Literary Elements in Siddhartha

Literary elements in Siddhartha
In part one of Siddhartha herman hesse employs the idea of birth as an extended metaphor to add clarity on how Siddhartha views himself and the amount of knowledge has and has yet to learn.
Siddhartha believes that he is, “just as far removed from wisdom, from salvation, as a child in the mothers womb..” when Siddhartha tells Govinda that he feels this way, it reveals how though to some he may seem practically perfect he does not believe this himself. Herman hesse again brings up birth when he makes it a point to mention that one of the more spiritual qualities that Siddhartha is drawn to is the fact that the Buddha had been able to,”halt the cycle of rebirths.” In the climax of Siddharhta’s awakening he is able to feel ,”the last struggle of this birth”. This where he feels he has finally found himself and become a man. He no longer needs instructions from teachers and can pave his on path.
Herman hesse has focused so much of this book so far on finding oneself and seeking knowledge. Siddhartha is able to find both in his own spiritual birth of sorts.by comparing many of the things that Siddhartha and other supporting charchters go through to birth and beign born , herman hesse is bale to create a common theme and help form a stronger structure throughout the story.In Siddhartha, an unrelenting search for truth is essential for achieving a harmonious relationship with the world. The truth for which Siddhartha and Govinda search is a universal understanding of life, or Nirvana. Siddhartha and Govinda both have a fundamental desire to understand their lives through spirituality, seek to do this by reaching Nirvana, and start with the conviction that finding Nirvana is possible. Although Nirvana leads to a perfect relationship with the world and is thus an end goal that each man aspires to reach, Siddhartha and Govinda differ in what they’re willing to do in search for this truth. In Siddhartha’s case, when he becomes suspicious that one path may lead to a dead end, he quickly alters his course. He is willing to abandon the path of the Brahmins for the path of the Samanas, to leave the Samanas for Gotama, and then to make a radical departure from spiritual teachers and search in the material world with Kamala and Kamaswami. He does not relent in his search and instead continues to follow whatever path becomes available if he has clearly not yet reached Nirvana.
Govinda is much less flexible in his quest for spiritual enlightenment. In his quest, he restricts himself to the spiritual and religious world and persists in his need for teachers. Although Siddhartha is willing to break with religion itself and to abandon all his training, Govinda is willing to seek truth only as long as it appears within the narrow confines of Hinduism or Buddhism and is transmitted by a respected teacher. As a result, Govinda is unable to see the truth around him, since he is limited by his belief that truth will appear in the way he has been taught by his teachers. This distinction between Siddhartha’s unrelenting search and Govinda’s limited search is the reason why Govinda can attain enlightenment only through an act of grace on Siddhartha’s part, whereas Siddhartha is able to find truth through his own powers.