Siddhartha Precis

In “The Son” of Herman Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, he illustrates that the relationship between Siddhartha and his son was inharmonious ultimately ending with young Siddhartha running away from his father who could not satisfy the materialistic needs and values of the son. Hesse depicts this deteriorating relationship by portraying the disobedient qualities of the son (“Young Siddhartha was distressing his father with his defiance and had broken both rice bowls.”) and by also showcasing the love-hate relationship Siddhartha himself was experiencing (“But he loved him and preferred the sorrow and the trouble of his love rather than happiness and pleasure without the boy.”). By referencing eastern cultures, Hesse highlights the difficulties and struggles that arose between Siddhartha and his son in order to expose the rather unpleasant side to all father son relationships and to suggest that all birds eventually need to leave their nests and find their own paths (“But let him go, my friend, he is not a child anymore, he knows how to look after himself.”). Hesse implements numerous self-reflective thoughts and feelings into the character of Siddhartha (“And when he reflected further, he found that he was not troubled about his son, that inwardly he knew he had neither come to any harm nor was threatened with danger in forest.”), and by doing so, his writings reach out to people who are also on their own path and journey to life, and through a wise tone, he demonstrates how Siddhartha endures and overcomes his internal battle, a process relatable to most people.