“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” -Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. People can only be happy when they have experienced sadness. Just like Siddhartha’s journey, how he goes through a lot of pain, suffering, and confusion to obtain his goal. Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief can explain Siddhartha’s growth during his journey and his journey connects to the story of The Grieving Nurse. In Hermann …show more content…
“‘And would you rather die, than obey your father?’ ‘Siddhartha has always obeyed his father.’ ‘So will you abandon your plan?’ ‘Siddhartha will do what his father will tell him to do.’” (Hesse 10) Siddhartha’s father is having a hard time grasping the fact that he can’t control his son’s actions forever because his son must learn about the world through his own experience. This quote relates to Kübler-Ross’ phase of denial because his father denies allowing Siddhartha to become a Samana since Siddhartha’s father wants Siddhartha to become a Brahman just like he is. “Then his father realized that even now Siddhartha no longer dwelt with him in his home, that he had already left him.” (Hesse 10) Shortly after, Siddhartha’s father realizes that he needs to let his son go out into the world to experience it for himself and learn from his failures and gain his own success. Siddhartha’s father skips through the other phases of grief which is anger, bargaining, and depression because he should have already experienced these stages in the past with Siddhartha, but Siddhartha has grown up and Siddhartha’s father has finally accepted Siddhartha as a man who can take care of himself and does not need the guidance of his father anymore. The Grieving Nurse explains the hardship of a nurse that deals with patients on their deathbeds. During the denial phase, patients and nurses, refuse