Siddhartha's Anti-Authoritarianism

           Siddhartha’s anti-authoritarian notions and his quest for autonomy serve to reject typical Western notions of devotion and piety; at the same time, however, Hesse is able to merge East and West by pulling on both Jungian and Buddhist practices. Throughout the novel Siddhartha either resists traditional authoritarian principles or remains suspicious of authority figures, and seeks autonomous knowledge rather than defer to guided practices.

            Siddhartha first resists his father when he stands defiantly, all night, against his father’s decision to not allow him to join the samanas; Siddhartha claims that he will always obey his father (10), but continues to stand firmly until his father gives into his request. This act of defiance is not only against Siddhartha’s father, but the authority that his father represents as well. Hesse writes, “Siddhartha knew many venerable Brahmins, above all his father, the pure, the learned the supremely venerable man” (6); what renders the father not only an authoritarian figure in the sense that he is Siddhartha’s father, but also as a symbol of Western ecclesiastical authority as well is the use of the word “venerable.” Venerable not only means to command respect because of age or dignity, but it is also a title for someone in the Roman Catholic Church having attained the first degree of sanctity. The resistance to the father, “the supremely venerable man,” (6) is also a resistance to traditional Western notions of ecclesiastical authority.

            Siddhartha is also critical of the renowned Gautama, and of teachers in general. He tells Govinda, “I have become weary and distrustful of teaching and learning…I have little faith in words that come to us from teachers” (21). Despite all he has learned from previous teachers Siddhartha still feels a void, and he is convinced at this point that there is no teacher that would be able to fill that void. What Siddhartha was longing for had to be found within the self:

Was Atman not in him, did not the primal source flow in his own heart? One had to find it, the primal source in one’s own self, one had to make it one’s own! Everything else was seeking, was detour, was confusion. (7)

This sentiment can also be seen as a rejection of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church; instead of seeking salvation through the church itself—through the rituals, the priests, and the Pope—one should seek salvation through the inner self.

            While Hesse seems to be subverting traditional Western notions through Siddhartha’s anti-authoritarian views, he uses Buddhist and Jungian experiences to merge East and West. Carl Jung himself pulled from both Eastern and Western philosophies, so it would make sense that both traditions resonate throughout Siddhartha. Siddhartha refers to his ego several times; he seeks to pierce its innermost core (34), rid himself of it (35), and finally embrace it and attempt to know his self (36); Carl Jung refers to the conscious mind as the ego which must be integrated with the personal and collective unconscious to achieve the transformative process of individuation—which seems to be Siddhartha’s goal.  

Another aspect of Jung’s philosophy is the “shadow,” which Wikipedia defines as “an unconscious complex defined as the repressed, suppressed, or disowned qualities of the conscious self.” Govinda is referred to as Siddhartha’s shadow and perhaps represents Siddhartha’s own repressed qualities of his conscious self. Govidna is subservient, following Siddhartha when he joins the sammanas and then becomes a disciple of Gautama; Siddhartha attempts to reject subservience, but Govinda can be read as Siddhartha’s subservient shadow—which Siddhartha seeks to repress because he does not want to accept that he is anything but autonomous. Govidna seems to be a physical manifestation of Siddhartha’s suppressed qualities.