Siddhartha And The Songbird

    An important symbol in Siddhartha is the smile. Each of the three characters in the story who attain a final state of complete serenity is characterized by a beautiful smile which reflects their peaceful, harmonious state. In each case this smile is a completely natural phenomenon; it cannot be created at will by people who have not attained the prerequisite state of harmony with life.

After leaving Buddha, Siddhartha moves to a village.  In the village, Siddhartha meets a woman named Kamala.  Kamala influences Siddhartha to change the lifestyle to which he has grown accustomed (http://www.imsa.edu/~trasched/siddhartha/phys.html.

With every experience, there is a lesson learned. In Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, as the main character Siddhartha journeys through life, each experience he encounters teaches him a different aspect of the value of life. Through his relationship with Kamala he learns the importance of love, when he tries to commit suicide he realizes the beauty of life, and when he lives with the ferryman he is taught to listen and ultimately achieve the end goal to life, Nirvana.

   In Herman Hess's, Siddhartha, Siddhartha's constant growth and spiritual evolution is elucidated through the symbolism of the snake, the bird and the river.

Birds are a common sight in most places people tend to be. These winged creatures are seen in bustling places like the pigeons that are in urban and suburban areas, the woodpeckers in rural regions, the crows on farms, and even in cages within buildings. In fact, these elegant creatures are so common a sight in society that they are often overlooked and underappreciated. This is similar to how women were and sometimes still are treated within society; they are given little appreciation when they are present and doing as they are told, but when they do not do as they are told they become a problem. This parallel that can be drawn between women and birds is used throughout Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, in which its main character Edna Pontellier is often likened to and symbolized by a bird. Throughout the novel, the bird acts as a theme and symbol of both Edna and women in general.

Siddhartha begins to deviate from his holy walk in life when he meets Kamala. In Siddhartha Kamala is a pleasure woman who owns a beautiful grove outside of a larger town. “Siddhartha saw how beautiful she was

Kamala soon becomes Siddhartha’s lover, and she helps him learn the ways of the city, leaving his ascetic life as a Samana behind. She then has a child that is from Siddhartha, whom Siddhartha had never met. Kamala does not have a very spiritual life, and Siddhartha influences her to seek a more spiritual lifestyle to better herself. She becomes tired of being a courtesan and realizes she can be a better person. The author brings Kamala back into the story when the news of Gotama’s advancement towards death breaks out into the villages; “One day, when very many people were making a pilgrimage to the dying Buddha, Kamala, once the most beautiful of the courtesans, was also on her way. She had long retired from her previous way of life, had presented her garden to Gotama’s monks, taking refuge in his teachings. . .” (Hesse 90). Kamala is one of the most important characters in the book because she is able to teach Siddhartha about physical love, and lead him to spiritual enlightenment.

        The stage of transcendence was when the inner voice that has guided Siddhartha thus far surges out and becomes boldly manifest in this river, which, far more than simply water, is the voice of life itself.  In the river, Siddhartha sees images come together, just as he hears voices come together.  Here, "He saw that the water continually flowed and flowed and yet it was always there, it was always the same and yet every moment it was new."  The river can be everywhere at the same time.  Only the present means anything to the river, not the past or the

Siddhartha dreamed about the songbird, how one day it stopped singing, and he takes the bird out and it was dead. When he holds it his reaction was to quickly throw it out

    Flight is a major theme in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. “Flight echoes throughout the story as a reward, as a hoped-for skill, as an escape, and as proof of intrinsic worth; however, by the end this is not so clear a proposition”(Lubiano 96). Song of Solomon ends with ‘flight’ but in such a way that the act allows for multiple interpretations: suicide; "real" flight and then a wheeling attack on his "brother"; or "real" flight and then some kind of encounter with the (possibly) killing arms of his brother.

Siddhartha, written by Herman Hesse is a thought provoking narrative that tells the story of Siddhartha’s life as he journeys in search of answers. His pursuit leads him many places and introduces him to many people until after many long years he has a revelation by a river. In the early days of his quest he and Govinda, his childhood friend, go to the woods in which they become samanas who practice self deprivation. These samanas are men who deprive themselves from every possible delight as well as necessities. They live in utmost poverty and by subjecting themselves to these things they strive to strip themselves of their egos. Over the course of five days, I practice a mild form of self deprivation

“In Siddhartha’s face he saw [...] his eyes were looking into the distance. Then his father realized that by now Siddhartha [...] had already left him.” (Siddhartha, page 6) Throughout the time he has been with the Samanas, Siddhartha and his companion Govinda dedicated themselves to learning everything from general exercise to distinct methods of mortification. Although our favorite character enjoyed being with the so-called samanas, he soon had enough. At this point, his current American dream begins to extend as he converses with Govinda. “We have learned, and we are continuing to learn. [...] it just does not seem to me, my friend.” (Siddhartha, page 9) Quite interestingly, Siddhartha and Govinda both end up leaving the samanas. The only reason Siddhartha gives for leaving is that he can’t truly learn from teacher, in general, nor the doctrines they endorse. It is noticeable that Siddhartha begins to have societal expectations. In order to balance them, this protagonist simply decides to expand his learning capacity. He does this by traveling to Savathi with Govinda. Maybe he may learn something that will satisfy his desire. From the moment Siddhartha left home, he appeared unsure as to

Ultimately the book chooses to have deep thought come up with the answer, which is philosophy. Deep thought then tells everyone, the answer is 42, however that answer does not do much justice so they decided to create earth, which would give a more detailed explanation to 42. Unfortunately, that never happens because the Vogons destroyed earth before the answer came. However, nonetheless Arthur was able to figure out the meaning of life, which is an enlightenment theme. All in all “The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy” represented a coming of age for Arthur. He started with a limited knowledge and ended knowing the secrets of life and space.

The actual locations of the births too shared a similar theme. Mary and Joseph were poor and tried to find shelter and room for the night but were unable to find proper lodging as all the inns had already been filled. With no other options available the couple was forced to the stable behind an inn for the night. Mary gave birth to Jesus that nigh and the Son of God was placed in a feed trough or manger as a bed. Mahamaya on her trip to her father’s kingdom began to experience birth pains and advised her handmaidens to stop and they made their way off the road to a grove of trees which provided some cover for the birth. So both men entered the world in humbling locations. There are other aspects of the miraculous birth of Siddhartha which may

The short story "The Birds" was written by Daphne du Maurrier and was filmed and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It has a very interesting and suspenseful plot. The short story was well written and the film was well played, both are very similar. Although, they have a few differences the film and short story have the same mood and theme. Would the differences in the film and the short story affect the suspenseful and frightening plot?Alfred Hitchcock did an outstanding job filming the movie matching it with the short story. In both the short story and film flocks and flocks of gulls, robins, and sparrows join each other.