Siddhartha Journey Essay

Words: 910
Pages: 4

The personal journeys of spiritual and personal growth by both Siddhartha and the protagonist from The Ocean at the End of the Lane are very different, yet share many similarities. The most obvious difference between these two characters is the age, which changes the journey each person experiences. For Siddhartha the coming of age theme for his novel, was spiritual growth. The protagonist in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, was based around the coming of age theme of personal trials. While both had extremely different experiences, both shared similarities in the outcome of these experiences. The protagonist in The Ocean at the End of the Lane is faced with many events during his childhood that shaped the protagonists coming of age experience. …show more content…
During his life he was raised to be a Brahmin, like his father. However, he did not feel fulfilled in the life he was learning. He was intrigued by the life of the Samanas. Siddhartha’s coming of age journey was a journey based on spiritual growth. This journey began when he gave up his life as a Brahmin to leave all worldly belongings behind and follow the way of the Samanas. After living the Samanas way of life for three years, he began to question their way. These questions lead to him leaving the Samanas to seek out questions from the Buddha. After hearing the Buddha’s teachings, he knows they are not for him. His best friend, whom followed him into the lives of the Samanas decides to follow the Buddha, causing Siddhartha to experience the loss of his friend. After this experience Siddhartha wanders place to place hoping to learn more, to achieve his goal of spiritual awakening, but during this process he is lost, looking for a place to belong. Soon after he found a woman named Kamala with whom he falls in love with. To please her he must undertake a life he is not happy with and become wealthy to please her. In his new life he feels trapped like a bird in a cage, and soon realizes he cannot life his life with only her pleasure in mind. He decides to leave, so he can continue his lifelong goal of reaching