Behind the Scenes of Siddhartha's Journey

There are many motifs that appear in the book, Siddhartha, in which those motifs can create an overall view of the book. Some examples of motifs that are distinct within the book could be meditation, encountering of previous religious views, and dreams. In the beginning of the book, Siddhartha is very uneasy about a feeling when he was living as a son of a Brahmin. This feeling was solved through meditation. Meditation is a common solution in Siddhartha’s eyes when something is unsure or needs to be solved without stress. In page 8, “Govinda, come with me to the banyan tree. We will practice meditation. (Hesse 8)” Siddhartha was curious of his purpose in life. So Siddhartha and Govinda decide to meditate. Meditation is significant in the book because through meditation, he learned that living as a Brahmin was the solution to finding his purpose in life and to find what he was uneasy about. Also meditation is recurring later in the book on page 90, “His sleep was deep and dreamless; he had not slept lie this for a long time. This was when he left Kamala and his wealth in order to go back to the path he was on. Sleep is a form of meditation and through his sleep, he discovered a new path he had to take and found out that he can continue in the way of conquering himself and finding true happiness or Nirvana. Throughout the book, Siddhartha has many events that can be considered a motif such as the encountering of his previous religions and teachings. When Govinda and Siddhartha search for this Buddha or Gotama in page 27,“ Look, there is the Buddha..(Hesse 27)” Siddhartha believes that Buddha’s ways of teachings was not what he desired for or what he was searching in order to achieve his goal. Also in Awakening on page 38, “I wanted to rid myself, conquer myself.. (Hesse 38)” Siddhartha encounters previous religious views but lets go of them after finding out what he had to do. Him encountering into previous religious views is significant in the book because in the book, Siddhartha would have never experienced other world views unless he released all the teachings he has received before going on his own. Finally, Dreams is an important motif in the book for many reasons. Beginning on page 80, Siddhartha has two dreams. “One day, perhaps I will also become a follower of the Illustrious One… (Hesse 80)” This was what Kamala said which meant she was considering of leaving Siddhartha because he is lost in the worldly view. Also in page 82, “The little bird was dead, lying stiff on the floor. He took it out and threw it into the streets… (Hesse 82)” These recurring events made Siddhartha once again change his path to going back into the natural world to discover and conquer the Self.

-Ji Lim