The Importance Of The River In Siddhartha

“Never, no, never did nature say one thing and wisdom say another”- Edmund Burke. The novel Siddhartha was written by Herman Hesse in 1922. Siddhartha is about a young indian man trying to find his role on the earth, all while going through the path to enlightenment. The River in Siddhartha represents his journey to enlightenment, readers can see this by the important lessons that the river teaches him, the changing in Siddhartha's views every time he comes back to the River, and how he starts and ends his journey to enlightenment at the River.

Throughout the entire novel the River continues to teach Siddhartha important life lessons. One lesson that the River teaches him is how to be devout and to listen. This is an important lesson for Siddhartha

The first time that readers see this is when he leaves the Samanas, this is when Siddhartha has a great awakening and decides to learn from himself instead of others. The first thing that he does when he decides to learn from himself is to go spend time at the river before he goes into the town. This quote shows him viewing things differently while he is at the forest by the river , “He look[s] around him as if seeing the world for the first time. The world was beautiful, strange and mysterious” (39). This is during a very critical time in Siddhartha's life and it is important that he realizes these things while he is at the river. Another example of when he comes back to the River and changes the way he views life is when he leaves the wealthy life that he has and goes to the River, he later has a sense of rebirthing while at the River. During his second time there he, “wandered into the forest, already far from the town and knew only one thing-that he could not go back, that the life he had lived for many years was past, tasted and drain to a degree of nausea”(87). This quote is important because it shows his view changing when he comes back to the

The first example of this is when he decided to leave the Samanas and then later finds himself at the river. After he has left his life with the Samanas he says, “‘It is a beautiful river.’ he said to his companion. ‘Yes it is a very beautiful river. I love it above everything. I've often listened to it, gazed at it, and I have always learned something from it. One can learn much for my River” (48). This quote is important because this is when he decides to take his path into his own hands and this is when he first really notices the river. Another example of this is how he leaves his wealthy life and lives as the ferryman's apprentice till he becomes the Buddha. This quote gives an explanation about the time he spent with the Ferryman at the River, “As Vasuveda rose from the river bank, when he looked into Siddhartha’s eyes and saw the serenity of knowledge shining in them, he touched his shoulder gently in his kind protective way and said : ‘I have waited for this hour, my friend. Now that it has arrived, let me go. I have been Vasudeva, the ferryman, for a long time. Now that it is over. Farewell nut, farewell river, farewell Siddhartha” (136). This quote is crucial to the novel because it explains the ending and how Siddhartha becomes the