Wealth+&+Poverty

In __Siddhartha__, Hermann Hesse associates having a wealth of material possessions as a sigh of status and ability, but at the same time, it is something that holds back one's progress to spiritual fulfilment or enlightenment. This is repeatedly shown in the novel through the kind of characters that are able to achieve inner peace and how the characters must change in order to do so.

Wealth - power, status, material possesions "Siddhartha, the handsome Brahmin's son...strong, handsome, supple-limbed, gretting her with complete grace" (2) "Govinda wanted to follow him as his friend, his companion, his servant, his lance bearer, his shadow." (2) As a Brahmin's son, Siddhartha is high ranked in society, and many looked up to him. He had every physical thing that he could have wanted.

"In an ornamented sedan chair carried by four people, sat a woman, the mistress, on red cushions beneath a colored awning...He bowed low as the sedan chair passed close by him." (42)

"Brahmins' sons come to me in find clothes, in fine shoes; there is scent in their hair and money in their purses." (45)

"Siddhartha went to see Kamaswami, the merchant, and was shown into a rich house. Servant conducted him across costly carpets" (51)

Wealth - lacking spiritually/mentally/emotionally, dissatisfaction "But Siddhartha himself was not happy" (2) "Siddhartha had begun to feel the seeds of discontent within him" (3) Although he was fortunate to be a Brahmin's son and did not suffer from poverty, he lacked the spiritual fulfilment and could not find enlightment in such conditions.

"Like a veil, like a thin mist, a weariness settled on Siddhartha, slowly, every day a little thicker, every month a little darker, every year a little heavier." (63) "The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also that vice that he had always despised and scorned at the most foolish. Porperty, possessions and riches had also finally trapped him. They were no longer a game and a toy; they had become a chain and a burden." (63) When Siddhartha gained wealth and material possessions, he lost the inner Self and his desire for spiritual fulfilment and englightenment. This is linked to the Buddhist beliefs

"The songbird was dead; its death, which he had dreamt about, wast he bird in his own heart. He was deeply entangled in Samara" (70) "longing to shake off this whole confused dream, to spit out this stale wine, to make an end of this bitter, painful life." (71)

Poverty - inability, low status "A stupid Saman from the forest, who comes from the jackals" (45) Kamala won't teach Siddhartha the art of love if he does not have money and material possessions. Siddhartha does not follow the ascetic way of life and works for a merchant, hoping to get enough money for Kamala. At first he still feels higher than others because of his Samana ways, but he is slowly corrupted by the possesions and materialistic lifestyle and becomes one of them.

Poverty - spiritual fulfilment, enlightenment, wealth of knowledge "I have learned that fromt he river too: everything comes back" (40) The ferryman,Vasudeva, who leads a simple life without engaging in wordly pleasures is able to listen and learn from the river. After Siddhartha comes back to him without rich clothes and nice shoes, Siddhartha also gains more spiritually than when he spent time with the merchant and playing dice games.

"On hearing of Gotama's approaching death, she had set off on foot, wearing simple clothes, together with her son." Kamala gains "peace" when she dies in Vasudeva's hut. She had "retired from her previous life." Siddhartha's son, however, could not understand the river and his father because he had been too used to the luxurious life with Kamala.