Discussion question
Siddhartha
Chapter 1
1.
How did the people around Siddhartha feel about him? Name the person and the feelings.
2.
What is the cause of Siddhartha's discontentment? What are the questions that plague him?
3.
What happens to Siddhartha at the banyon tree?
4.
Why did Siddhartha stand in his room with his arms folded? Why did his robe "shimmer"?
5.
Why does the Brahmin allow Siddhartha to go?
Chapter 2
1.
What is a samana?
2.
What happens to Siddhartha in his early days as a samana?
3.
What is Siddhartha's goal with the samanas?
4.
What role does Govinda play in this chapter?
5.
What does Siddhartha come to believe about Atman and about life with the samanas?
6.
Why does the old samana give in to Siddhartha?
Chapter 3
1.
Why do the people give food to the wandering samanas?
2.
How do Siddhartha and Govinda recognize the Buddha?
3.
Why, according to Siddhartha, is it important for Govinda to decide to follow the Buddha?
4.
What must Govinda give up to follow the Buddha?
5.
What is the "small gap" Siddhartha tells Buddha about?
6.
What is it that Siddhartha says cannot be learned through teachings?
Chapter 4
1.
What has "left" Siddhartha?
2.
What does Siddhartha realize he knows nothing about?
3.
When Siddhartha makes this realization how does the world seem to him? Why does it seem this way?
4.
What is Siddhartha "born" unto? That is, what using now that he did not use as a samana?
5.
Why did Siddhartha feel so alone?
Chapter 5
1.
What is to purpose of the first paragraph's description?
2.
What does "present" mean in paragraph 2?
3.
What will Siddhartha now strive for?
4.
What does Siddhartha's dream mean?
5.
What are the differences in life on the other side of the river?
6.
Why did Siddhartha reject the young, amorous woman near the bamboo wood?
7.
What is it that Kamala says Siddhartha cannot steal from her?
8.
Why are Siddhartha's three abilities so valuable to him?
9.
Why does Kamala kiss Siddhartha?
10. What does Siddhartha mean by his metaphor of the stone falling into the water?
Chapter 6
1.
To Siddhartha, what is the difference between being in need and being without possessions?
2.
Why is fasting important?
3.
What does Kamala teach Siddhartha about making love?
4.
What distinguishes Siddhartha from Kamaswami in the visit to the village to buy the rice that had already been
sold? And, what has Kamaswami not learned about life?
5.
When Kamaswami tells Siddhartha that he (Siddhartha) has learned everything from him, what is Siddhartha's
reply?
6.
What does Siddhartha learn is the difference between him (and Kamala) and others?
7.
What does Kamala accuse Siddhartha of at the end of the chapter? How is this chapter the beginning of
Siddhartha's breakdown?
1.
Buddha had warned Siddhartha to beware of being cleaver. How does this apply to Siddhartha at this point in the
novel?
Chapter 7
1.
What does "samsara" mean?
2.
What from his former life as a samana had Siddhartha maintained?
3.
Explain the metaphors of the potter's wheel and the new dress.
4.
What about the "children people" did Siddhartha envy?
5.
Find and explain the line concerning "how closely related passion was to death."
6.
Explain the story of the songbird.
7.
Why does Siddhartha leave?
Chapter 8
1.
What words best describe the depths of Siddhartha's despair as the chapter begins?
2.
What does the water represent for Siddhartha at this point of his life?
3.
Of what was Siddhartha "horrified"?
4.
What is the irony about the monk who sits over Siddhartha as he sleeps?
5.
How are "things going backward" for Siddhartha?
6.
In the long paragraph beginning "How strange his life had been . . ." and the next to the last paragraph of the
chapter, how is the biography of Siddhartha's life like the line from William Blake: "The road of excess leads to
the palace of wisdom."?
7.
For what does Siddhartha commend himself?
8.
Siddhartha had wanted to drown himself in the river. Did he?
Chapter 9
1.
Who is Vasudeva and what role does he play for Siddhartha?
2.
What is the author's purpose in saying that the river spoke to Siddhartha?
3.
What does the author mean in saying that Vasudeva knew how to listen?
4.
What is Vasudeva's symbolic role in this part of the book?
5.
Explain how the river contradicts the concept of time.
6.
What is the author's structuring purpose of having Kamala die?
Chapter 10
1.
Describe Siddhartha's treatment of his son.
2.
Explain Vasudeva's line, "water is stronger than rock."
3.
Explain Vasudeva's line, "Do you not chide him with your love?" (Use a dictionary if need be.)
4.
Vasudeva says, "Do you really think you have committed your follies in order to spare your son them?" Explain.
5.
How is Siddhartha's experience with his son like his own with his father? Include in your answer the implications
of a key sentence in the paragraph beginning "A day came when young Siddhartha . . ."
6.
What is the symbolism of the boat being on the other side of the river?
7.
What is the structuring purpose of Siddhartha's returning to the pleasure garden?
Chapter 11
1.
What does Siddhartha feel about happiness?
2.
What characteristic do the "happy" people lack that Siddhartha have?
3.
When Siddhartha discovers that his life parallels his father's with regards to his son, what conclusion does he
draw? (remember the answer to the previous question)
4.
Explain the river as the major symbol of the novel. Give a thorough answer with examples from the long
paragraphs about it.
5.
What is the relationship between Siddhartha's final understanding and the death of Vasudeva?
Chapter 12
1.
Does Siddhartha teach anything to Govinda?
2.
What does Siddhartha mean in his statement to Govinda, ". . . as a result of your seeking you cannot find."
3.
Explain the sentence, "Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom."?
4.
Try to explain the sentence, "Time is not real."
5.
Explain the next to last sentence in the paragraph beginning "Listen, my friend . . ."
6.
What is "the most important thing in the world" to Siddhartha?
7.
Why does Hesse use a kiss as an answer?