Fasting (Siddhartha)

Fasting, is to willing abstain from eating. Though fasting can be done for a variety of reasons, two primary examples come to mind. Hunger strikes are a type of fasting and in history hunger strikes have been used in protest. Martin Luther King Jr. used fasting to protest the racial injustices of the United States in the 1960's and before him Gandhi in protest of the caste system in India. Another form of fasting can be spiritual. For example, Muslims practice fasting as one of the foundations, or Five Pillars, of the religion. The entire month of Ramadan is observed as a period of fasting where Muslims must abstain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset and must abstain from getting angry and sexual activity. Through this fasting, Muslims believe that from abstaining from bodily pleasures they can draw closer to God and serves as clear evidence of their devotion.
What type of fasting do you think is being practiced by Siddhartha? To what end does Siddhartha hope to reach from fasting for long periods of time?

Questions/ Topics to think about

One question that comes to mind considering the first part of Of Mice and Men is the relationship between George and Lennie. As a blog post address the relationship between Lennie and George: Why are they together? What kind of relationship do they have? Also, what is the relationship they have to other workers?


In a blog post consider the first part of Siddhartha, why do you think Siddhartha leaves his parents home? What is he looking for? Predict where you think this journey will take him.