Siddartha Essay
Siddhartha Essay #1
Siddhartha: The Journey to Self-Knowledge By creating a tale so able to transfer generations within society, Hesse’s Siddhartha largely becomes plot and theme driven to the point that readers are left with the impression that Siddhartha is merely an outlet of an author’s otherwise muffled voice. Hesse’s strong background in religion may puzzle the reader at first as to what Siddhartha’s long and seemingly circular journey truly means, but by examining the actions of Siddhartha carefully an embedded message clearly shines through as the dust from Siddhartha’s trek settles slowly. Most often known as one man’s journey to find the most true and ultimately best religion, Siddhartha is actually one man’s journey to discovering omnipresent self-knowledge and shows hints of agnosticism through Hesse’s theme of samsara. To truly understand the component of agnosticism in the plot one must take a step back from the happenings of the story and truly evaluate Siddhartha’s decisions at each of his stops. Siddhartha was an anomaly of his time, a genius with enough aptitude to outgrow his teachers at a young age yet with enough will power to master the secrets of ancient religions in just a short time. “I will begin the life of the Samanas. Let us not discuss it again.” (10). Siddhartha pries himself away from the grip of his father who would have been pleased if Siddhartha would have grown to be an above average Brahmin. He then takes all he needs from the Samana cult and uses his ability to think, wait, and fast to understand the Gotama’s teachings, learns to love from the most beautiful woman, and is trained by the one of the best traders in the land. Siddhartha has soon learned more than any man before him but misses one vital realization: the knowledge is self contained and he only needs realize that all he has left to learn is within himself. So what does this tribute to self-knowledge really mean to anyone and more importantly how
Siddhartha: The Journey to Self-Knowledge By creating a tale so able to transfer generations within society, Hesse’s Siddhartha largely becomes plot and theme driven to the point that readers are left with the impression that Siddhartha is merely an outlet of an author’s otherwise muffled voice. Hesse’s strong background in religion may puzzle the reader at first as to what Siddhartha’s long and seemingly circular journey truly means, but by examining the actions of Siddhartha carefully an embedded message clearly shines through as the dust from Siddhartha’s trek settles slowly. Most often known as one man’s journey to find the most true and ultimately best religion, Siddhartha is actually one man’s journey to discovering omnipresent self-knowledge and shows hints of agnosticism through Hesse’s theme of samsara. To truly understand the component of agnosticism in the plot one must take a step back from the happenings of the story and truly evaluate Siddhartha’s decisions at each of his stops. Siddhartha was an anomaly of his time, a genius with enough aptitude to outgrow his teachers at a young age yet with enough will power to master the secrets of ancient religions in just a short time. “I will begin the life of the Samanas. Let us not discuss it again.” (10). Siddhartha pries himself away from the grip of his father who would have been pleased if Siddhartha would have grown to be an above average Brahmin. He then takes all he needs from the Samana cult and uses his ability to think, wait, and fast to understand the Gotama’s teachings, learns to love from the most beautiful woman, and is trained by the one of the best traders in the land. Siddhartha has soon learned more than any man before him but misses one vital realization: the knowledge is self contained and he only needs realize that all he has left to learn is within himself. So what does this tribute to self-knowledge really mean to anyone and more importantly how