In the beginning of your life, you grow up in a community of people who love and care about you. Once you reach a certain part of your life, such as growing up, you feel that you must leave the community in which you grew up in and make a new life in the world. In this novel, Siddhartha feels the same way and he leaves his community. Even though he uses most of his time in meditation and contemplation, spending time with his family and best friend Govinda, he still can find no joy in himself. Siddhartha realizes that he must leave his community when a group of Samanas passed through his town. These particular
             Samalas represent a calling or message to Siddhartha, which tells him he must find joy in himself somewhere other than his home. The Samanas start the literary device of symbolism throughout the story.
             Acts of symbolism start to emerge especially when the river is mentioned. The river starts off by symbolizing peace and patience. An example of this is when Siddhartha had the dream in which Kamala's cages songbird has died. During the dream, he throws the songbird out and in doing this, he feels that he is discarded everything that was good and valuable in himself. Siddhartha now feels he has no meaning in life and he goes to the riverbank. At the riverbank, Siddhartha wants to end his life but at the last moment, he started practicing "Om". The river gave Siddhartha a special feeling of peace inside himself to calm him down and that he had to go on to find true perfection in his life. Another example of symbolism of the river is when Siddhartha's son causes him intense
             pain. His son does not appreciate and respect Siddhartha as a father causing Siddhartha to be hurt badly and to feel valueless. At the peak of his pain, he believes that the voice of the river is laughing at him. He then bends down to look at the water and his reflection reminds him of his father's face and that he has suffered the same fate as his fathe...