ElizabethPSB

Elizabeth's Scrapbook

This is the place where I will write about the journey I follow to self-realization. My goal is to gain wisdom and takes steps towards enlightening myself. I will be following the journey of Siddhartha, the title character of Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, as a model for my own journey. The steps I have taken follow.

With the Samanas
 The Assignment To get a feeling for how the Samanas, Indian ascetics that are found in the novel Siddhartha, try to reach enlightenment, we gave up something we enjoy for a week. I chose to give up my phone, because it's technically not something I need.

Getting Started
 The first few days without my phone, my pocket felt empty. I kept on reaching into my pocket to try and check the time or text someone but then I remembered I didn't have the phone. It got harder on the second day when someone texted me asking me a question. To me without my phone, "the world tasted bitter. Life was pain" (Hesse 14). Giving up my phone made me feel bitter and less connected with the world.

Mid-week
By mid-week I was becoming accustomed to not having my phone in my pocket. I still remembered that I didn't have it but I realized that I didn't need it for anything. Anything that I was going to text to someone I could just say it in person. I felt unconnected from my friends on the weekend. This probably is like how Siddhartha felt when he went into seclusion. He became uncomfortable around people, "his glance became icy when he encountered women; his lips curled with contempt when he passed through a town of well-dressed people" (Hesse 13).

By t[[image:enlightenment.jpg width="345" height="263" align="left"]]he End
By the end of the week, I realized that I didn't need my phone with me at all times. Sure, having a phone is a good way to keep in contact with people, but you could also just talk to them face to face. When I went out with my family on Sunday, they were all distracted from the beauty of the landscape around us by their phones, but I noticed every small detail in the scenery. Giving up my phone for a week definitely made my realize the small things around me. But as Govinda told Siddhartha, "We have learned and we are still learning" (Hesse 16).

Analysis
 I drew this picture because I felt that it showed what Siddhartha was seeing from his point of view. He saw "sky and river" (39). Hesse also says that Siddhartha saw "woods and mountains" (39), which is why there is a forest and mountains. The colors of my picture are green, brown, blue, and yellow because Siddhartha saw that "here was blue, here was yellow, here was green" (39). The setting impacts the story because this scene creates a calm, bright feel to the story. Hesse probably decided to describe this scene as the place of Siddhartha's awakening because "blue" and "the river" create a calming feel. The "yellows" represents wisdom or enlightenment. "The river" also represents pureness. The lightness of this setting represents goodness and innocence. The "mountains" represent going up in his spiritual journey.

Kamala [[image:kamala pic ep.jpg align="left"]]
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Name: Kamala

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Location: I live in the Pleasure Grove.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Eyes: My eyes are dark brown

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Hair: My hair is brown.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">About Me: My hands are "firm and smooth, long and slender, with broad gold bangles on my wrists" (51). You can tell by looking at my face that I am a "bright, very sweet, very clever"(51) person. I have a "bright red mouth like a freshly cut fig" (51). My "high arched" (51) eyebrows show that I am very inquisitive.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Hobbies/ Proffesion: I enjoy hearing poetry as long as it please me. I also am very good at kissing men if they are good enough for me. I enjoy wearing makeup as one can tell from my "bright red mouth" (51). I work as an entertainer for men, teaching them the ways of love.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">What I look for: In order for me to like a man he n=must have "fine clothes, fine shoes, and money in his purse" (54). If a man can read and write would really impress me because "not most people"(57) can read and write. I also admire a man who can write and recite poetry as long as it is good.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Samsara
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Daily routine:

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">1) wake up <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">2) get ready <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">3) ride the bus to school <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">4) learn in class <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">5) eat lunch <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">6) learn in some more classes <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">7) go home on bus <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">8) do homework <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">9) eat dinner <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">10) go to bed

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">The Comic
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Every school day is basically the same for me. I wake up around 7:00 am and get ready for school. Then I ride the bus to school. I then sit through my morning classes. Then I go and eat lunch in the cafeteria with all my friends. sometimes I buy lunch, but I usually bring a packed lunch. Then I sit through the rest of classes for the day. After school, I ride the bus home, eat a snack, and start doing homework. While I am doing my homework, I usually have a bunch of my friends texting and messaging me to find out what the homework was and to ask for help. While I am doing my homework, my mom calls me for dinner. I then eat dinner with my mom and brother and usually my brother complains that he doesn't want to eat what was made for dinner. After dinner, I go and do some more homework, take a shower, and then go to sleep. Even though the days are basically all the same which can get a little tiring, I can relate with that "the years passed by... and Siddhartha hardly noticed their passing" (75).

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"> media type="custom" key="24519970"
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Come Away To The Water- Maroon 5

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Lyrics:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"Come away little lass come away to the water, <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">To the ones that are waiting only for you. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Come away little lass come away to the water, <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Away from the life that you always knew."

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Quote from the text:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"He knew one thing-- that he could not go back" (87). <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"Siddhartha reached the long river in the wood... Why should he go any further, where, and for what purpose?" (88)

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Where it says "away from the life that you always knew" (Maroon 5), it is saying that the water (river) is a place to start new and forget your old life, to run away from your old self. But it is also saying that good things are waiting at the water, even if at first it is unknown to you, that your future may be waiting there for you.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">media type="custom" key="24520018" <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Just Around the River Bend- Pocahontas

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Lyrics:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"What I love most about rivers is, <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">You can't step in the same river twice. <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">The waters always changing, always flowing."

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Quote from the text:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"He only knew that his previous life was finished, that it was so full of nausea and wretchedness what he had wanted to destroy it, but that he had come to himself by a river, with the holy words of Om on his lips" (90).

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;"> When the song goes "you can't step in the same river twice," (Pocahontas) it is saying that change is always happening and that the same thing can't happen twice. "Always flowing" (Pocahontas) means that everything just keeps on moving and changing. Like the song, the quote from Siddhartha makes Siddhartha's life seem like a river. His previous life was over, therefore he will never return to his old ways. That he wishes he could destroy it but he will never be able to reach it again.

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">media type="custom" key="24588488" <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Let the River Run Its Course- The Alarm

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Lyrics:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">The future’s deserted waiting there for you and me <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">No past is going to stop us blowing down this road apiece <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Why we’ve come too far, too far to turn back now <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">We can’t just throw it all away when something good goes wrong, oh no <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Nothing has been written which says which way we have to go <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">I’m not looking for commitment written in stone <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">No everlasting promise no no

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Let the river <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Let the river run <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Let the water <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Let the water fall <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Flow down off the mountain <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Into the sea <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Let the river run, run it’s course

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Quote from the text:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">"It seemed to him as if the river had something special to tell him, something which he did not know, something which still awaited him." (100)

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Analysis:
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace;">Like this quote from Siddhartha, this song says that the future is waiting if you follow the river. It says that you can't go back to you old life, but you must follow your own path and keep on going in the direction that life sends you.