Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse: Reading Guide
Name:
Directions: As we read, answer the following questions. This will be collected at the end of the unit for a grade and will
serve as your study guide.
PART ONE
Ch. 1 – “The Son of the Brahmin”
1. Define Brahminism. In which activities related to Hinduism does Siddhartha engage while living at
home with his father?
2. What does Siddhartha mean? How is Siddhartha characterized in the first chapter?
3. What is an epithet? How does Hesse use these in this first chapter?
4. What does Siddhartha question about his current life? What does that lead him to do?
5. Explain the verse Siddhartha recites under the Banyan tree. (p. 8)
6. Define ascetics. Who are the Samanas, and why does Siddhartha join their group?
7. How does Siddhartha convince his father to give him permission to leave home and join the Samanas?
8. Support the following statement: Siddhartha’s father has not found true bliss as a Brahmin following the
precepts of Hinduism.
9.
What does the name Govinda mean? Why does Govinda “pale like the peel of a dry banana” when he
learns about Siddhartha’s determination to leave home and join the Samanas?
Ch. 2 – “With the Samanas”
10. How does Siddhartha’s behavior change when with the Samanas? Explain the goal of these beliefs.
11. What does Siddhartha label as his single goal? (p. 14)
12. List two ways Siddhartha learns to lose the Self while studying with the Samanas.
13. What epithet is used to describe Govinda at this point in the text? What important characteristic about
Govinda does it reveal?
14. On p. 16 and 18 Siddhartha admits to Govinda the Samanas aren’t the teachers he has been searching
for. Explain his logic here.
15. What does Siddhartha tell Govinda is the most important thing he has learned as a student?
16. Why are the rumors about Gotama the Illustrious, the Buddha, attractive to Govinda? Why are they not
to Siddhartha?
Ch. 3 – “Gotama”:
17. Describe the Buddha. How does his appearance testify to the fact that he has reached total peace?
18. What ideas does Buddha preach?
19. Why is Siddhartha happy for Govinda, but refuses to tell his friend why he does not join Buddha’s
followers?
20. What about Buddha’s teachings does Siddhartha admire? What does he see as “a gap”?
21. How does the Buddha respond to Siddhartha?
22. Why does Siddhartha say he cannot join Buddha?
23. What does Siddhartha say the Buddha gives him? Takes from him?
Ch. 4 – “Awakening”:
24. What simile does Hesse use to describe Siddhartha’s transformation at this point?
25. What part of himself does Siddhartha leave behind with his youth? What epithet does Hesse use for
Siddhartha in this chapter?
26. What does Siddhartha decide his next goal will be?
27. Why does Siddhartha abandon his previously held belief that the beauty of nature is an illusion? (Hint:
look at p 40)
28. After reelecting, Siddhartha realizes his new outlook makes him like a newborn child. Why does he not
go home at this point? What epithet is now used to describe him?
PART TWO
Ch. 5 – “Kamala”:
29. On p 46, what does Siddhartha see in the forest? Considering the rest of the chapter, what literary
device could this be?
30. How does Siddhartha plan to copy Gotama’s way of finding enlightenment?
31. What did the Ferryman tell Siddhartha was significant about the river? What prediction does the
Ferryman make that foreshadows a future relationship between himself and Siddhartha?
32. What does Siddhartha means when he says, “All I meet on my path are like Govinda”? What can we
infer about Siddhartha view of others at this moment?
33. What is Siddhartha’s goal when entering the town?
34. What does the name Kamala mean? How is she characterized?
35. What does Kamala want Siddhartha to accomplish before she accepts him as a pupil? How does
Siddhartha respond to her requirements?
36. List the three accomplishments Siddhartha gains from his time as a Samana.
37. What advice does Kamala give Siddhartha in his relationship with the merchant Kamaswami?
38. What does Siddhartha compare himself to when he confesses to Kamala his confidence in her eventual
acceptance of him?
Ch. 6 – “Amongst the People”:
39. What does the name Kamaswami mean?
40. What insight about life emerges in Siddhartha’s answer to the merchant’s statement that the merchant
does not really live on the possessions of others but gives goods in exchange?
41. What does Siddhartha write to Kamaswami?
42. What is Kamaswami’s complaint about Siddhartha?
43. What is the difference between Siddhartha and everyone else in the town?
44. What is Siddhartha’s inner voice saying to him at this time?
45. What does Siddhartha mean when he says that Kamala is like him? What figurative language is used?
Ch. 7 – “Samsara”:
46. How has Siddhartha changed in his time amongst the people?
47. What figurative language is used to describe Siddhartha’s inner being?
48. Why does Siddhartha envy ordinary people?
49. What “weariness settled” in Siddhartha’s soul? What is the cause of this sickness?
50. How is the songbird in the golden cage a symbol for Siddhartha’s soul?
51. Samsara is the Hindu word for the idea that the world is constantly repeating itself. Why do you think
this is the title for this chapter?
52. What urge does Siddhartha feel at the end of the chapter? What can we infer about him because of this?
53. What does Kamala do when she learns of Siddhartha’s disappearance?
Ch. 8 – “By the River”:
54. What does Siddhartha contemplate at the beginning of the chapter? Why?
55. Define “om.” How does the word “om” save Siddhartha’s life?
56. How does the sleep by the river help Siddhartha? When he awakes, what does he say on p. 94 about
what his sleep has shown him?
57. Who watches over Siddhartha as he sleeps? Is this symbolic in any way?
58. What wisdom does Siddhartha share with Govinda about appearance?
59. How is Siddhartha once again like a child?
60. What value does Siddhartha place on experience? How do you know this?
61. On pg 99, how does Siddhartha rationalize the importance of his time among the people?
62. What does the river symbolizes for Siddhartha as he looks into it at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 9 – “The Ferryman”:
63. What does Siddhartha’s inner voice tell him about the river? Which of its secrets “grips his soul?”
64. What does the name Vasudeva mean? Why is Vasudeva a good listener?
65. Why can Vasudeva not be a teacher? Do you agree with his self-assessment?
66. According to Vasudeva, what has Siddhartha already learned from the river? What else do you think
he will learn?
67. What does Siddhartha learn from the river about life and its relationship with time?
68. Describe the river’s voice.
69. How doe Siddhartha and Vasudeva come to resemble each other? How do their patrons react to
them?
70. What does Kamala observe about Siddhartha the last time she sees him?
71. What does Siddhartha recognize as he says goodbye to Kamala?
Ch. 10 – “The Son”:
72. What does Siddhartha experience for the first time after the arrival of his son? How is that similar to his
previous judgments of ordinary people?
73. What advice does Vasudeva give Siddhartha concerning his son?
73. List three ideas about life Vasudeva makes when he describes Siddhartha’s behavior toward his son.
74.What irony emerges concerning Siddhartha and his son as Sidd and Vasudeva discuss the boy’s future?
75. After Siddhartha’s son runs away, what does Siddhartha do? How does this compare with the way
Siddhartha had left his own father many years ago?
76. What metaphor does Hesse use to explain the void the loss of his son has on Siddhartha?
Ch. 11 – “Om”:
77. After Siddhartha loses his son, how does he act around ordinary people? What does he possess that they
still do not?
78. Why does the river laugh at Siddhartha? What does he learn at that moment? (p 132)
79. Describe the change Siddhartha notices in Vasudeva when he confesses to the old man how painful it is
for him to see fathers and their sons together. What does Siddhartha realize about his friend?
80. At the end of the chapter how has the river exposed itself to Siddhartha? How does he change after this?
81. In your opinion, what happens to Vasudeva at the end of the chapter?
Ch. 12 – “Govinda”
82. What advice does Siddhartha offer Govinda about seeking?
83.Have Siddhartha’s views on teachers changed at this point in the text?
84. Govinda asks Siddhartha for his thoughts or doctrine. What generalization about life does Siddhartha
offer Govinda on the following topics?
a. Wisdom
b. Truth
c. Time
d. Perfection
85. Explain Siddhartha’s changing attitude toward the stone.
86. The teaching of Gotama forbids his followers from binding themselves to earthly love. However, how
does Siddhartha explain that his statement, love is the most important thing in the world, is not in
contradiction to Gotama’s teaching?
87. What does Govinda see in Siddhartha at the end of the novel?
88. What gift does Siddhartha give his childhood friend before Govinda continues on his way?
89. Why may Hesse have chosen to switch to Govinda’s perspective in the last chapter?