Siddharthas Influences Essays - Buddhism, Indian Religions, Religion

Siddhartha's Influences Siddharthas Influences In the novel Siddhartha, Herman Hesse used other characters to let Siddhartha grow both intellectually and spiritually. During the course of his journey, Siddhartha encountered many people and experienced different ways of living and thinking about life. Each person taught him something about himself and the world around him. Siddharthas childhood friend, Govinda, educated him about the importance of choosing a path in his own life. Govinda had always been a step behind Siddhartha, following every decision he made. The one time he stepped out on his own, to accept the Buddha, he was merely following the path of thousands of others. Siddhartha saw this and he learned that he had to listen to himself even if he wound up making a wrong decision. Meeting with Govinda at the end of the novel reinforced his thought that one had to have experience in order to attain Nirvana -- not someone elses knowledge. After following Gotama for years Govinda still hadnt reached peace although Siddhartha had. Siddhartha had done things many would consider wrong and immoral and yet he reached something that many others wanted so desperately because he had experience. The beautiful courtesan, Kamala, taught Siddhartha the importance of love along with the pleasures of it. While in the town of Samsara, he was introduced to a life of luxuries by her. She taught him how to please a woman and how to keep her satisfied. He also learned how to gamble and the art of running a business from her friends. Although Siddhartha felt moments of joy, nothing fulfilled the longing in his soul. Over the years, one of the more important lessons he gained from Kamala was that he could have this life of pleasurable things and yet still yearn for a deeper meaning in his heart. Vasudeva, the ferryboat captain, was the most important person in Siddharthas life. If he hadnt allowed Siddhartha to live with him and share the beauty of the river, Siddhartha may have never reached Nirvana. Sitting with his pupil by the water and forcing him to listen and look into the depths led Siddhartha to his place of peacefulness. Educating Siddhartha was no easy task for Vasudeva. He let Siddhartha make mistakes with his son but gave him the knowledge and advice he needed. With this mans guidance, Siddhartha came into his life of happiness. Siddhartha met many people throughout his journey who had considerable impact on him. The experience he gained with each of these people gave him wisdom both intellectually and spiritually and eventually led him to Nirvana. Book Reports

Analytical Essay Kiss and Tell by John Sam Jones Essays

Analytical Essay Kiss and Tell by John Sam Jones Essays Analytical Essay Kiss and Tell by John Sam Jones Essay Analytical Essay Kiss and Tell by John Sam Jones Essay Essay Topic: Analytical â€Å"Kiss and tell† is a story written by author John Sam Jones. The story is set in Wales on a school. The story revolves around a boy and his thoughts about the opposite gender. The story is the omniscient type of narrator. This analysis focuses on characterization as well as on how to fit in. The main character in the story is Seimon. He is a fourteen-year-old boy from Wales. Throughout the whole story, the focus is on Seimon and his addiction to his teacher Mr. Roberts. As from the very beginning of the story, the narrator tells about the girls and boys in Seimon’s class. Some of the girls in Seimon’s class seemed much older – and a bit scary1. Somebody acted like they had already outgrown their peers – Jane Jones who had got breasts that where the Promised Land of boy’s dirty talk, almost always had love bites on her neck, and Shan Jenkins boasted about going to the nightclub Llandudno at the weekends with her boyfriend, who was a management trainee with one of the new, cheap German supermarkets.2 It seemed like all Seimon’s classmates had grown up both physically and mentally. Seimon felt that puberty had not reached him yet. Sometimes he imagined himself smaller-than-small so that the others would not notice him.3When the boy s he hung around with, seemed not to want to see him, he considered if he was insignificant. He hated that word because it made him think of being lonely and isolated. Siemon is a fragile person who is very easy to affect. Seimon felt like he did not fit in anywhere, so he started daydreaming about his teacher Mr. Roberts, his favourite teacher that he hoped would be reading to the class – one of the poems they were studying in a literature project, or perhaps he would be explaining something about the vagaries of Welsh grammar.4 Mr. Roberts was from Cardiff and got the job in Wales. He knew that he had got the job because of his strengths in German and French, but the problem was that he