uddha. He reappears at points of transition in Siddhartha's life, and is with Siddhartha at the novel's end to learn his wisdom. Kamaswami is the merchant for whom Siddhartha works while living in town. It is from the clever though impatient Kamaswami that Siddhartha learns how to conduct business and concern himself with money and material goods. Vasuveda is the ferryman with whom Siddhartha lives for the last third of the novel. He is an uneducated man, but he is an excellent listener and teaches Siddhartha through example. Most notably, Vasuveda teaches Siddhartha to listen to the wisdom of the river, a wisdom that leads both Vasuveda and Siddhartha to enlightenment. Another common theme is where the main character questions his society, or religion. In Siddhartha, he is questioning both his religion and his society, because they are one and the same. In my own experience, I haven’t ever been pressured to be part of one particular belief system, so I have been free to experience many different religions. Siddhartha also was allowed to change his beliefs, but he had a base religion to start with. Siddhartha is clearly the perfect and glorious character in this book. He, an individual, has found his own way to the desired goal of peace, harmony, and Unity. Quotes“Siddhartha had one single goal- to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow- to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought- that was his goal.”(p. 14)“Slowly, like moisture entering the dying tree trunk, slowly filling and rotting it, so did the world and inertia creep into Siddhartha’s soul; it slowly filled his soul, made it heavy, made it tired, sent it to sleep.” (p. 76)“Nothing is mine, I know nothing, I possess nothing, I have learned nothing. How strange it is! Now, when I am no longer young, when my hair is fast growing...
