A symbol present in Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha is the river. The river in the novel symbolizes life and unity and satisfies Siddhartha's spiritual Journey which awakens him to many new ideas and truths.
When Vasudeva first takes Siddhartha across the river,he does not see it as anything but beautiful. Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that much can be learned from it, however Siddhartha does not understand this and dismissed it as foolishness. The next time Siddhartha encounters the river he has become very depressed and discouraged. He has no desire to move forward or carry on .He looks into the river and sees emptiness. …show more content…
From the river he learns how to listen and he also realizes there is no such thing as time. Just as the river continually flows and exists in many places Siddhartha realizes that he too exists in many different forms. He realizes that these forms are not past and future but instead present and that all forms already exist within a person. We see this revelation in the passage on pg 107 which reads,”That is it , said Siddhartha , and when I learned that I reviewed my life and it was also a river and Siddhartha the boy Siddhartha the mature man and Siddhartha the old man were only separated by shadows not through reality . Siddhartha’s previous lives were also not in the past and his death and his return to Brahma are not in the future. Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence.” The more he begins to understand the secrets of the river the more he is able to understand the secrets of life and the more he is able to accept everything that life is. Understanding and accepting these truths bring him joy. When he is hurting over his lost relationship with his son he looks into the river and sees a familiar face; the face of his father . His own father had suffered the same lost that Siddhartha was now suffering. Siddhartha left his father to become an ascetic and Siddhartha’s own son had left him for another life as well. Siddhartha realizes the similarities and patterns …show more content…
He realizes that the river is not just a river but it embodies all things and all people. It is everywhere and everything all at once. Together,it is the world. He looks into the river and sees all the people he's ever known. He does not see these people as separate- but as one. He sees the similarities that all people have; of desires, of longings , of woes , and of goals. He sees the recurrence of all events and phenomenons .We see Siddartha making this important connection in the passage that reads, “Siddartha tried to listen better. The picture of his father, his own picture, and the picture of his son all flowed into each other. Kamala's picture also appeared and flowed on and the picture of Govinda and others emerged and passed on. They all became part of the river. It was the goal of all of them, yearning , desiring , suffering; and the river's voice was full of longing , full of smarting woe, full of insatiable desire. The river flowed on towards its goals . Siddhartha saw the river hasten , made up of himself and his relatives and all the people he had ever seen. All the waves and water hastened , suffering , towards goals, many goals , to the waterfall , to the sea, to the current , to the ocean , and all goals were reached and each one was succeeded by another . The water changed to vapor and rose , became rain and came down again, became spring , brook and river, changed anew, flowed
When Vasudeva first takes Siddhartha across the river,he does not see it as anything but beautiful. Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that much can be learned from it, however Siddhartha does not understand this and dismissed it as foolishness. The next time Siddhartha encounters the river he has become very depressed and discouraged. He has no desire to move forward or carry on .He looks into the river and sees emptiness. …show more content…
From the river he learns how to listen and he also realizes there is no such thing as time. Just as the river continually flows and exists in many places Siddhartha realizes that he too exists in many different forms. He realizes that these forms are not past and future but instead present and that all forms already exist within a person. We see this revelation in the passage on pg 107 which reads,”That is it , said Siddhartha , and when I learned that I reviewed my life and it was also a river and Siddhartha the boy Siddhartha the mature man and Siddhartha the old man were only separated by shadows not through reality . Siddhartha’s previous lives were also not in the past and his death and his return to Brahma are not in the future. Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence.” The more he begins to understand the secrets of the river the more he is able to understand the secrets of life and the more he is able to accept everything that life is. Understanding and accepting these truths bring him joy. When he is hurting over his lost relationship with his son he looks into the river and sees a familiar face; the face of his father . His own father had suffered the same lost that Siddhartha was now suffering. Siddhartha left his father to become an ascetic and Siddhartha’s own son had left him for another life as well. Siddhartha realizes the similarities and patterns …show more content…
He realizes that the river is not just a river but it embodies all things and all people. It is everywhere and everything all at once. Together,it is the world. He looks into the river and sees all the people he's ever known. He does not see these people as separate- but as one. He sees the similarities that all people have; of desires, of longings , of woes , and of goals. He sees the recurrence of all events and phenomenons .We see Siddartha making this important connection in the passage that reads, “Siddartha tried to listen better. The picture of his father, his own picture, and the picture of his son all flowed into each other. Kamala's picture also appeared and flowed on and the picture of Govinda and others emerged and passed on. They all became part of the river. It was the goal of all of them, yearning , desiring , suffering; and the river's voice was full of longing , full of smarting woe, full of insatiable desire. The river flowed on towards its goals . Siddhartha saw the river hasten , made up of himself and his relatives and all the people he had ever seen. All the waves and water hastened , suffering , towards goals, many goals , to the waterfall , to the sea, to the current , to the ocean , and all goals were reached and each one was succeeded by another . The water changed to vapor and rose , became rain and came down again, became spring , brook and river, changed anew, flowed