The Hero'S Journey

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The Hero’s Journey in Siddhartha by Herman Hesse For every story there has to be a hero. That hero must go through a series of steps called the Hero’s Journey. In Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, the main character Siddhartha goes through these steps in order to achieve his Nirvana. He goes through many ups and downs but at the end finally ends up reaching his ultimate goal. “What urges the hero to his action?” (Campbell). This is a question asked by Campbell in one of the steps of the Hero’s Journey. Well in the case of Siddhartha, his call to action was when he becomes weary of his way of life and decides he must venture off from his habituated life in order to attain spiritual enlightenment. “Tomorrow morning my friend, Siddhartha is going to join the Samanas. He is going to going to become a Samana” (Hesse, 9). Here Siddhartha is talking to his good companion and friend Govinda. Siddhartha is answering his call to action. “Tomorrow at daybreak I will begin the life of the Samanas” (10). Siddhartha is determined to answer his call to action, he doesn’t want to live the life he is living anymore, and he wants to find his spiritual enlightenment. As everyone knows every hero needs some type of help at some point in the story. “If he answers the call the first encounter may be ‘with a protective figure… who provides the adventurer with’ assistance such as but not limited to advice, amulets, super power, knowledge” (Campbell). Siddhartha’s supernatural aid comes in the form of spiritual knowledge. It is his supernatural aid because in the beginning Siddhartha wants to go out on a mission and that mission is to seek enlightenment and seek spiritual knowledge. Siddhartha’s Brahmin upbringing led him to search for an enlightenment based purely in spiritual knowledge, specifically the idea of a universal force, Om. As Siddhartha and Govinda were about to leave the
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