One of the most common themes in all of literature is the journey of a hero. Not only is this Hebraic cycle common in the literary world, but also in our human culture. All human beings go through their own Hero's journey. One example of such a journey would be the stages of human grief. Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha is considered by many readers to be symbolic of the circle of life itself. The character Siddhartha goes through a heroes journey that can relate to almost any human being, to find enlightenment or the hidden truth about life. However, Siddhartha's psychological journey takes him through the experiences of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages are described by Kubler Ross as the “stages …show more content…
Ross describes this as, "Having faced the facts, the person feels rage and a deep sense that the situation is unfair" (Ross 54). While Siddhartha does not openly say that he is angry, he does give subliminal hints through the text. Here Siddhartha monologues on how the Buddha has changed his world for the worst, "The Buddha has robbed me, Siddhartha thought, he has robbed me, and yet has given me much more. He has robbed me of my friend, the friend who believed in me and now believes in him, who was my shadow and is now Guatama's shadow" (Hesse 32). Siddhartha accuses the Buddha of robbing him of his friend. Siddhartha blames the Buddha for Govinda's decision of becoming a Buddhist, but he does not consider that Govinda can make choices on his own. Siddhartha's statements show his displaced anger towards Buddha, rather than toward the friend who abandoned him in favor of Guatama's. The anger stage of grief is the self-expressive stage of lashing out at others when the reality is that the person is struggling with feeling arising from a profound loss. Siddhartha obliviously thinks that it is unfair that Govinda is now a follower of the Buddha, having abandoned allegiance to Siddhartha, The situation capsulizes the anger Siddhartha felt from