and does reach hapiness.

Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.