"Siddhartha" Quote Analysis

"Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse

In summarizing how Siddhartha has changed, this quote uses a lot of repetition. Herman Hesse uses “slowly,” “a little,” and “like” to emphasize the intensity of Siddhartha’s thoughts and feelings. In addition to that, Hesse further strengthens this by using a simile as well as multiple alliterations. All of these rhetorical devices give off a sort of ominous feel like Pandora has just opened the box. The purpose of the quote is to give a sense of weight, to show how weighed down Siddhartha has become. “Slowly the soul sickness of the rich crept over him. Like a veil, like a thin mist, a weariness settled on Siddhartha, slowly, every day a little thicker, every month a little darker, every year a little bit heavier.” Each moment he stays he is becoming more and more like the child people. He is being grounded, almost tied down to this life. At this point he has become a gambler, taking on more even more of the same traits that he once found incomprehensible. The relevance of the quote is to show how far Siddhartha is slipping away. How far he had to fall before he could start picking himself back up again.