Call Siddhartha maybe?! - Carly Rae Jespen

     In Joseph Campbell’s 17-step monomyth narrative, the first step is the Call to Adventure. The call to adventure is when “The hero starts off in a mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.” I think that this is one of the most important steps in the monomyth, as it sets up the context of the journey. We are able to learn what the hero hopes to accomplish, often by seeing what they lack in their “mundane situation of normality”. After watching Star Wars: Episode IV –A New Hope I thought it would be simple to identify the call to adventure in Siddhartha. In A New Hope the call to adventure is a literal call for help causing an adventure for the hero. However, in Siddhartha, the call to adventure was trickier to pinpoint. 

    In class we discussed what the call to adventure was in Siddhartha, there were two main opinions. The first being that the call to adventure was when the Samanas passed through Siddhartha’s town and he decided to join them. The second idea was that the call to adventure was when Govinda and Siddhartha learn about Govinda and seek him out. It is difficult to determine because at the beginning of the novel there is a cycle of; Siddhartha being dissatisfied with his spiritual journey, Siddhartha learning of a different group/type of spiritual practice, Siddhartha attempting to leave, being defied, but eventually getting his way and leaving. This cycle repeats when Siddhartha leaves the Brahmins and again when he leaves the Samanas. 

    I agree with the second idea, that the call to adventure does not occur until after Govdina and Siddhartha had joined the Samanas. This is because Siddhartha’s time with the Samanas, although it is different than his family town, I do not think it displays Siddhartha “heading off into the unknown” as mentioned in the definition of the step. When Siddhartha is living with the Samanas he still seems to be very sure of himself. He does not yet face any big struggles, he is not challenged by the teachings and can master them quickly, the same way he was able to do with the Brahmins. Because his time with the Samanas does not appear to reach unknown challenges or thoughts, he has not yet been called to action. He is still facing the same feelings of unfulfillment and dissatisfaction with his spiritual journey as he was at the very beginning of the novel.

    The call to action is evident when Siddhartha and Govinda learn about Gotama and wish to leave the Samanas to follow him. This is when Siddhartha requests to leave his mundane situation of normality with the Samanas and seek the unknown by following Gotama. His request was challenged by the head Samana acting as the refusal of the call. Furthermore, after leaving Gotama he is without his best friend Govinda and has to begin to navigate the world by himself which is also very new and unknown. After leaving Gotama, Siddhartha says, “That is why I am going my own way, not to seek another or better doctrine…but to reach my goal or die alone” (Hesse 29). After Siddhartha leaves Gotama we are able to see a significant shift in Siddhartha which we do not see after he leaves the Brahmins. I think this is due to the call to action felt when Siddhartha learns about Gotama.