Post 14- An Heroic Journey

For our final blog post, consider our reading of The Hobbit and our discussion of heroes and Joseph Campbell's stages of the Hero's Journey to create an heroic short story of your own. Your story can be in any genre (fantasy, science fiction, action/adventure, romance, drama, etc.) but must concern one or more heroes as they face trials and ultimately reach a goal. Use heroes that you have created or use a heroic character you already know of to write your story. There must be an objective to the hero's journey.

Your posts are to be at least 400 words and are due by Friday, 5/31/13.

Logan Pearsall Smith, American essayist and critic once said, “It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important.” I agree with this statement. I agree because small things in life can add up and become significant. For example in Hermann Hesse’s novel Siddhartha the author uses color motifs to describe Siddhartha and repeated change. Motif’s give the reader sense of change and composition throughout the novel.

Color is an important motif in this novel because within Siddhartha he changes with color.

Love is also associated throughout this book because as Siddhartha gets older the main character starts to think about love, and sooner or later finding a soul mate. When he gets old and starts thinking about women, then he goes through the dream. This is a motif because he has a dream every night an day.Once this happens then the young men start searching for women to spend the rest of their days with, hopefu;lly.  he becomes disolutioned with that way of life because he has no heart when Gomalla leaves.  The river symbolizes life in the book Siddhartha. when he is at the river, in the reflection he sees that the river symbolizes life.

Logan Pearsall Smith once said “It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important.”. I do agree with this quote, I believe that the little things in life are just as important as the big things.

In the novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha is trying to figure out who he really is, and he realizes that it it’s the little things that matter the most. In the beginning of the book Siddhartha sees himself differently than he does in other parts of the story. For example, in the beginning Siddharta is loved by many people, but he wants to find his way in life, and find out who he really is. He realizes that he doesn’t understand himself, and he needs to do what makes him happy.  He was always a giving person, and tried to help a lot of people. Toward the end of the story, he changes. He becomes more careless than he was in the beginning.

In the novel, dreams are considered a motif. This is because he has many dreams throughout the story.

Many things in the novel Siddhartha, by Heraman Hesse are considered symbolic. For example, the color yellow. This color represents the monks, because it was the color of the robes that that wore. The river was also symbolic in this story. The river in the story was symbolic because it shows him who he really is, and how he finds himself.

The quote “It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important”, said by Logan Pearsall Smith, does relate to the novel Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse.

Logan Pearsall Smith said, " It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important." What this means is that little things count not just the big things. I agree with this quote. There are lots of motifs in Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha  that add the characterization of Siddhartha as a person who questions life and wants to figure out who he is.

A motif that adds to characterization is the word light. In the beginning of the book, Siddhartha is characterized by having a glow inside of him even though his world is dark. Siddhartha has a good personality. In the middle of the book, we see Siddhartha giving money to the poor and helping out. Towards the end of the book, he is worldly. He gambles, is rich, and learned the art of love, but these things left him in the dark and depressed. He sits in the shadow of the mango tree and wants to kill himself. Sidddhartha is in a mentally dark place. he starts to question if he made the right choice in leaving his family and  Govinda. He realizes that none of the worldly pleasures makes him happy.

Another motif is the recurrence of the symbolic river. The river symbolizes learning to Siddhartha. He learns how to listen and not to judge from the river. It also symbolizes everything returning. When Siddhartha first got on the ferry, Vasudeva told Siddhartha that everything returns. When, Vasudeva said those words that was at before Siddhartha became worldly. After he became worldly, Siddhartha returns to the river and wants to kill himself. Then, Siddhartha again was at the river when he saw the Ferryman again. Finally, towards the end of the story, Kamala returns to the river and meets up with Siddhartha. The river brings out Siddhartha's thirst for being taught something.

The motifs of light and the river characterized Siddhartha. The light shows that Siddhartha has a happy positive side and wants to help others. The river symbolizes Siddhartha returning to the river and his thirst for being taught. Hermann Hesse's novel Siddhartha relates to Logan Pearsall Smith who said, " it is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important."

Brittany Hauser

critical lens

Logan Pearsall Smith once said "it is not what an author says but what he or she whispers , that is what is important." this can mean many different things. It's not always the things that scream out at you that count but the things hiding that mean something.I agree with this. Motifs are patterns that aren't explained and are important. They are used to reveal character and conflict in the story Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Love motif is used to show that he is a loving character and has a loving personality, and light. Siddhartha is full of light and happiness and always has a good out look on life.

As the story goes on, Siddhartha is loved by many people. Love adds to his character because he has a loving personality that lets people come around and also lets him have followers. There are different people who love him. the firat woman he loved, Kamala, she teaches him love. Govinda, Siddhartha's best friend who was always by his side. Also his father who was always looking out for him.

  Light is used because he has a good perspective on the world but is in the shadows. Siddhartha wants to make the world better and wants people to not feel pain. Than he realizes he cant make others happy if he isn't happy himself and he barely knows himself. Siddhartha trys to bring the light out to the world and to himself so he can be happy. He learns from himself and more about himself.

 The things in the story that are most important sometimes aren't exactly out in the open. Maybe you have to look a little bit harder the motifs in Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha there are many things that are important that arent in the open. There are some things hidden called motifs. Motifs are patterns that repeat to show that word means something to a story.

Siddhartha Critical Lens

            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." I agree with this quote, I believe that the little things add up to one big thing, and that is your life. Motif is a large part of life in general, not just books and literature. For example, in Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha the main character, Siddhartha himself goes through a repeated pattern of change, trying to find out who he really is. Though this is just one motif, the book is brought together by many to make up the novel that is still read and related to by teenagers trying to find out who they really are, as well. 
         One big motif throughout the book Siddhartha is love. In the beginning of the novel the author describes how Siddhartha is loved by everyone. The people in his life loved him for every aspect of him, what he looked like, what he sounded like, who he was. They saw Siddhartha as a handsome, loving boy. They knew he was something of great significance to the world. His father loved him just as much, knowing that inside him was a great sage or priest.  Though his father wanted him to follow in his path, Siddhartha knew there was more to the world and to his life than becoming what his father was. Even though he was blessed with the love from others, Siddhartha wants to learn the art of love. He believes that if he cannot give love, he cannot receive love. While learning love, his teacher has his child. As his child is born he feels he can finally love and be loved.
           Another motif of large importance to the novel is questions. Questions make up the entire book, and without them there would be nothing to it. Without questions Siddhartha could not ask himself who he is, and who he wants to be. The novel is Siddhartha finding himself, and on this mission he experiences things that arise new questions. In just the beginning of the novel, Siddhartha questions if who his father is, is who he wants to be and from this question comes many more on his journey to find himself.  Within every chapter is a new question that leads him on a new adventure, and he experiences so much to figure out if this is what he wants and where he is supposed to be. 
          As Logan Pearsall said, "It is not what an author says, but what he or she whispers, that is important" Siddhartha is a really good novel to represent this quote. This quote to me means that it isn't what the author has put in bold, but what is behind the words that means something. Behind every sentence in the novel, there is a deep meaning to it. Behind every motif is a reason, and behind every question is an answer. 

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.