"Siddhartha" is a book that I read my Sophomore year of High School, and it continues to touch me. I re-read it frequently, because it teaches good ideals, and is written in a simplistic beauty similar to the Bible. Unlike the Bible, it didn't press any ideas onto me, yet presented them in a story-and wasn't hard to understand. I wrote the following essay last year for my Governor's School essay, and I still believe everything I said:
"Siddhartha", a novel by German author Hermann Hesse, is about an ancient Indian from a 20th century European perspective. In "Siddhartha", it seems that Hesse himself is on this journey, as Siddhartha the character, and he's taking us along, through the eyes of this Brahmin who gave it all up-only to crave is all again.
Although Siddhartha seemed to have it all figured out- enlightenment, Nirvana, and seemed well on his way to both, he still misses the materialism he seems to be so against. He succumbs to his temptation, asking a courtesan to "show him how to love". He lives with her in a huge house and he has anything and everything he could ever want-except what he used to have-himself. Yet again, he finds that this isn't really what life is all about, and leaves, ashamed of himself.
But we all can learn from this ourselves. "Stuff" isn't really all it's cracked up to be. In the end, being over materialistic and greedy only causes problems. From "Siddhartha", I have learned to focus on more important things than clothes, CDs, my appearance, even food. Because there are so many more important things- morals, God, kindness, and love.