Siddhartha essay

In this essay, you will use the novel and your own experience to make a statement about learning. There is no
traditional “question” to which you must respond. Instead, you should think and write about the following:
 Select a single chapter from the novel Siddhartha. Think hard about what and how Siddhartha learns in that
chapter, and write about that. Be specific: support what you say about what and how Siddhartha learns with
clear, cited evidence from the novel. This will probably take you one or two paragraphs, and your
paragraph(s) should be well-constructed, with topic sentences that expresses the idea of each paragraph,
etc.
 Then, compare OR contrast what and how Siddhartha learned in the chapter you selected with a
discussion of how you learn best. Again, be specific, and include at least one strong example from your
own life of a time when you learned something in the way you learn best—and make sure to discuss what
you learned. This section will also take you one or two well-constructed paragraphs.
 Your thesis is something you should probably write after you’ve thought about and written the sections
described above. Your thesis should make some arguable statement about learning, and that statement
should be supported by the Siddhartha and personal sections of the paper. Of course, your thesis will
appear at the end of an introductory paragraph, which will of course be at the beginning of your essay, but
it will probably work best to “back into” this intro paragraph.
 Likewise, you should write a concluding paragraph that sums up what you’ve thought and said about
Siddhartha’s and your own learning and that ties the whole essay together.
Your transitions between paragraphs and your topic sentences will be especially important in this essay, because
they will make clear the relationships between what you’re saying about the novel and what you’re saying about
your own life experience—and everything you say definitely must relate somehow. This essay should not be a
collection of random reflections. Make sure you’re making connections!