siddhartha blog

    The reoccurring theme I have found throughout Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is 
that peoples paths are always changing there is always something good that comes 
from this change. In this book Govinda and Siddhartha separate to because 
Govinda wants to stay with Gotama, and Siddhartha wants to follow his own path. 
When Siddhartha is reflecting what just happened he thinks, "He robbed me, yet 
he has given me something of greater value. He has robbed me of my friend who 
had believed in me, and now believes in him. He was my shadow and now Gotama's 
shadow. But he has given to me Siddhartha myself." (36) This quote is referring 
to Govinda deciding to follow Gotamas teachings, and that this was a good thing 
for Siddhartha to finally be able to follow his own path. Also, later in the 
book when Siddhartha was a rich merchant he decided to throw that life away and 
go live once again in the forest. Siddhartha acted on a sudden urge to leave his 
riches, which for him later on ended up being the right choice." He smiled 
wearily, shook his head and said good-bye to all these things." (84) Sometimes 
in life you have to completely change your ways like Siddhartha did in order to 
find a better path. This quote applies mostly to my life because occasionally I 
decide to do something completely different than I had done in the past, and 
sometimes this choice works well for me, but sometimes it doesn't.