Book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

In the book Siddhartha the author Herman Hesse uses gustatory imagery particularly with the Samanas, for example 'The world had a bitter taste.' 'And Siddhartha's soul returned; it had died, it had rotted, it had fallen into dust, it had tasted the dismal intoxication of the cycle of existences; filled with fresh thrist.” when Hesse describes Siddhartha's physical condition when he is a Samana and does not have and food and malnutrition, Hesse is setting a dark mood to help describe the pain and anguish Siddhartha is going through to help emphasize the importance of Nirvana and how hard he is working to achieve it.

Hesse also uses juxtaposition when it states “Do you force him? Do you strike him? Do you punish him?... Do you not bind him with the bands of your love? Do you not shame him daily and make things more difficult for him with your kindness and patience?” Hesse is putting together words that are associated with abuse and punishment with love and kindness.

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It creates a contrasting effect that brings out the differences between the two. This also shows the balance of parenting. He explains that parenting has to do with love and care but with that punishment and force also has to be used in order for the child to thrive in the future. Hardships are for the better good for the child so this leads Siddartha into not worrying as much for his son with the struggles that the world might bring.

A motif for love was used when Kamala tells Siddhartha that he will never love anybody, and Siddhartha confirms this and marks it as true.

He took pleasure in Kamala strictly for learning the lessons of love, and he felt that nothing more would come of that. It was easy for Siddhartha to leave the city and Kamala behind when he had grown sick and tired of his 'Child People' ways. 'It was true that he had never been able to lose himself entirely in another person, give himself to another; never had he been able to do this - and this, it had seemed to him at the time, was the great difference separating him from the child people. 

But now, ever since his son had come, he Siddhartha, had become a child person in his won right, suffering because of another person, loving another person, lost, a fool, because of love,' This shows how Siddhartha goes somewhat of a circle in life where when he started to become rich and got bored he wanted to leave but when he got a son his desired to stay this indicates the main points of Siddartha’s life decisions. 

Works cited

1. Hesse, H. (1951). Siddhartha. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2. Barthes, R. (1986). The Rustle of Language. University of California Press.
3. Caws, M. A. (1996). Herman Hesse: Pilgrim of Crisis. McGill-Queen's Press-MQUP.
4. Moller, M. (2010). The Hermeneutics of the Subject: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1981-82. Macmillan.
5. Freud, S. (1990). On Narcissism: An Introduction. WW Norton & Company.
6. Jung, C. G. (1968). The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Princeton University Press.
7. Campbell, J. (1949). The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Pantheon Books.
8. Eliade, M. (1958). Patterns in Comparative Religion. Sheed & Ward.
9. Aurobindo, S. (1995). The Life Divine. Lotus Press.
10. Watts, A. (1972). The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are. Pantheon Books.