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Herman Hesse's Siddhartha

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I, Jackie Odyniec have grown up in Madison, Connecticut and have lived here my whole life. Living in such a prestigious town has made me realize how fortunate I am. I have possessions that people would dream of, and the only way I was able to discover this was by traveling outside of the U.S. By reflecting off my travels, I have come to the conclusion that my life is similar to Siddhartha’s, the main character in Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha. As Siddhartha splits from his family to find himself by traveling, I also have found out more about myself through traveling. In a modern day perspective, I believe Siddhartha and I have a similar upbringing. Living in such a privileged town as Madison, there are many people who can offer guidance …show more content…

I felt the same when I was visiting in the Bahamas. Siddhartha soon realized that he had to listen and play by the rules of the Samanas, which he was not fond of. He soon left and explained, “No one will ever attain redemption through doctrine! Never, O Venerable One, will you be able to convey in words and show and say through your teachings what happened to you in the hour of your enlightenment” (30). Siddhartha’s situation is similar to mine when my family and I first declined an offer by a salesperson to rent a beach chair in the Bahamas. As we walked deeper into the beach, we changed our minds and decided to rent a chair. Once we had the chair in our possession, we then watched in disbelief as a fight broke out between the 1st and 2nd salesmen. My family and I then realized how different the Bahamas was from small, quaint, Madison, Connecticut. What I now discovered was how important it was to rent out as many chairs as possible. The salesmen were solely focused on renting out plastic beach chairs to tourists. Whereas, where I live, those who work at the beach are not in great need and they are most concerned with who has the newest iPhone. That is precisely why I picked the wave to symbolize myself. After this experience, I have come to the conclusion that everyone needs to relax, and go with the flow. It does not matter what anyone has because the next person will

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Siddhartha discovers his inner peace when he goes through diverse experiences, and gains wisdom. As a young kid, Siddhartha grows up being a Brahmin’s son. His father and elders taught Siddhartha

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The story of Siddhartha tells the tale of a boy who grows up in a wealthy Brahman family. He grows to be intelligent and handsome and is loved by all his family and friends. Siddhartha seems to have everything he could want but eventually becomes frustrated with his life. He seeks enlightenment and believes that the elders in his community have nothing more to teach him spiritually. Much to his parent’s frustration, Siddhartha decides he needs to leave home and find the inner peace he seeks.

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Any individual lives their life with many different types of influences, coming from both objects and people. In Hermann Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, a man unknowingly travels down the path of enlightenment. The man known as Siddhartha travels to seek the knowledge he longs for and encounters multiple influences along the way. These influences play an important role in the novel for him. Some of the influences in Siddhartha’s life include Kamala, his son, and the river since they help him to understand what he seeks and are the main reasons for him achieving enlightenment.

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Each individual embarks on his or her own hero’s journey in life, some finding peace and enlightenment while others suffer greatly. In Hermann Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, the author slowly shows Siddhartha’s path towards finding the self and enlightenment through conflict and resolution. Finding himself is difficult, but once he does, Siddhartha is released from sorrow and depression, which finally enables him to reach enlightenment and peace. Hesse portrays Siddhartha’s spiritual hero’s journey by using unique conflicts to reveal his true self through independence, mindfulness, and responsibility.

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He has this desire to quench the thirst of finding himself spiritually. “It often seemed near--the heavenly world-- not one who had completely quenched the eternal thirst”(8). The first part of his journey he departs from his restricted life with his father and goes and lives with the samanas becoming an individual. Through this experience, Siddhartha acknowledges many things from the semanas. “He traveled along the path of self-denial through

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Bettina Curletto Duffy English 4, Period 1 May 2023 Relationships and Enlightenment in Siddhartha In the novel Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, the protagonist, embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find enlightenment. However, his journey is not without its challenges as he learns to balance his inner desires with his relationships with others showing how a close relationship with an environment is vital for enlightenment. At the beginning of the story, Siddhartha was somewhat of a child prodigy and was able to escape from self easily.

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Siddhartha has changed a lot and achieved the enlightenment after he decided to be one of the Sananas, his determination means he has to go through fasting to cleanse his soul. Then I know I am supposed to do something to acquire the mystery of life just like Siddhartha. Therefore I chose to give up speaking mandarin, which is an instinctive action in my daily life. It is interesting that I would like to think for a while when I open my mouth, and I do not know why I feel a little bit guilty when I am speaking mandarin at present, perhaps this is the “sequelae” after my own fast. However, it becomes easier to understand Samanas’s tough time and the reason why they are persisting in ascetic practices and I learned that suffering really is a

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Along his journey, Siddhartha goes through many unique and uncomfortable experiences, which ultimately allows him to attain an abundance of new wisdom. Through his journey, the novel's central ideas are developed- one being that people can only gain wisdom through experiences, not teachings, and another being the philosophy that all life is interconnected. Furthermore, Hesse's clever approach to developing Siddartha's desire for Enlightenment, resembling a lion stalking its prey, leads to Siddhartha facing both positive and negative consequences. Negatively, as Siddhartha leaves to go on his journey, he upsets his father by leaving him behind. Positively, however, he learns what is needed to know about life to attain his particular goal.

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Siddhartha Fishbowl Discussion Reflection My understanding of cultural and contextual considerations in Siddhartha by Herman Hesse during the oral discussion increased because I was able to easily see how different interpretations drawn from the text can lead to different conclusions based upon a person 's preconceived notions. A significant cultural difference I had not previously considered was after someone in the class asked “how could a war be bad” and many people seemed to agree with them (thus indirectly implying belief in absolute morality), and even stated about how they essentially found Siddhartha’s proclamation at the end of the book that “everything was good” to be in direct interference with their own personal beliefs. This was

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Have you read Siddhartha? If you have then you would know that it was written by Herman Hesse, but have you ever stopped to who exactly Hermann Hesse was? Hermann Hesse was born in Calw, Germany in 1877. His family consisted of missionaries who frequently traveled around the world to spread the word of God. His father was a Pietist-Lutheran and often spoke about human nature being inherently evil, his grandparents, however, traveled throughout East Asia for their missions and brought back souvenirs and books from the different places they traveled to.

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In 10th grade, I was required to read “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse. As I rushed through a book filled with life's secrets, trying to meet deadlines and understand complex meanings hidden in simple but beautifully articulated sentences, I wasn’t able to truly grasp the meaning of it. Siddartha contradicted himself constantly going back and forth from loving and hating the world's people, possessions and temptations while irritating me in the process. I wanted the book to be black and white, clearly defining the right path to take in order to seek enlightenment. Years later as I read it for a second time, with no deadline or looming responsibility over my head, I was able to understand the book.

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Herman Hesse’s, Siddhartha, is about a young man named Siddhartha, who grew up in an upper-class Brahmin family, and is favored by many. Although, Siddhartha is not favored by the most important individual in his life, himself. Siddhartha goes on a journey, carving away at his block, understanding that his happiness arrives once he follows his own

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Siddhartha believes

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If we lead ourselves and encounter a hardship, we will not fall back as if we were following, but we learn from it and add to the knowledge gained from our journey. This lesson is actual to us in all phases of life: school, friends, and work. We should always try to keep Siddhartha’s model to reach our final goal and gain knowledge on the

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20 million children grow up every year without a father. A father can be the difference between a child going to school, or beginning a life of crime. A proper relationship between father and son can show good development. In Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse uses love, respect, and trust between father and son to show Siddhartha's enlightenment The Relationship between Siddhartha and his father shows many elements of Respect. Siddhartha grows up in a loving household with a father who cares and he knows that which is why he shows the utmost respect when around him, The story first shows this when Siddhartha first realizes he doesn’t want to be a Brahmin, he goes back home to tell his father.

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