Enlightenment In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

The Journey to inner peace is as unknown as the deepest crevices of the Ocean. Not only is it almost impossible to reach, but it isn’t known what will be found. Each quest towards an answer that truly isn’t there brings about different results, which Siddhartha and Govinda witness throughout the tale. In the novel “Siddhartha” by author Hermann Hesse, the message of the journey towards Enlightenment is shown through a plethora of symbols. The River with its representation of moving on, Nature with its never ending cycles, and the Ferryman in regards to finding inner peace are only a few symbols utilized throughout this tale.

To begin, the River symbolizes a unity in the world as well as the fact that life moves on no matter what. This is
Siddhartha truly begins the path to Enlightenment in the book when he states “He looked around, as if he was seeing the world for the first time. Beautiful was the world, colorful was the world, strange and mysterious was the world! Here was blue, here was yellow, here was green, the sky and the river flowed, the forest and the mountains were rigid, all of it was beautiful, all of it was mysterious and magical, and in its midst was he, Siddhartha, the awakening one, on the path to himself” (Location 419)*, his search for inner peace was starting to see results and it was in a place he never thought to look. When Siddhartha was following the Samana’s nature represented pain and suffering, shown in the novel when Hesse wrote, “Silently, Siddhartha exposed himself to burning rays of the sun directly above, glowing with pain, glowing with thirst, and stood there, until he neither felt any pain nor thirst any more. Silently, he stood there in the rainy season, from his hair the water was dripping over freezing shoulders, over freezing hips and legs, and the penitent stood there, until he could not feel the cold in his shoulders and legs any more, until they were silent, until they were quiet” (Location 146)*. Nature is where Siddhartha finds true peace and understanding with life as well as where his journey for enlightenment truly begins and
Though, this doesn’t mean they symbolize Enlightenment but the search for it as well as the trials and tribulations along the way. Hermann Hesse does an astounding job of utilizing different forms of symbolism from a person, a place, and a general concept. Siddhartha has always been on a quest for Enlightenment, but he and the reader wouldn’t go on the spiritual journey they do without the uses of those