Siddhartha A Review By Alex Gaddo

Slide show content Summary of the book. Symbols in the book and their meaning.

Summary In the beginning Siddhartha is living in a village in India with his friend Govinda. Both of them practice Hinduism. One day some Samanas come to town, and he and Govinda go with them. –Siddhartha goes with them to try and reach enlightenment, Govinda goes because Siddhartha goes. Siddhartha enters first of three phases of his life; those phases are: –Phase one, seeks religious wisdom –Phase two, pursues physical pleasures and worldly success –Phase three, reconciles physical and spiritual sides of himself

Summary After years of staying with the Samanas, Siddhartha and Govinda leave to find the Buddha. Once they find him they sit through a lesson with him. Siddhartha goes on his own again, but Govinda stays and joins Buddha. –Siddhartha leaves because he found a flaw in the Buddha's teachings; the flaw was that the Buddha could not explain what happened in his hour of enlightenment. –This starts his second phase of life.

Summary After traveling Siddhartha finds the town of Samsara, where he meets Kamala. After Siddhartha convinces her with fine clothes, shoes, and a lot of money she teaches him the art of love. After years with Kamala Siddhartha departs because he sees that he has grown very old and has lost many years here when he could have been trying to reach enlightenment; later when he is near the river he thinks about committing suicide, but his inner voice tells him not to.

Summary Later he meets Vasudeva, a ferryman of the river, who teaches him to listen to the river and learn from it. Later Kamala brings his son to him, but unfortunately she gets bitten by a snake and dies. So Siddhartha must take care of his son.

Summary Siddhartha Jr. hates his father’s gentleness and way of life and runs away back to Samsara; Siddhartha never finds him. After Vasudeva dies, he leaves Siddhartha the ferry, so he can continue rowing it. Siddhartha later reaches enlightenment. Govinda then finds him to learn from his wisdom.

Some Symbols and their meaning The River- represents unity and the eternity of all things. Whenever Siddhartha is at a huge turning point in his life he eventually ends up at the river. Children and Childishness- Clarity of perception, simplicity and wonder. Om- Represents the unity and perfection of the universe. Smiling- Represents someone with spiritual awakening.