Siddhartha

Siddhartha is a handsome and respected son of a Brahmin who lives with his father in ancient India. He is also the protagonist in the novel. Everyone in the village expects Siddhartha to be a successful Brahmin just like his father. He did everything that he was supposed to do, and everything that his religion said should make him happy, but he was secretly unhappy. He had a best friend named Govinda with whom he shares a seemingly perfect life, but he is worried that since his father and some other elders have not yet reached enlightenment, he won't either, and his questions will not be answered. He says, "One must find the source within one's own Self, one must possess it" (p. 5).
One day, he decides to follow a group of Samanas that he thinks will provide him with a better understanding of life and why he exists. Govinda travels along with him. "He lost his Self a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in nonbeing" (p. 12). He continues to travel with different groups of people, trying to find his Self. He becomes a rich man, a life which he is very in love with. "The new Siddhartha felt a deep love for this flowing water and decided that he would not leave it again so quickly" (p. 81). He soon realizes, however, that the more obtains the material things, the less they satisfy him.
He leaves his rich life and travels along until he reaches a river. He appreciates the beauty of the river and while he sits and meditates at this river, he realizes that there is no such thing as time. He is very proud of himself when he learns this, and he shares it with Govinda. "During deep meditation it is possible to dispel time, to see simultaneously all the past, present and future, and then everything is good, everything is perfect, everything is Brahman" (p. 116). Govinda's response to this newfound knowledge was, "And Govinda saw that this mask-like smile, this smile of unity over the flowing forms, this smile of simultaneousness over the thousands of births and deaths-this smile of Siddhartha-was exactly the same as the calm, delicate, impenetrable, perhaps gracious, perhaps mocking, wise, thousand-fold smile of Gotama, the Buddha, as he perceived it with awe a hundred times" (p. 122).
This novel is told in third-person omniscent, by someone who tracks Siddhartha's life very closely. The conflictif man vs. himself; Siddhartha vs. himself. The theme never give up, and you will reach your goal.