Contributions Towards Siddhartha’s Goal Sometimes the best things in life are what is not searched for but what comes to you. In the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha, the main character, spends most of his time searching for the ultimate form of peace. He goes from teacher to teacher, though he does not believe wisdom can be taught, and at one point strays from his journey. Many things contribute and assist him in achieving his goal, while others have the opposite effect. From his son and Kamala, wealth and greed, the Samanas and Govinda, and the ferryman and the river, they all helped shape Siddhartha in one way or another and helped bring him closer or farther to his goal. When Siddhartha begins his spiritual journey, he decides …show more content…
He gets a job in order to buy her presents and becomes rich. Upon this, he becomes extremely materialistic. He gambled, entertained himself with women and developed new characteristics such as greed, anxiety, envy. In this period he loses sight of his goal. Money and lust lured him away from his journey keeping him from reaching it. Once continuing on his spiritual path, he hears the river speak to him and decides to learn from it. He stays with Vasudeva, the ferryman, and learns of the river and listens to it. This puts him back on track to reach his ultimate goal and helps him achieve it. He grows happy and peaceful and “As time went on his smile began to resemble the ferryman’s, was almost equally radiant, almost equally full of happiness, equally lighting through a thousand little wrinkles, equally childish, equally senile (Hesse, 88).” He has almost reached his goal. Towards the end of Siddhartha’s spiritual journey, he reaches a speed bump. He meets his son he never knew he had and develops an undevoted love towards his son. This great love for his son blinds him from everything and his only focus is on his son. He strays from the path to his goal. His son keep him from achieving his goal but once he leaves, he hears from the river again and that is when he reaches his goal. From the river he hears voices and discovers that everything thing is