Siddhartha
In-Class Documented Literary Analysis Essay
Minimum Length: 5 paragraph essay
Assignment: Write an essay analyzing one specific aspect of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Support your ideas with references to a source of professional literary criticism of the novel. Your tone throughout the essay should be professional, academic and appropriate. At the same time, you should be developing a unique voice - a sense of style that is your own - through vocabulary, description, imagery, and literary and stylistic devices. (Look at the posters on the back wall of the room for some help.) Your ideas should reflect an understanding of the novel as we have studied it; however, you must go beyond the discussions we have had in class. You should have original ideas that are insightful, well thought-out and clearly and convincingly conveyed to the reader (i.e. me)
Topic Choices:
• How does balance play a key role in Siddhartha's search for enlightenment? Siddhartha is determined to reach spiritual enlightenment. Discuss the ways Siddhartha attempts to attain this spiritual enlightenment. Remark on each of the stages of Siddhartha's journey including his life as a Brahmin's son, with the Samanas, with the Buddha, Kamala, the river, etc. Use specific details from the text to identify how each stage is successful or not successful. How does Siddhartha progress from one approach to the other?
• Discuss one of the main themes of Hesse's novel. This means you will need to choose a theme from the book to analyze. How do you see the theme reflected in the novel? Use evidence from the text to support your ideas?
• Siddhartha's journey can be identified as a hero's journey. Explain Siddhartha's journey using the outline of a hero's journey. What stages does he go through? Be sure to include specific examples from the text and align those examples with specific moments in the hero's journey. Be sure to identify Siddhartha's abyss. Why is this a significant moment in the text?