siddhartha
...his life. He wonders around for a while, nebulous to his surroundings, and falls asleep by a river. When Siddhartha wakes up, his friend Govinda, was there watching over him. After a brief conversation, Govinda leaves to continue his journey. Siddhartha then leaves to find the ferryman from years past. Astonishingly, Siddhartha is successful and starts to learn from the ferrymen. The teachings of the ferrymen lead Siddhartha to learn from the ways of the river and with time Siddhartha became enlightened. Soon after, Kamala and her son go on a journey to see the Buddha and on the way run into Siddhartha and the ferryman. When Kamala was about to go across the river with her son, a snake bit her and causes her to die. But, before she dies she tells Siddhartha that the boy she came with is his son. Now, Siddhartha has a son, who is very rebellious, that he does not know. Even though Siddhartha has love for his son, his son does not for him and steals all the money from both the ferryman and Siddhartha and runs into the forest. Siddhartha chases him, but soon gives up because fighting his son is an endless battle. Siddhartha returns and goes back to studying the river. After the ferryman taught Siddhartha all he could, he left and went into the forest. Soon after Siddhartha takes the place of the ferryman, Govinda comes on a journey for the teachings of the ferryman. When Govinda found that this ferryman is Siddhartha, he wants to learn all tools to become enlightened. Although, Siddhartha has learned that teaching can do nothing, and tells Govinda to kiss his forehead. When Govinda kisses his head, Govinda conveys enlightenment into his own body and they both are now enlightened. Moreover, the quest for individual enlightenment and self knowledge was the main theme in this novel. In Siddhartha’s search for enlightenment he learns from three different holy men. The main idea the author is trying to convey is that Siddhartha not only searched for enlightenment and found three different holy men who taught him all their knowledge, but Siddhartha also made the decision that enlightenment is more than teachings from a person and turns to himself for the answers. The part of the book where the author best shows this is when Siddhartha leaves the Buddha and Govinda to search the land for the answers he can not find through teachers. The message I received was that in order to find enlightenment or self knowledge a person must first go through many obstacles weather it is physical or mental. Hesse shows these obstacles in the form of Siddhartha leaving the Brahmins, leaving the Samanas, leaving the Buddha, and leaving his life as a business man and lover because he could not find what he was looking for. Although, Siddhartha was not always like this; Siddhartha went through many internal changes that led him to go out and find the answers for himself. When Siddhartha was young, he was just another follower. He fallowed the standard religious practices of the Brahmin village and felt content with his life. Although, something was not correct with his teachings and he set out to find enlightenment. This showed internal change because he now has the courage to go out on his own to explore for the answers. Another internal change Siddhartha went through was when he realizes that no one teacher can always be right and that he should have questions and opinions about the teacher’s teachings. Along with internally changing, Siddhartha’s personality also changed. When Siddhartha was still a Brahmin, his friends and family always came first. He respected all higher authority and fallowed all the rules. Although, further into the story, Siddha...