Irony In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

Siddhartha finally comprehends why he knows nothing about himself, its because he is afraid to; he has a feeling of awakening as he understands that he now must become his own pupil and “learn the secret of Siddhartha” (Page 39, Paragraph 2).

Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following. Although, Siddhartha did learn and become much more knowledgeable after knowing the teachings from the samanas, he didn’t quite agree with their beliefs in retaining enlightenment. "[Siddhartha] is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons...there are no demons...everyone can reach his goal if he can think, wait, and fast." With this new found attitude Siddhartha sets out once again, with many new experiences and lessons waiting ahead for him.

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha was a proactive, self-sufficient young man. He quickly absorbed the Brahmin’s doctrine and decided he wanted to learn even more; he had to become a Samana. Of course, in order to make such a step he needed his father’s permission. When he first requested, his father rejected the idea and said

enlightenment after he had given up looking for it. Siddhartha is only able to find his

Siddhartha advised Govinda that he was focused so much on the search that he could not find what he was searching for. Siddhartha explained his belief that wisdom could not be communicated. Siddhartha explained his distrust of doctrines, since they did not make one enlightened. However, Govinda still analyzed the world as a student. Siddhartha overturned Buddha's doctrine and explained that love was the most important thing to have in the world. Siddhartha also explained how time was just an illusion through the use of different examples of oxymorons. He went on saying that many of the opposites in the world existed in perfect harmony because they were more similar than they were different. Govinda still did not understand because he had not

Although he was still very aware of his mistakes, Siddhartha was able to use them as lessons. He learned to never again participate or become involved in situations like gambling or getting caught in the “ordinary” way of life. He now had new experiences under his belt and became more wise because of that. According to the Samsara cycle you have to go through the death stage of an experience in order to go through the process of rebirth. This is what happened to Siddhartha. He had to hit rock bottom before he could go on with his journey.

Siddhartha resolved that he would first go to the Samanas, ascetics that hard lives of self-denial of all comforts and pleasures in order to rid themselves of desire and those emotions that would hinder them on the journey to discovering Atman. Although joining these extremist monks was a high ambition, Siddhartha knew that he would succeed as a Samana, for he believed that the path of the ascetic would aid him on his journey of self-discovery. As his time with the Samanas lengthened, Siddhartha began to take pride in the knowledge that he was not blinded by the material world like everybody else was; he saw the world for what it truly was -- bitter lies and misery. Despite the fact that Siddhartha was becoming a great Samana, revered by even the older monks, he felt that what he had learned from them he could have learned on his own and in less time. Once again, he was not satisfied with the path that he was on and aspired to achieve even greater heights by parting from the Samanas. This ambition is plainly displayed when Siddhartha’s friend Govinda, who had become a Samana as well, proclaimed that Siddhartha would have learned to walk on water had he stayed with the ascetics. Siddhartha simply says that he would “let old

1. On page 7, Siddhartha‘s father said to him, “If you find salvation in the forest come and teach me salvation.” Siddhartha’s father has clearly not found true bliss as a Brahman. If he had already found true bliss and salvation as a Brahman, he would not have told Siddhartha to come back and teach him the salvation that Siddhartha had found.

Siddhartha leaves his home to search for Atman. Atman is referred to as the individual self. He is in search of finding Atman for himself. He is also drawn toward Brahman which is the “supreme universal soul.” Siddhartha loses himself when seeking for Atman and Brahman. (pg. 38) Siddhartha recites the verse, “Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul Brahman is the arrow’s goal At which one aims unflinchingly.” (pg.8) From this he is talking about how through meditation your soul shall reach enlightenment if you do this without hesitation.

Siddhartha ignores the ways of other spiritual groups, and goes on his own path, and I break away from mean spirited people. In part one, Siddhartha decides after trying the way of the Samanas, that it is not for him, and Govinda follows. In this quote, Siddhartha explains to Govinda, that although Govinda believes that the samanas will help them attain wisdom and enlightenment, he has noticed that all of them are old and frail, even unhappy. “He has lived for sixty years and has not reached the nirvana. He'll turn seventy and eighty, and you and me, we will grow just as old and will do our exercises, and will fast, and will meditate. But we will not reach the nirvana, he won't and we won't.” (Hesse 20). This leaves Siddhartha to believe that although they may have pushed away their desires for human contact, and ousted their needs for food and shelter, they have still not reached enlightenment, even as old men. They then try to make way with the Buddha. Siddhartha is bewildered by the fact

He then decided for him to answers his questions he must change his lifestyle from a luxurious one to a more humble one just as a samana. However he did not find nirvana and on the contrary he discovered how the oldest samana was sixty and had not yet reached Nirvana. This led him to move again and look for Buddha. When he found Buddha he then again found fault in this teachings. He explained how Buddha reached nirvana through his own experiences. He, nonetheless, persisted he couldn’t reach nirvana through teaching causing him to yet again move. Ending him to leave his loyal friend, Govinda, yet taking Buddhas adive of not beng too clever. All through the story Siddhartha depicts how through the changes he decided to make took him a step closer to Nirvana and to answer his questions of what the good life is. He does through the willingness to changing his teachers and surrounding to learn

In the departure phase of his journey, Siddhartha completely shuns both internal and external desires and lives a more than humble life. During Siddhartha’s conversation with his father about leaving home, Siddhartha’s father, “returned again after an hour and again after two hours, looked through the window and saw Siddhartha standing there in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the dark” (11). Hermann Hesse’s use of dark and light imagery, emphasizes Siddhartha’s stubbornness for his desire to go with the Samanas, whose religious ideals are severe self discipline and restraint of all indulgence; he is adamant about leaving home, as his father checked on him countlessly and Siddhartha stood there unwavering despite the many hours and change of daylight so he could earn his father’s blessing to live the lifestyle of an ascetic. Furthermore, Siddhartha travels to the Samanas with Govinda to destroy Self and the multitudinous amount of desire by quelling each desire and all together Self even though he knows it is a difficult goal to achieve, “Although Siddhartha fled from Self a thousand times, dwelt in nothing, dwelt in animal and stone, the return was inevitable” (16). The effect of Siddhartha’s multiple attempted destructions of Self as a consequence of living as a Samana are failure in his attempt to discover Nirvana. Moreover, Siddhartha travels with Govinda to the Buddha after leaving the

The novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse uses a lot of symbolism, one of the prominent symbols that Hesse uses in the novel is the songbird. The songbird is representative of Siddhartha and his feelings about himself. Siddhartha feels trapped and unhappy in a materialistic world where nothing holds any meaning to him. Other characters such as Kamala see him as a songbird as well as something they can keep.

According to Albert Einstein, “wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” In Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse utilizes the reoccurring theme that knowledge and wisdom are different to show the readers how to actually learn and become more complete in life. This theme can be proven at multiple points throughout the novel such as when Siddhartha is young and leaves home, when he meets Gotama and his followers, and when he advises Govinda at the end of his journey.