Part One
Introduction
The novel Siddhartha and the Parable of the Good Samaritan offer opposing views on what happiness is. In Siddhartha happiness is the feeling of peace that stems from enlightenment and realizing the infinite potential and interconnectedness of everything, while in the Parable of the Good Samaritan happiness is living compassionately and following the law of God.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan The Parable of the Good Samaritan found in the Book of Luke has a model for happiness based upon freedom with sin and living lovingly and selflessly. In the parable, Jesus answers a lawyer’s question on how to attain eternal life, or happiness. Jesus uses the Parable of the Good Samaritan to imply that happiness is the result …show more content…
Siddhartha typifies happiness when he meets Govinda for the last time at the end of the novel. During that encounter, Siddhartha shares his secrets of happiness. Siddhartha tells Govinda that wisdom cannot be communicated, because words can only express the truth one-sidedly. Instead, Siddhartha told Govinda that wisdom is the result of reflecting on one’s life and making amends with one’s past. Siddhartha also told Govinda that time is an illusion; events in life cannot happen interdependently, thus all events are interconnected and everything in “Maya” or the world contains the seed of its opposite. Govinda realized this after he kissed Siddhartha and saw Siddhartha’s face as stream of thousands of reincarnations, as the face of a child and as the face of dead corpses. Happiness as defined by Siddhartha is thereby enlightenment or supreme knowledge about the nature and truths of life that creates within oneself a feeling of deep …show more content…
The main character, Mrs. Turpin is an upstanding member of society, she is a member of the home and land owning class, she works hard, and attends church regularly. Although she is extremely racist and classist. Mrs. Turpin’s racist remarks trigger another lady, Mary Grace, an unattractive college student who is reading a book called Human Development. After so long, Mary Grace snaps and hurls her book at Mrs. Turpin’s face, hitting her above her left eye, then proceeds to choke her. As Mary Grace is then tranquilized and brought to the hospital, she calls Mrs. Turpin an old wart hog from Hell. Mrs. Turpin takes this as a “revelation” from God and goes home to her farm confused. At her farm she bursts into a fit of rage questioning, how can I be saved and from Hell too? Mrs. Turpin then has a vision that all of the people she hates, so-called white-trash and African Americans are ascending into Heaven in droves while members of her class are the last in line with their virtues and behaviors being removed before the light of God. The message O’Conner has for readers of this story is that one must recognize that all people are equal in the eyes of God in order to be
Introduction
The novel Siddhartha and the Parable of the Good Samaritan offer opposing views on what happiness is. In Siddhartha happiness is the feeling of peace that stems from enlightenment and realizing the infinite potential and interconnectedness of everything, while in the Parable of the Good Samaritan happiness is living compassionately and following the law of God.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan The Parable of the Good Samaritan found in the Book of Luke has a model for happiness based upon freedom with sin and living lovingly and selflessly. In the parable, Jesus answers a lawyer’s question on how to attain eternal life, or happiness. Jesus uses the Parable of the Good Samaritan to imply that happiness is the result …show more content…
Siddhartha typifies happiness when he meets Govinda for the last time at the end of the novel. During that encounter, Siddhartha shares his secrets of happiness. Siddhartha tells Govinda that wisdom cannot be communicated, because words can only express the truth one-sidedly. Instead, Siddhartha told Govinda that wisdom is the result of reflecting on one’s life and making amends with one’s past. Siddhartha also told Govinda that time is an illusion; events in life cannot happen interdependently, thus all events are interconnected and everything in “Maya” or the world contains the seed of its opposite. Govinda realized this after he kissed Siddhartha and saw Siddhartha’s face as stream of thousands of reincarnations, as the face of a child and as the face of dead corpses. Happiness as defined by Siddhartha is thereby enlightenment or supreme knowledge about the nature and truths of life that creates within oneself a feeling of deep …show more content…
The main character, Mrs. Turpin is an upstanding member of society, she is a member of the home and land owning class, she works hard, and attends church regularly. Although she is extremely racist and classist. Mrs. Turpin’s racist remarks trigger another lady, Mary Grace, an unattractive college student who is reading a book called Human Development. After so long, Mary Grace snaps and hurls her book at Mrs. Turpin’s face, hitting her above her left eye, then proceeds to choke her. As Mary Grace is then tranquilized and brought to the hospital, she calls Mrs. Turpin an old wart hog from Hell. Mrs. Turpin takes this as a “revelation” from God and goes home to her farm confused. At her farm she bursts into a fit of rage questioning, how can I be saved and from Hell too? Mrs. Turpin then has a vision that all of the people she hates, so-called white-trash and African Americans are ascending into Heaven in droves while members of her class are the last in line with their virtues and behaviors being removed before the light of God. The message O’Conner has for readers of this story is that one must recognize that all people are equal in the eyes of God in order to be