Abby's Critical Lens essay.

Logan Pearsall Smith, an American essayist and critic once said, "It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important." Smith is trying to say that sometimes what is obvious is not what you’re looking for, the little things can explain a lot about something. Sometimes you have to look a little deeper into things. I agree with this quote because I also believe that there is a lot more to what people say than what you hear. In Herman Hesse’s novel Siddhartha Hesse uses motifs, repeated patterns, to give a better picture of the story. With motifs you can see a lot more of characterization, and a lot more explanation. They can help with trying to understand what is going on in a story.

Siddhartha has a brightness inside of him. All he wants is to lead a good path and get to Nirvana, a place of happiness and perfectness. There are many motifs throughout the novel. An occurring motif are the colors. The bright colors show how he wants to be happy. This relates to his character. He wants to find himself in the best way and become the best he could be.

A motif that relates to the theme of the story is nature. There are many nature scenes throughout Siddhartha’s journey. As he’s on his way to finding enlightenment and getting to nirvana. Siddhartha wants to be connected to nature. He soon finds a river and it’s ferryman. The ferryman, Vasudeva, teaches him to learn from the river and find his wisdom there. He is now connecting himself with the world and learning what it’s all about. Nature helps Siddhartha feel happy again and gets him back on the right track.

Siddhartha’s life changes rapidly throughout the entire story. He is happy with where he is going for awhile, and then upset. The motifs that are continuously giving clues to what and how Siddhartha feels explain a lot. He has now grown old, and is still moving on to reach his goal, nirvana. By learning the ways of life and meeting new people along the way has both benefited and harmed him. Siddhartha is now hopefully on the right track and not letting anything in his way. He is learning that it’s the little things that make life more meaningful.