“Do you hear? Listen Better!” In Siddhartha, Siddhartha struggles to find himself so he sets on foot on a journey to do so. On this journey he comes across a river and ferryman which question his inner conflict of finding himself and his spiritual growth. These inner conflicts and spiritual growths are revealed through Hermann Hesse’s use of metaphors, imagery and personification. These figurative languages further delve into the meaning of the river mentioned in the story.
To reveal Siddhartha’s spiritual growth and inner conflicts, Hesse uses metaphors. After spending a lot of time working with Vasudeva, it is explained that the river is everywhere at once which Siddhartha realizes it’s much like itself. As he states, “… I looked at my life, and it was also a river, and the boy Siddhartha was only separated from the man Siddhartha and from the old man Siddhartha by a shadow, not by something real.” Siddhartha is comparing the structure of a river and his own life which both may begin and conclude at different places, but exist at the same moment in time. By discovering this, he didn’t have to worry about his past, present, and future as all of moments
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This is used when Vasudeva tells Siddhartha to look at the river while studying it. As it is illustrated, “Siddhartha looked into the water… his father appeared, lonely, mourning for his son… his son appeared, lonely as well… each one obsessed by the goal, each one suffering.” This excerpt permits readers to look into Siddhartha’s eye’s and witness that he and his father have been suffering in this journey which was to find peace and oneself now brings selfishness as now another being has to struggle for one’s supposed wrong doing – Siddhartha’s journey. But also by looking at what he’s done in his life at a different angle, Siddhartha is expanding various ways in which he can continue and hopefully conclude his