There are many similarities between the book Siddhartha and the movie Groundhog Day. Siddhartha is a spiritual novel by Herman Hesse, that documents the journey of main character Siddhartha and his friend Govinda. Siddhartha goes through many phases of life, from young samana to old and wise riverman. Finally, he reaches enlightenment towards the end of his life. Groundhog Day is a more upbeat movie about an arrogant weatherman named Phil who finds himself suddenly caught in a time loop, where the same day is repeating over and over again. Phil must also undergo an enlightenment of sorts, a change in perception and attitude towards the world, in order to escape this monotony. Phil and Siddhartha are both caught in what could be described as …show more content…
In beginning ofthe the movie, Phil looked down upon and treated rudely the people he considered “below him”. At the end of the movie, he had love in his heart for every person he came across, and did his best to help everyone. Similarly, in the book Siddhartha learns that one must love something not for what it could be, but for what it is now. Phil finds pleasure in doing good deeds and making people happy, and Siddhartha cherishes a rock, the river, the dirt. These simple but deeply profound actions seem very different but are actually similar in nature. Both characters learn that things and people should not be prized for what they could be or for their perceived worth. Things and people should be prized for just existing, for being one thing but also so much more, for being everything. The numerous similarities between Siddhartha and Groundhog Day really are striking. Phil and Siddhartha both find themselves trapped in a seemingly unending loop of suffering. Both go through many phases on their journey, including arrogance, and arrive at the end with eventual love for the world as a whole. Both characters escape their seemingly unending cycle of suffering by learning to be humble, achieving peace, and by loving everything for what it