In the chapter entitled “With the Samanas”, the time that Siddhartha spends with the Samanas is described. However, the author, Hermann Hesse, decided to give very little in-depth description of the characters’ daily lives. He offers short explanations of certain activities, including standing in the scorching sun, freezing rain, and bleeding among thorny bushes. He also gives some details about a couple of conversations between Siddhartha and his friend, Govinda, but other than this there are few other details of any kind in this chapter. I suppose that Hesse decided to put very few details into this chapter of the book mainly because he wanted to provide background information about the characters without making the reader’s focus wander as a result of too many agonizing details. With this in mind, I would have included a few more details and I would have “shown” more of the action rather than “told” it, because the chapter would have been more engaging this way. In addition, I would add more character description, for the characters have not been properly developed in my opinion. After reading two chapters, I still do not have a clear image of Siddhartha or Govinda, who are the two main characters. Not knowing or being able to picture the characters is making the book less enjoyable.
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