Hermann Hesse Siddhartha Essay Sample

“You seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find” (Hesse 140). Seeking is finding with a direct end-goal in mind. Understanding is different. Understanding is finding, with unconditional dedication to the truth. Seeking ends at a point; understanding extends to infinity. Seeking is like a point charge; understanding is like an infinite plane of charge. In the novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha leaves his father’s house away from his former life as a Brahmin to answer questions he had about the world. Through the journey’s ups and downs, Siddhartha is constantly revising his interpretations on the surrounding world to reach spiritual enlightenment. Hesse demonstrates that understanding is a universal process through the recurring symbol of the river and through the juxtaposition between seeking versus understanding.  

The motif of the river throughout the novel emphasizes the theme of unity on the concept of understanding. As Siddhartha listens to the river alongside with Vasudeva, Siddhartha hears the “laughter of the wise, the cry of indignation, and the groan of the dying” (Hesse 135), which were all “interwoven and interlocked, entwined” (Hesse 135). Despite the different sounding voices, each voice represents only one out of the many within the river. These sounds all come from the same river, revealing that every human goes through the same struggles. Moreover, as the ferryman, Vasudeva, tries to get Siddhartha to listen to the river better, pictures of him, his son, and his friend, Govinda, flow into the river. All the “yearning, desiring, suffering” (135) flows into the same river. Siddhartha is getting flashbacks of his close ones and sees them flowing into the river. The flow inward symbolizes Siddhartha’s growing understanding of other people’s struggles connected to his own. The process of unity in understanding is always the same: Connecting others’ experiences to yours.

The juxtaposition between seeking and understanding reinforces the importance of unity in the concept of understanding. As Siddhartha is talking to Govinda about seeking, Siddhartha says, “Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal” (140). Hesse illustrates that understanding is rather being receptive rather than having a goal since having a goal only focuses on that person’s experience. However, being receptive emphasizes understanding other people’s experiences besides that person’s own experience. Understanding and connecting others’ experiences to one’s own experiences demonstrates the importance of unity in understanding.

Hesse emphasizes understanding as a universal concept of connecting others’ experiences to one’s own. The symbol of the river throughout the novel emphasizes the connectedness in relating others’ experiences to an individual’s. The comparison between seeking versus understanding reveals that understanding is just connecting others’ experiences to one’s own. Understand that understanding is just connecting others to yourself.