Siddhartha Final Study Guide

simile

A comparison using "like" or "as" "And Siddhartha said softly, as if speaking to himself"

kamala

A courtesan who instructs Siddhartha in the art of physical love. In addition to being Siddhartha's lover, Kamala helps him learn the ways of the city and leave his ascetic life as a Samana behind. Just before she dies from a snakebite, she reveals that Siddhartha is the father of her son.

personification

A figure of speech in which an object or animal is given human feelings, thoughts, or attitudes

oxymoron

A figure of speech that combines opposite or contradictory terms in a brief phrase.

Euphemism

An indirect, less offensive way of saying something that is considered unpleasant. An example would be "i put down my dog" rather than "i euthanized my dog and killed it.

irony

Best described as something that was almost bound to happen. Like if someone just put in bulletproof glass on a car, and the next day someone shoots it, that would be ironic.

mood

How the reader feels about the text while reading.

love

Love in this book is a interesting topic, we know that he loved his family, but he loved his urge to get smarter more. After gaining knowledge while being a semana he comes back to the city and meets kamala, his love interest in the book and he falls deeply in love and for around 40 years he does the same thing with kamala everyday until he all the sudden has an impulse to leave after sitting under the mango tree.

om

Om marks all the key moments in Siddhartha life that he sparks a change in him, and om is the unity of all things.

polarity

Polarity is having two very strong opinions/views that contradict eachother.

govinda

Siddhartha's best friend, goes to follow the Buddha with Siddhartha, but siddhartha leaves him and they both take their separate path. At the end of the book they reunite and have a super emotional experience.

Vasudeva

The ferryman that Siddhartha works with and becomes close friends with. The ferryman is who siddhartha looked up to the most because he was such a simple man, yet so wise.

mango tree

The mango tree represented Siddhartha coming to the realization that he had been on autopilot almost. He sat under it for hours and thought about how strange it was that he owned a "pleasure garden" and that he owned a "mango tree" in his pleasure garden. After he realizes it's all useless he leaves the city for a long time.

river

The river is a huge symbol in the book, as siddhartha finds his enlightenment thanks to the river. The river is what showed him that time is not real because no matter when he looked at the river he lived at, it was never the same river because water has always flowed through it. But at the same time that water will eventually go through a cycle and end up back at the river in a never ending cycle.

smile

The smile in siddhartha is a smile that gotama shows, and a smile that eventually, Siddhartha shows. And it represents a persons enlightenment.

songbird

The songbird is a big symbol in the book, it represents siddharthas soul. The bird is kept in a big golden cage. The day that Siddhartha leaves the city after sitting in his pleasure garden, Kamala sets the songbird free and never saw it again.

kamaswami

The stressed merchant that Siddhartha works for when he lives in the city

snake

They use the snake as a symbol of self growth, like how a snake sheds its skin to grow, Siddhartha grew apart from something that was holding him back. And then kamala dies from a snakebite, and I think that was also a symbol of growth because that was a part of his life that just disappeared when the snake bit her.

enlightenment

a movement that emphasized science and reason as guides to help see the world more clearly. In siddhartha's case achieving enlightenment was super important to him and he spent his whole life trying to find someone to teach it to him, then he finally realized that only he can find it himself.

Siddhartha's Son

disrespected and rejected Siddhartha as his father

hyperbole

exaggeration -"His glance became icy when he encountered women" This is a hyperbole because obviously his ice did not turn to ice.

Colloquialism

informal words or expressions not usually acceptable in formal writing. Such as ya'll or wanna.

samsara

the cycle of life and rebirth in Hinduism, which followers of hinduism try to find the path away from it. So they can live a life so fulfilling their soul does not need to be reborn. -Speaking in a manner that doesn't harm others; not gossiping, lying or using angry words.

siddhartha

the main character in the book, he goes through many experiences on his path to enlightenment, he is a semana/ascetic, a ferryman, business man, gambler, and he falls in love with kamala and leaves.