The Change

I just read the chapter By the River. this was a very interesting and different chapter. In this chapter a lot of things happen in very little time. One of the things I found shocking from this chapter was the suicide thoughts Siddhartha had.

In page 72 when he says “he wishes passionately for oblivion, to be at rest, to be dead.” I had a connection to people who are depressed and have had thoughts of suicide. I could relate this to this topic because I think this is what they feel. They are just tired of what there life is or of what it has become. They are tired of life and they just want a rest and they think the only way of getting it is by dying. In the next pages he is saying that he wants to die. He says he should let go and not live. He keeps like this until he “wakes up” and realizes that this thought he is having are absurd that he isn’t valuing life. I think that this thought he had showed us a very different side of Siddhartha. It showed his weak side.

In pg. 72 Siddhartha had an event to which I could relate very easily. “When he falls asleep in the coconut tree he wakes up and he is very disorientated and confused.” He doesn’t know where he is or how he got there. I could relate to this because I think it happens to all of us very often. Sometimes when we are staying at our friend’s house we wake up and we don’t know where are are, you feel super confused you don’t know where you are or how you got there, then you just take a minute to think and you remember everything.

When Siddhartha and Govinda see each other they show us how much Siddhartha has changed.  We can infer that the change has been very drastic because Govinda who has been his friend for a very long time doesn’t even recognize him.

I think this was a very shocking chapter because so many things happened. It started with him having ideas of suicide and finishes with him accepting life is a cycle and there’s nothing you can do about it. 

Ennui: feeling of discontent resulting from lack of interest.

solace: comfort in trouble, misfortune, or sorrow.

Besmirched: take away apart from the honor.



carousing: drink frequently.

Does Money Control?

In my previous blog I talked about how I thought Siddhartha was going to change because of money. I made the prediction that he was going to become like other people, he was going to depend on possessions and he was going to become stressed because of them. After reading this chapter I realized I was right. I could see this in pg 63 and in pg 64 when he said “property, possessions and riches had also finally trapped him. He was no longer kindhearted to beggars, he no longer had the desire to give gifts and loans to the poor.’’ Here we can see how Siddhartha has been trapped by possessions and now is just like everybody else he depends on materials things (now he is materialistic.) 

We can also see how he has changed, now he isn't so kind and concerned about others now he is only concerned about himself.  I think it’s been interesting to see how Siddhartha keeps changing throughout the book. I think it’s very cool how they show all the changes in his personality and beliefs while he is searching who he really is. I relate this to a lot of people who go through a lot of faces before they find who they really are and who they really want to be and I think Siddhartha is in that process.All this made me remember of Spiderman. It made me remember this because Spiderman also goes through a lot of changes in his life before he realizes who he wants to be.They both go through a lot of different paths and try a lot of things searching for the right one.Both of them had a lot of decision making that change which path they took. I wonder where Siddhartha is heading next, Is he going to stay with the merchant or will he find a new place to go?

Tepid: 

1. lack of force or enthusiasm.

2.Moderately warm

Squandering: to spend or use (money, time, etc.) extravagantly or wastefully.

scornfully: full of scorn; derisive; contemptuous (Showing or expressing anything considered mean.)

Exalted: raised or elevated, as in rank or character.

New Wisdom

In pg 52 when Siddhartha said “I possess nothing, said Siddhartha if that is what you mean. I am certainly without possessions, but of my own free will, so I am not in need.”  It made me think a lot about possessions. I mean a lot of people are mostly stressed and they work and work and work so that they have possession or so that they don't  lose the ones they already have. A lot of people are not happy because of this, I mean how could they if they only live stressed. This just made me think what if you didn’t have possessions to lose or to be stressed about, why we need so many things? why can’t we just try to be simple and not always want more?  A prediction I had while reading this chapter was that Siddhartha was going to become just like the merchant and like other people he is going to start to depend on possessions.

vocab

servile- characteristic of proper to, or customary for slaves. (pg 53)

endeavored- make an effort (pg 53)

plunge- to bring suddenly (pg 54)

hastiness-moving or acting quickly(pg 55)

supple-characterized by responsiveness and adaptability in mental action (pg 59)