Literature Analysis #4: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Plot:
Siddhartha and his friend Govinda are on a journey to discover themselves and become Samanas, and then they end up meeting the Buddha. The two friends end up splitting- Govinda learning from the Buddha, Siddhartha learning from life and himself.
After crossing the river and meeting the Ferryman, he met Kamala, who taught him about love. They conceived a child together. He became unhappy with his new turned lifestyle of gambling, so he left and went back to the river where he planned to give up on everything. He discovered what he had been looking for after this incident, and after a while, he became the new ferryman. He soon learned of Kamala's being bitten by a snake, and once she died he took their son, who in turn ended up running away.
Siddhartha came across Govinda for the third time, and taught him many things. He became the Buddha himself.

Theme:
The central theme that I picked up on was freedom. Not the kind of freedom where you can do anything that you want to do and not get in trouble for it, but freedom of the mind. The kind of freedom where you can think or feel anything and be at complete peace with yourself. That is what Siddhartha felt, he felt complete peace and freedom in himself.

Tone:
The tone of this novel is simple, yet elevated in the meaning of the words said. The tone is somewhat carefree, but serious.

Literary Techniques:

• irony: Govinda protected Siddhartha from a snake and Kamala was killed by one.
• foreshadowing: Siddhartha's meeting with Kamala. (pg 81)
• rhetorical question: "Often I have thought: will Govinda ever take a step without me, from his own conviction?" (pg 30)
• parallelism: "He has not grown wiser, he has not gained knowledge, he has not climbed any higher." (pg 17)
• alliteration: "And Siddhartha said softly, as if speaking to himself..." (pg 16)
• personification: "a smile crept over his face" (pg 390)
• diction: simple. "It has no difficulties." (pg 58)
• imagery: "There was a tree on the river bank, a coconut tree. Siddhartha leaned against it, placed his arm around the trunk and looked down into the green water which flowed beneath him." (pg 88)
• characterization: "with his lofty brow, his king-like eyes and his slim figure." (pg 4)
• symbolism: the river. Peace. "He looked down and was completely filled with a desire to let himself go and be submerged in the water." (pg 88)

Characterization:
On page four of the novel, Siddhartha was described twice using direct characterization. "...strong, handsome, supple-limbed... king-like eyes and slim figure." Indirectly he described Govinda (best friend) as loyal to Siddhartha. The author used both approaches so as not so overuse the direct characterization; to leave more up to the imagination for the other characters. Herman Hesse used the same diction and syntax in the book as when he described characters- simple and to the point. Siddhartha is a round character, I think. At least, compared to the other characters he is. He is described intricately physically, and we can hear his thoughts. He changed throughout the novel, so he was a dynamic character. Upon finishing the book, I felt like I was reading about myself. His thoughts were so precise sometimes and easy to connect to. "He delighted and made everybody happy. But Siddhartha himself was not happy."