Similarities Between Siddhartha And The Matrix

Throughout the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and the movie The Matrix directed by the Wachowski Brothers their are many similarities and differences. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a far away dystopian world who believes that they are a utopia. But they are far from perfect. The main character Montag proves this to the government by going against them. Very similar to what Neo does in The Matrix.

3.6. Frankenstein – Neo as the Monster In the trilogy, we can find some ideas that are similar to the ones present in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This English novel tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature. In his work Frankenstein dodges bullets in The Matrix, Sam Hartman tries to find analogies between the film and Shelley’s novel.

After three years, Siddhartha realizes that he is not progressing toward his goal. He had learned all the Samanas could teach, and "he lost himself a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it" (15-16). Siddhartha discovers this was not the path he sought; escaping from one's Self did not bring one to salvation. His wisdom grew when he accepted there was another path and this short escape from Self is experienced by others in a quite different way such as people who drink numbing their senses like he did with the Samanas. He sees that in truth, there is no learning and that his questioning and thirst for knowledge could not be satisfied by teaching. Seeking another path, Siddhartha hears of a Buddha named Gotama, and with Govinda, who also chooses to leave, ventures to see him.

Through writing on more than one level, Hesse has created a literary masterpiece that is

The meaning of the poem is to show how Ha and her family's new life will be like in America. The tone is optimistic. One way the tone is conveyed is through an alliteration. The author writes, ‘’... starts sewing…’’ to show the start of a new life.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, is a novel about a young boy who is trying to find his spiritual enlightenment in life. The novel begins with a young naïve boy who is living with his father following the family’s traditions of the Brahmin. To reach spiritual enlightenment Siddhartha and his friend Govinda leave the town to seek

approaches to convey the theme of the novel, Hesse appeals to the readers' senses and

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 felt as if he can’t learn by just hearing the Buddha’s experiences. He believes he needs to experience these things himself to truly reach his own self. As Siddhartha leaves the Buddha, he realizes something different inside of him. He no longer needs a teacher. From his teachers, he was able to discover the Self. Siddhartha says “Truly, nothing in the world has occupied my thoughts as much as the Self … that I am Siddhartha" (38) However, he only succeeded in fleeing from it. He was consumed in finding the self, that he lost sight of it. Instead, he realizes that "I [Siddhartha] will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha" (39).

SIddhartha learns the third Noble Truth, suffering ends when desire ends, in Chapter 4 “The Awakening”. In the chapter, Siddhartha departs from the Buddha and his friend, Govinda, behind. He now had the freedom to do whatever he needed to do to uncover what he desired to know. On his path away he says, “I was seeking Brahman, Atman, I wished to destroy myself, to get away from myself, in order to find in the unknown innermost, the nucleus of all things, Atman, Life, the Divine, the Absolute. But by doing so I lost myself on the way”(31). This quote explains that Siddhartha ponders about his desire to attain more wisdom and how he knows that desire causes suffering. He realizes that he was inaccurate to do this and that he needs to end his desire

After being asked how he was able to reach enlightenment, Siddhartha draws the distinction between knowledge and wisdom. He says, “ No, I am telling you what I discovered. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be forfeited by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” (115).

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.

Lastly, Siddhartha was tempted to kill himself but when he didn't he realized that there was so much he had to live for and that he could change himself for the better “He looked down and was completely filled with a desire to let himself go and be submerged in the water”(p.71) “He then had fallen asleep and on awakening he looked at the world like a new man.” (p.73) These quotes prove that temptation can make one see the world in a whole new light because is Siddhartha had not resisted the temptation to kill himself, he would not have awoken to find that life is truly a beautiful thing.

I could only deceive it…..I am Siddhartha; and about nothing in the world do I know less than about myself, about Siddhartha” (Hesse, 38). Siddhartha struggles not knowing what to do, where to go and who he was. Siddhartha was trapped in a cycle of losing and regaining his self. “You have observed well, you have seen everything. You have seen Siddhartha, the son of Brahmin. Who left his home to become a Samana and who has been Samana for three years. But now, I have left that path and came into this city, and the first one I met, even before I had entered the city, was you.  To say this, I have come to you, oh Kamala!  You are the first woman whom Siddhartha is not addressing with his eyes turned to the ground.   Never again will I love my eyes when I meet a beautiful women” (Hesse, 53). Things suddenly changes after meeting Kamala. Siddhartha starts getting involved in the things that he was once against which are pleasure and money. He struggles and works hard in-order to impress Kamala.

While similarities exist in all three examples such as someone else controlling our reality, enlightening those who are naïve about true reality and reactions to enlightenment that exist between the movie The Matrix, the excerpt from Allegory of the Cave by Plato and Meditation I of the Things of Which We May Doubt by Rene Descartes, there is a subtle difference in regards to being informed by others or seeking answers constantly yourself about what is real.