The River in Siddhartha

A major motif that occurs in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha is the reoccurance of the river. several times within the text the river occurs, in both symbolic and literal occurance. At the beggining of the first chapter of part two of the book, the river first makes it's main appearance. "When Siddhartha awoke, the pale river shimmered past the door of the hut, and in the forest the cry of an owl rang out, deep and clear" (Pg.48). The first thing he visits after his parting from Govinda is a river, where he meets a kind ferryman. His crossing the river was like a metaphor for his crossing the "boundary" from his life of spirituality to his new life of material. It symbolizes a transfer of himself from a knowing "adult" in his eyes to a normal person, or a "child" in his eyes. The river then appears again when he realizes his material life is not providing him adaquete happiness and that he is not coming close to achiving true knowledge. He wanders to the river, and there he  "reached the long river in the wood, the same river across which a ferryman had once taken him when he was still a young man..." (Pg. 88). It is at this river, before which he wishes for seperation from his material life, that he falls into a deep sleep muttering the word Om. His sleep is like a purgery of his senses and material life, and returning him to a life of potential spirituality. It seemed to him as if he had become a different person completely, and had now returned to the correct path, as if a child, learning spirituality anew. after his great revelation, he decides "I will remain by this river... A friendly ferryman took me across... my path once led from his hut to a new life which is now old and dead. May my present path, my new life, start from there." (Pg 101). Siddharthat sees that his life is beginning new, and just as it did so long ago for him at that river, he would like annother rebirth to occur at the river metaphoricly.

A recurrence in Siddhartha

Siddhartha, the book, implements many different motifs such as pilgrimage, the self, and deserting loved ones. The one that specifically is identified throughout the whole book is deserting loved ones. One such example of this motif is near the beginning of the text when Siddhartha leaves his father to start his experience as a Samara. "The Brahmin saw that Siddhartha's knees trembled slightly , but there was no trembling in Siddhartha's face; his eyes looked far away. Then the father realized that Siddhartha could no longer live with him at home-that he had already left him." This explains that Siddhartha is leaving his much loved father.  This recurring symbol is also present in the chapter "Gotama" when Siddhartha leaves his best friend Govinda to continue on his journey. Siddhartha says "You have heard my blessing, Govinda. I repeat it. May you travel this path to the end. May you find salvation!" Siddhartha is saying goodbye to Govinda and saying that their paths separate here. This relates to the motif of deserting loved ones because he is leaving a friend that he has cared for since they were children. Finally, at the end of the chapter "Samsara," Siddhartha leaves the town that he had made his permanent home for many years. "When she heard the first news of Siddhartha's disappearance, she went to the window where she kept a are songbird in a golden cage." This goes back to the motif because it says that he left Kamala, the women he loves so much.

Dreams of Knowledge

               A motif that occurs throughout Siddhartha is Siddhartha having dreams that relate to Kamala which lead him to the next event that happens in his life. The vivid dreams he has, makes the reader question whether he has achieved Nirvana because of him knowing ahead of life through sleep. “He dreamt that Govinda stood before him, in the yellow robe of the ascetic. Govinda looked sad and asked him, ‘Why did you leave me?’ Thereupon he embraced Govinda, out his arm round him, and as he drew him to his breast and kissed him, he was Govinda no longer, but a woman” (Hesse 48.) This dream is telling the next step of Siddhartha’s life. After he leaves his friend of youth, Govinda, meets Kamala, a woman who becomes his new closest friend. “Then a dream once reminded him. He has been with Kamala in the evening, in her lovely pleasure garden. They sat under a tree talking. Kamala was speaking seriously, and grief and weariness were concealed behind her words. She asked him to tell her about Gotama,” (Hesse 80.) During this dream, Siddhartha was telling Kamala about Gotama and she seemed interested to one day become a follower of him. This is what Siddhartha does again by leaving the riches and wealth he had to become happy again. “During that time he had a dream. Kamala kept a small rare songbird in small golden cage. It was about this bird that he dreamt. This bird, which usually sand in the morning, became mute, and as this surprised him, he went up to the cage and looked inside. The bird was dead and lay stiff on the floor. He took it out, held it a moment in his hand and then threw it away on the road, and at the same moment he was horrified and his heart ached as if he had thrown away with this dead bird all that was good and of value in himself.” (Hesse 82) When Siddhartha leaves his wealth, Kamala sets the bird free and it dies. This motif symbolizes Siddhartha’s knowledge from what he has previously learned, and what he will soon learn.

A Knowledgable Motif

Multiple motifs occur throughout the novel Siddhartha. One major motif that comes up is a thirst for knowledge. The first example of this motif occurs just 5 pages into the first chapter, and comes up again and again for the rest of the novel. On page 5, Siddhartha feels that,"his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmin's, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of his wisdom" (Hesse 5). Siddhartha has remained with the Brahmin's for a time, but he feels he has exhausted all of their knowledge. So, he goes off with the Samanas to continue his thirst for knowledge, a major motif. Another example of the thirst for kinowledge is when Siddhartha states to Govinda, "Soon, Govinda, your friemd will leave the path of the Samanas along which he has travelled with you for so long. I suffer thirst, Govinda, and on this long Samana path my thirst has not grown less" (Hesse 18). He goes on to talk about how his thirst is not for something material, it is his thirst for knowledge, proving this motif to be correct. One last example of the motif is when he first meets Kamala. he tells Kamala that he wants to learn the art of love from her. He doesn't just want to love her, he wants to learn from it. This proves that the thirst for knowledge is a major motif in Siddhartha.

Siddhartha's Enlightenment

Siddhartha shows, in many cases, a recurring idea of spiritual enlightenment. As Siddhartha is a Buddhist character, this is the objective of all Buddhist followers, to let go of all personal possessions in order to achieve enlightenment. As such, Siddhartha's only abilities are to "think, wait, and fast". He has given up all of his worldly possessions, and all of his friends and family, to travel, to be a nomad. After briefly straying from his path of enlightenment, Siddhartha again leaves everything behind, and begins to again live in seclusion. He only begins to observe the life of the "normal people", but does not participate in the day-to-day activities that take place before him. Even during his time in the town, Siddhartha gambled his property without a care of whether or not he lost; "He won thousands, lost thousands, lost jewels, lost a country home, won again, lost again". Although Siddhartha hasn't completely rid himself of worldly possessions, he attempts to throughout the story.

The Self

"One must find the source within one's own Self, one must possess it. Everything else was seeking- a detour, error." (pg 7)

To discover the Self is what is the key to true happiness, according to Siddhartha.
In the beginning of this novel, Siddhartha started out as a Brahmin's son who was educated and compelled to learn new things each day. He lived with his father, who had high expectations of Siddhartha for the future. However, Siddhartha felt incomplete in this life, for his cup was not yet filled with innermost knowledge just yet; he had not yet achieved true happiness. In this, he became a Samana along with his friend, Govinda.Together, they lived in the forest and attained the skills to think, fast, and wait. For many years, they both followed the teachings of the eldest Samana in hopes that this is the life they can find satisfaction and the true meaning of life in. One day, his friend Govinda told Siddhartha of the rumors of Gotama's wise teachings. Govinda was very interested in hearing these teachings of the great Gotama (Buddha), but Siddhartha was not entirely convinced of Gotama's wisdom. When they met the Buddha, however, Siddhartha immediately recognized his peaceful, satisfied, and wise stature compared to the other monks. Govinda was convinced to pledge his allegiance as a follower of the Buddha, yet Siddhartha did not because the Buddha's teachings made him realize that following the teachings of others would hold him back from discovering himself as Siddhartha. With this decision, he became conscious of his surroundings: the world around him, in which he finally found beauty in. He travelled to a town where ordinary people had lived and became one of them. There, he met a beautiful prostitute named Kamala, where they both fell in love. Kamala recommended Siddhartha to Kamaswami, the richest merchant in the town, who she believed would contribute to Kamaswami success in the business. It turns out that Siddhartha's skills to think, fast, and wait & read and write became useful to the business and Siddhartha got a promotion in that sense. Years passed and Siddhartha was becoming one of the richest merchants living in town; he became greedy, anxious, selfish, and more like an ordinary person. With this feeling of regret in this life, he left everything he had there, including Kamala, who was pregnant. Siddhartha was so ashamed and so overwhelmed by these sins he had committed, attempting to drown himself in the river. But then he realized that maybe he came to that town and became a prosperous man to be motivated to find the Self. He started his new life as a ferryman with Vasudeva, the ferryman by the river. This life was very peaceful and happy and he learned much from the river and Vasudeva as well. One day, fleets of monks came to the ferrymen to cross the river and see the Buddha before his passing. Kamala and her son had also decided to come to the Buddha and seek peace, happiness, and wisdom in the last of his presence. On their way to the ferry, Kamala was bitten by a poisonous snake. Vasudeva saw Kamala and her son and took them in. Siddhartha was surprised to find his love and her son here at last with him. He saw the son and realized that he was his son too. Kamala died there, but was happy and at peace because she was with her one and only love, Siddhartha.
In this novel, the Self is a very important motif which motivates Siddhartha to find the true meaning of his life.

Motif in Siddhartha

                        A motif in Siddhartha would be the bird in the cage. On page 82, Hermann Hesse uses the bird motif to describe Siddhartha's new behavior. "Kamala kept a small rare songbird in a small golden cage. ...The little bird was dead and lay stiff on the floor. He took it out, held it a moment in his hand and then threw it away on the road, and at the same moment he was horrified and his heart ached as if he has thrown away with this dead bird all that was good and of value in himself, (Hesse,82)." The motif of the bird shown here suggests that the bird is how his life changed. He changed from a caring individual, to a man who doesn't care about other life. Another example of this motif is, "she opened the door of the cage, took the bird out and let it fly away. For a long time she looked after disappearing bird, (Hesse, 85)." The bird symbolizes Siddhartha and Kamala's relationship. She kept him with her, and as soon as Siddhartha left, she let the bird go meaning she let Siddhartha go and watched him disappear. This motif shows up again when he is talking about how his journey can be shown as a bird. "He thought long of the change in him, listened to the bird singing happily. If this bird within him had died, would he have perished? (Hesse,99)." This suggests the bird in the inner Self of Siddhartha. It is being compared to Atman. The motif is the bird further explores the topic of inner self and characterization of Siddhartha leading a potential theme.