Siddhartha Versus Pilgrimage to the End of the World Essay

In the novel Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, the main character goes on a journey to find inner peace. Siddhartha is the son of a well-respected Brahmin. Although he did all of the things that his religion told him to do to achieve happiness and fulfillment, he still felt dissatisfied with is life. So Siddhartha and his best friend Govinda join a wandering group called the Samanas in the search of a spiritual enlightening. Siddhartha was able to fit into the new lifestyle with ease; the only problem was he still did not feel satisfied with his life. It is at this time that Siddhartha and Govinda decide to leave the Samanas and look for the holy man named Gotama. Siddhartha is still unsatisfied and therefore leaves Govinda behind to search for the meaning of life on his own. While on his own, Siddhartha decides to see where the pleasures of the material world take him. He meets a beautiful courtesan, Kamala, who persuades him to become a merchant. But in becoming a merchant, he feels that he is slowly dying to the material world. So he leaves this life in search of the peace he saw in the ferryman, Vasudeva, gave off when he first met him. He looks for Vasudeva for guidance to achieve the same inner peace he has. It is finally then, after years of studying with Vasudeva on the river that Siddhartha has a revelation that the whole world is one big cycle that doesnt have an end or a beginning. This story is very similar to that of Conrad Rudolph, because in both stories both men are in search of some sort of answer; whether it is the answer to the meaning of life, or the answer to why people today still go on pilgrimages. Pilgrimage to the End of the World, and Siddhartha are very similar because Rudolph and Siddhartha were changed by nature, both their revelations occurred while they were outside in a beautiful setting.

Both Rudolph and Siddhartha were faced with very difficult challenges but in the end were able to really cherish their journey and destination in the long run. Siddhartha, in a sense, went on one long pilgrimage to find where he was truly happy and content. He first had to join a few different groups and adapt to different cultures to test out what he wanted out of life. He didnt get anything out of being a beggar, he didnt get anything from being a follower, and he didnt get anything out of embracing the materialistic world. Siddhartha needed to test out the waters with the different lifestyles to feel the need to find his peace. Finally he found it in something so simple, studying on the river.

Rudolph too went on a journey to find an answer to the true importance of going on such a journey. Although he didnt go on his journey to find the meaning of life, he went on it purely out of curiosity, but nonetheless less important. Rudolph was faced with many obstacles before he reached his destination too. He traveled so much on foot that his legs and feet were so sore they became numb, and was so hungry all the time he couldnt keep up his weight. But when he finally did arrive to the end of the world, he felt something he hadnt felt before. It was a new sense of wonder and awe of the world around him. He finally noticed something he didnt really appreciate before his pilgrimage, and that was his environment.

Both the difficulties the men faced, in many ways, are very similar. To join the Samanas, Siddhartha has to give up all his bodys physical desires like sex, owning possesions, and clothing. Rudolph had to give up many of those desires too. He didnt really have the sources for food and other possessions because he was alone and withdrawn most of the time. Siddhartha lost a lot of weight when he was part of the Samanas. Rudolph too lost a lot of weight due to insufficient source for food. Both men suffered a lot of the same obstacles, but in a way the obstacles were necessary so the men could cherish and reap the rewards of reaching their destinations in the end.

Another interesting moment both stories seemed to share were the different people the men came across during their journeys. Siddhartha met on character in particular named Vasudeva who doesnt immediately make a lasting impression on him until later on in the story. Rudolph meets a beggar when he reaches Santiago who takes the time out of his job to tell him about the stories of the engravings on the door. Although the people Siddhartha and Rudolph come across dont make immediate impressions, they do. These random people really did make their marks on the lives of Siddhartha and Rudolph. When Siddhartha realizes that his new materialistic life is killing him he remembers the friendly ferryman who radiated the contentment and peace he had been in search of his whole life. Once he finally meets the ferryman again, he becomes Siddharthas mentor. He teaches him about the different ways to achieving the satisfaction he has been looking for. He told him to look in the river, and to study the river. Rudolph meets a beggar who, in a way, stopped being a beggar and became Rudolphs personal tour guide. Although it seemed as if Rudolph was writing him off completely at the time, he wasnt. In reality Rudolph was carefully listening to everything the beggar told him. The beggar made quite an impact on Rudolph because he continues to talk about him throughout the story. Both men are changed by unexpected characters and werent the same afterwards because of them.

And lastly the most important similarities both Rudolph and Siddhartha share are the revelations they have in nature. After Siddhartha studies the river for a few years, he realizes that the world is one big cycle. The water from the river is evaporated and then brought back down through rain, and when someone dies, someone new is born. All of this was stemmed from something so simple, so natural; the river. And in Pilgrimage to the End of the World, Conrad says after seeing a beautiful countryside, everything changed and I found myself in a countryside so beautiful that there was a palpable sense of enchantment, a place far from anywhere, a land that seemed to have been wholly untouched by time (Rudolph p.41). While in this field, Rudolph realizes how beautiful his environment is and he is able to connect himself to history because it seemed untouched by time. Its unbelievable that Siddhartha and Rudolph could be so changed by just being in nature and noticing the beauty of their surroundings.

Siddhartha and Pilgrimage to the End of the World are very similar stories. Siddhartha and Conrad Rudolph both went on journeys out of curiosity. Rudolph wanted to see why going on a pilgrimage was so important and Siddhartha wanted to find the meaning of life. Both men adjusted to different lifestyles and overcame many of the same obstacles to get to where they are now. Like losing drastic amounts of weight because of not enough food was available. Both men came across very important characters throughout their journey, which made lasting impacts on the men. And lastly both men had their revelations in their natural surroundings. Siddhartha and Pilgrimage to the End of the World are almost the same story; both of a man in search of an answer to lifes greatest questions, and an answer to end all curiosity in the world.