The Symbolic Use of the River in Siddhartha
The river strongly influenced Siddhartha during his quest for enlightenment and, also, throughout his life. Siddhartha's most profound realizations have come out of what he has learned from the river. The river represents the continuous flow of life to Siddhartha. Reflections of the cycle of nature appeared in the river to Siddhartha during some of the most crucial times of his life. The river had always remained flowing, although Siddhartha was constantly changing...yet still unchanging at the same time. Siddhartha went through many different phases during his life, however, he had always been in search of true happiness during those phases. It was always apparent that the attainment of his main goal of happiness was the purpose for every change that he went through. Certain aspects of his life were not permanent and they disappeared. The river represents Siddhartha's understanding of life. He saw that the river had transitory appearances, just like him. The river was always changing, but still unchanging
As you can see, the river had much strong influence to Siddhartha. His most profound life lessons were learned because of the river. Siddhartha realized that nature, and especially the river, held all the answers to his many questions of life. In Chapter 9 on page 87, the books reads, "The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source of the mouth...in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future...Siddhartha the boy, Siddhartha the mature man and Siddhartha the old man [are] only separated by shadows, not through reality...Nothing was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence." Siddhartha almost attempted suicide by jumping into the river. This moment seems so ironic to me. The one thing in nature that represented the cycle of life to Siddhartha became the focus for his place of unnatural death. He held on to the trunk of a tree and gazed down at the water. His reflection on the water's s
Some common words found in the essay are:
Siddhartha Reflections, Siddhartha Brahmin's, Vasudeva Siddhartha, , river vasudeva, river siddhartha, life river, life death, cycle life, understanding life, river represents, own reflection, learned river, cycle nature,
Approximate Word count = 688
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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