Similarities Between Siddhartha And 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.

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.

Have you ever wanted to spend months in temperatures that regularly are -30°? Many people cannot stand cold temperatures such as 32° even just for the couple minutes it takes while they are walking from their car to the store. In the story “Extreme Research Shows How Arctic Ice Is Dwindling” by Andy Isaacson he discusses how the arctic ice is dwindling, what will happen as a result of that and then finally about his trip where he was able to observe it all firsthand. The sea of ice is unlike how most people would imagine it to be as depicted on maps, instead it is not all connected but rather it is many different pieces all just floating near one another.

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

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).

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.

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.

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

Siddhartha pursues enlightenment through material pleasures and religious teachings. Siddhartha seeks enlightenment because he is dissatisfied with his current situation and he thinks that other

Siddhartha’s discovered, “One can find it (wisdom), live it, be fortified by it do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it”(142). Because Siddhartha realized this, he finally discovered why one teacher could not teach him what he wanted to learn. To find enlightenment one must stop seeking and start finding, which has close relations between knowledge and wisdom. When Siddhartha addresses Govinda in the final chapter, Siddhartha confronts Govinda and says, “You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under you nose”(140). This means that when someone seeks they miss many lessons along the way, unlike if someone is finding. This relates to knowledge and wisdom because both seeking and wisdom are the end result while finding and knowledge are the journey. If one makes the decision to try to seek or find wisdom, they will miss many important lessons along the way. If Siddhartha decided to stay and learn from the Illustrious One, or any one teacher he would have gone his whole life seeking and not finding. Siddhartha was able to attain all his knowledge through several different teachings and in result will finally be able to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha discovery of the difference between wisdom

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.

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.

Sometimes enlightenment of the truth is overwhelming and not easy to adapt or understand. Plato’s excerpt asks if the prisoner could see the truth would that not cause pain and he would reject the new truth he is shown. The prisoner would eventually come to understand and believe the truth and enjoy the knowledge gained, but also feel sad for the others who are living in the darkness as he once was. Equivalent to Plato’s excerpt, Descartes’s story regards the enlightenment of reality as wakefulness, darkness and the new truth as difficulties brought forth. Similarly, in the Matrix, Neo is having a hard time adjusting to the realization that everything he has known to be true was all distortion of reality and even Cypher wants to return to the past before the gained knowledge of true reality.