Janet Nape Mrs. Goss World Lit-1 5 November 2010

 He is a Hindu in the beginning of the story who becomes unhappy with his lifestyle at home.  His father is a Brahmin or priest and his father wants him to be a priest like him. However Siddhartha wants to know who he is and attain more knowledge.  Siddhartha received his call to adventure within himself.

 Siddhartha has his best friend Govinda.  Govinda admires Siddhartha and respects him.  He is Siddhartha’s shadow in the beginning of the story  He goes with Siddhartha to live with the Samanas and they begin their hero’s journey.

 As they live with the Samanas, they had to let go of all their desires and start to fast.  This is where they Cross the First threshold because they are living in an unknown world.  They stay with the Samanas for six years.  When Siddhartha decides to leave Govinda goes as well.  They learned to fast and beg for food while living with the Samanas.

 When they were living with the Samanas and had to go begging for food in a small town  One day when Govinda went to a small town to beg for food he heard people talking about going to see “the Enlightened one”. So when he returned to the Samanas he told Siddhartha that he would like to see Gotama who has already attained Nirvana and be one of this followers. Siddhartha unsupportley agrees to go with Govinda, but he is happy because they will be leaving the Samanas. *As they go to see Gotama, they both realize how peaceful looking he is. Govinda decides to stay and follow the Buddha's path. However Siddhartha does not stay but he does respect the Buddha. As Siddhartha was talking with the Buddha before his departure, he found a flaw in the Buddha teachings. The flaw is that no one an teach you how to attain Nirvana but that Nirvana is found within one. Though Siddhartha found a flaw in the Buddha, the Buddha serves as a mentor to Siddhartha because he helped Siddhartha understand things he did not know about. Peace

 As Siddhartha realizes that he is all alone since Govinda stayed with the Buddha, he travels to a town. In the town he sees the beautiful Kamala. Kamala is known for teaching men how to love and that is why Siddhartha goes and seeks her services.  Kamala tells Siddhartha that he needs to have money in order to get her services. Siddhartha say that is easy for him to attain.  She tells Siddhartha about a merchant that he could work for. The merchant man is named Kamaswami. At first as Siddhartha works for the man, he does not take the business seriously but as a game.

 Since Siddhartha has money, he receives Kamala's services and learns the art of love. However he does not really love Kamala. As he spends time in the town he is off track on his journey to attain Nirvana. Kamala is the women of temptress because she takes Siddhartha of his journey path.

 As Siddhartha and is still in the town he becomes mean and fat. He starts to drink a lot and becomes caught up with money. Siddhartha continues the horrible on going cycle for a long time. Siddhartha is in the belly of the whale because he is at his most darkest moment  However when he goes and sits under a mongo tree he realizes how nauseating the cycle was and decides to separate from it. He has let his old self die at this moment and has been spiritually been reborn again.

 As Siddhartha goes by a river, he sees a ferry man named Vasudeva.  He decides that he will become a ferry man as well. One trait that Siddhartha admires about the ferry man is that the ferry man is a good listener.  Kamala now old and with her son,Siddhartha Jr., goes on a journey to see the Buddha who is dying.

 When Kamala and her son go on the journey, Kamala is bitten by a snake. Vasudeva happens to be near by and hears her screams of pain.  He takes her and her son into his home where Siddhartha finally sees her and his son.  Kamala dies and leaves her son with Siddhartha

 Siddhartha’s son is mean and distrustful to his father. Siddhartha loves his son either way.  His son leaves him and the ferry man and goes to live in a town.  Siddhartha goes in search for his son but Vasudeva tells his to stop his search.  As they return to their home, Siddhartha has a wound. His wound is not having is son.

 Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that he should go and listen to the river. They both go to listen to the river. As Siddhartha listens to the river, he hears many voices but then realizes that all those voices are in unity called “Om”. At that moment Siddhartha has attained his goal of self knowledge and peace.  Since Vasudeva now knows that Siddhartha has attained his goal, he goes into the woods to die.

 Since vasudeva is gone he is left by himself at home.  However Govinda goes to the river in search of the ferry man who has attained Nirvana. He does not know that the ferry man is his friend Siddhartha.  As Govinda talks to the ferry man he realizes that the ferry man is his friend and that his friend has attained peace within one’s self.  Siddhartha tells Govinda to kiss him on the forehead. As Govinda did this he attained his goal of peacefulness too.

 Since Siddhartha has completed his hero’s journey, he is now the masters of two worlds. The earthly world and the spiritual world.

 In the story Kamala has a bird in a golden cage. The gold cage represents money and wealth. While the bird represents Siddhartha. When the bird is in the cage that means that Siddhartha is trapped in materialistic items.  However when Kamala lets the bird fly free, that means that Siddhartha is free from his bad cycle.

The End