The novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse attempts to tell the story of one man's journey to enlightenment. Siddhartha, a young Brahmin, leaves his comfortable home and family to learn more about himself. Throughout his journey, he overcomes many obstacles, meets many people, and has many experiences that contribute to becoming the individual he wants to be. In the end, Siddhartha thinks he has found himself, but in reality, he has lost so many parts of himself in the process. Despite the many unrealistic things Siddhartha does, his commitment to finding himself and improving himself, in his mind, is commendable. He repeatedly finds himself in situations in which he feels like giving up because he hasn't yet achieved his goal, but again, he never succeeds. Unfortunately, the means by which Siddhartha attempts to find himself are unreasonable and cause him to lose the beneficial qualities he possessed before his journey. If this is a story of self-searching, it is problematic in many ways. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn order to find himself, Siddhartha made it his goal to eliminate all contact with reality and purge all desire from people , things and even basic needs such as food, shelter and sleep. He became aware of a group, the samanas, who had similar beliefs and goals to his own, so he decided to join them. To join the samanas, Siddhartha had to give up all his clothing, fast for extremely long periods of time, and when not fasting, eat only once a day. Siddhartha deprived himself of everything “through pain, through voluntary suffering and overcoming pain, hunger, thirst, fatigue” (15) in the hope of feeling enlightened. By depriving himself of everything essential, Siddhartha aims to empty himself of all human qualities; in his mind, this will allow him to find his true self. Throughout his journey to achieve enlightenment, Siddhartha loses many human relationships that were very important to him before he left, such as his bonds with family and friends. Human relationships help shape you as a person, and the people you relate to influence the way you live. To achieve enlightenment, one must not give up loving and caring for others. Enlightenment, as a higher form of consciousness and humanism, should not require anyone to abandon everything integral to their life. Siddhartha was fully aware that by leaving the Brahmins, he was also leaving his family and friends. These relationships are a key aspect of a person's identity, but, ironically, Siddhartha sacrifices these parts of himself to find other parts of himself that he finds more meaningful. When Govinda and Siddhartha part, Govinda "kisses one last time the friend of his youth" (30), but Siddhartha does not seem sad or regretful about leaving his best friend behind. In some ways, Siddhartha's lack of need for others is inhumane and rather disturbing. He believes he can achieve enlightenment on his own, without any help from family or friends. He abandons all his significant relationships to follow his own path. Ironically, Siddhartha loses his humanity while trying to find himself. In addition to sacrificing his human relationships, Siddhartha also sacrifices his emotional experiences to find enlightenment. Emotional experiences influence and shape people to become better people, but.