In the beginning of the chapter, “Kamala” in Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse illustrates Siddhartha’s changing viewpoint towards the physical world. He uses the literary elements: point of view, selection of detail, and imagery; to reveal Siddhartha’s newfound perspective on life. Hermann Hesse is attempting to use the senses of the audience to establish Siddhartha’s new viewpoint towards the physical world. Hesse uses Siddhartha’s point of view to describe the manner of his change in both mind and heart. When Siddhartha was younger and was sheltered from the world by his father, he was unaware of the pain and suffering present in this world. Later on in his life, after his first transition to the “shadow” of the night, Siddhartha undergoes …show more content…
This is shown by the order in which he observes certain natural occurrences towards the end of the passage; “Siddhartha saw a group of monkeys in the depths of the forest…and heard their wild eager cries. Siddhartha saw a ram follow a sheep and mate… he saw the pike making chase in evening hunger.” The order in which Hesse presents these ideas is important because it is foreshadowing to Siddhartha’s journey that he must face and overcome to achieve success in his quest. The “wild cries” that the monkeys were making represent the argument that Siddhartha had with the Buddha; the ram following his mate foreshadows his affair with Kamala; and finally, the pike slaughtering the smaller competitors anticipates the loss of character that Siddhartha experiences as a merchant and his greed that he finds as a result of his immense riches. Another example of selection of detail that Hesse uses is that he chooses for Siddhartha to notice natural objects instead of manmade structures. “He saw the sun rise over forest and mountain and set over the distant palm shore.” Siddhartha now recognizes that there in beauty to be searched for in natural objects rather than finding flaws in mankinds’ motives and actions; and realizes that he has found a safe haven that he can retreat to at times of