Study
Questions and Essay Topics
Study Questions
1. Siddhartha features
substantial activity and narrative action. At the same time, it
is about one man’s largely internal spiritual quest. What is the
relationship between the internal and exterior worlds of Siddhartha?
How does Siddhartha negotiate these worlds?
Siddhartha is driven to extremes by his desire
for spiritual enlightenment and understanding. While he embraces
the extremes of physicality in this novel, the initial spark of
desire comes from within him. Siddhartha’s initial project is to
negate the Self. The Samanas, and to some extent Gotama the Buddha,
preach this negation as the catalyst for enlightenment. They claim
that one can negate the Self through the mollification of the senses
and the elimination of desire. While desire can be mental and physical,
the senses are decidedly rooted in physicality. When people describe
Siddhartha as looking “like a Samana,” the effects of this sensual
negation are what they see.
Siddhartha pursues the opposite sensual extreme during
his life with Kamala. He enjoys sex with Kamala, as well as food,
dancing, and drinking. Siddhartha does not attempt to find a balance between
this new world and the ascetic world he left behind. Though sex
and drinking are new to him, he does not attempt to negotiate a
level of comfort or moderation. His goal is to attain Nirvana through
excess. However, excess, like fasting, fails to provide the desired
effect. When Siddhartha eventually does attain Nirvana, he does
not do so through a sensual extreme. Rather, he has learned to find
a balance in his life by the river. His physicality reflects his sense
of peace, but he does not radiate the effects of a physical extreme.
Instead, he exudes the peace he initially noticed in Vasudeva’s
eyes many years ago.
2. Discuss the
ways Siddhartha attempts to attain spiritual enlightenment. Which
approaches are successful? Which ones are not successful, and which
ones have limited effectiveness? How does Siddhartha progress from
one approach to the other?
When Siddhartha leaves his boyhood village,
he is armed only with the desire to understand himself and reach
enlightenment. He has no concrete, long-term plan for himself other
than to seek spiritual fulfillment, and he follows many different
paths to reach his goal. Siddhartha employs a kind of process of
elimination as he tries one tactic after another. Although his journey
is a spiritual one, in many cases Siddhartha uses an almost mathematical
calculation to decide how to proceed. When he decides to move from
one way of life to another, his choice is always decidedly analytical.
Siddhartha initially leaves his father the Brahmin for
a life among the Samanas. Although his father is a religious leader,
Nirvana has never been his stated goal. The Samanas, in contrast,
explicitly seek the spiritually transcendent. Soon, Gotama the Buddha
tempts Siddhartha to leave the Samanas because Gotama has attained
Nirvana. Siddhartha reasons that the Samanas cannot be as effective
as Gotama if they have never found enlightenment. Siddhartha eventually
leaves Gotama as well. He concludes that although Gotama
has attained Nirvana, his teachings will not necessarily lead others
to it. Siddhartha’s subsequent indulgences in the city may seem
haphazard, but they are prompted by a meticulous application of
the process of elimination. Siddhartha does not want to deny himself
any physical experience. When he lies in the pleasure garden and
resolves to leave the city, he is prompted to do so by his dream
of Kamala’s bird. This dream allows him to understand the emptiness
of city life. When Siddhartha begins to live alongside Vasudeva,
he realizes that Nirvana cannot be taught. Rather, Siddhartha intends
to follow in the steps of the ferryman and learn to read the river
for himself.
3. Consider
Siddhartha’s relationship with Govinda. How are they similar, and
how are they different? What are the narrative functions of Govinda’s
reappearance throughout the novel? How does their relationship impact
the novel’s ending?
Govinda is Siddhartha’s childhood friend
and becomes his partner as a spiritual pilgrim. He serves a variety
of functions in the novel, both to further the plot and to reveal
aspects of Siddhartha we might not otherwise see. Govinda often
provides a sounding board for Siddhartha’s ideas. The dialogue between
the two friends allows Hesse to show instead of simply tell what
Siddhartha is thinking. Govinda often disagrees with Siddhartha,
which allows Siddhartha to expound specifically on why he believes
he must act. Govinda differs with Siddhartha on the efficacy of
the spiritual approach offered by the Samanas, and almost does not
accompany Siddhartha when he leaves. Likewise, Siddhartha remains
skeptical about Gotama’s approach, but Govinda holds fast to his
beliefs. When Siddhartha ultimately leaves Gotama’s camp, Govinda’s
decision to stay helps to cushion the indictment of the Buddha.
Govinda’s reappearance after he and Siddhartha initially
part ways highlights how different Siddhartha is now from the man
he could have remained had he stayed with Govinda. Govinda functions
almost as an alternate-reality version of Siddhartha. Govinda stays
true to the teachings of Gotama, a path Siddhartha might well have
followed himself. Thus, the first contrast between the two friends
is a physical one. Siddhartha changes, while Govinda remains an
ascetic. However, Siddhartha ultimately succeeds in attaining Nirvana
while Govinda does not. The final meeting of the two friends drives
home this point. Siddhartha is able to give Govinda a glimpse of
his enlightenment. The friends’ high regard for one another lasts
throughout the novel, and both men are respectful of the choices
the other has made. This respect persists even as Siddhartha is
undeniably acknowledged as the more successful of the two.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Discuss the role of the mystic
utterance Om in Siddhartha. In
what ways does it foreshadow Siddhartha’s spiritual progression?
Is his relationship with it proactive, or reactive?
2. Herman Hesse’s novels before Siddhartha focused
on alienated young men who rejected the cultures of their upbringings.
However, these other novels did not feature the spiritual elements
of Siddhartha. How do the spiritual elements of Siddhartha make
it different from any other story of an alienated youth?
3
. Siddhartha is
a love story in addition to the story of a spiritual quest. How
do Siddhartha’s romantic love for Kamala and his love for his son
impact his spirituality? How does Siddhartha’s spirituality, in
turn, impact Kamala and his son?
4. Most literary scholars agree
that Siddhartha was prompted by Herman Hesse’s
fixation on Eastern spirituality. Is there a case to be made that Siddhartha is
designed to celebrate Eastern religion? Is Hesse’s treatment of
spirituality as relevant today as it was when he wrote the novel?
5. Siddhartha concerns
the quest for spiritual enlightenment, and by the end of it four
characters have achieved this goal: Govinda, Gotama, Vasudeva, and
Siddhartha. Is the enlightenment achieved by each of these characters
the
same? Why or why not? What distinctions and similarities exist between
the paths these characters use to reach their
final goal?
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