The different pathsSay no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the novels The Guide, by RK Narayan, The Harp of Burma, by Michio Takeyama, and Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, all the main characters encounter problems regarding their identity. In The Guide, Raju tries to find his identity by abandoning his old identity in search of a new one. In The Harp of Burma, Mishuzima also abandons his old identity to find a new one, although he does so because of his new beliefs. In Siddhartha, Siddhartha finds his identity through his life experiences. As Raju, Mishuzima, and Siddhartha struggle to explore their identities, Raju and Mishuzima try to find theirs by rejecting their old identities, and Siddhartha uses numerous experiences in his life to find his. How Siddhartha tries to find his identity reveals a lot about identity because he can learn from every experience he has. Every experience that Siddhartha has faced and that he discovers does not bring him closer to the search for his identity, he excludes it and moves on, as if crossing off a list. Although the way Raju tries to find his identity seems to be successful, there are many flaws and questions about how committed he is. Siddhartha's path is more successful than Raju's, and the author shows us that Siddhartha actually understands his identity when Siddhartha achieves enlightenment. Siddhartha's quest is to understand himself and the world around him, while Raju changes his identity only because he was ashamed and wanted to forget who he was. For most of the book, Raju pretends to be a "holy man" and is just there to get by. As stated in the Guide, “I am no saint. Velan made many sounds of protest. Raju felt sorry for shattering his faith; but it was the only way he could hope to escape the ordeal” (Narayan, 87). Raju admits that everything he has done since he "became" a holy man was fake and he was just a normal person. Whatever Raju told them he never took the time to think carefully about. He is never focused on finding his identity until the end of the book, when he is ready to sacrifice himself for the people of the city. It took a crisis for him to change the way he saw things. An outside force forced him to focus on himself and what he could do to help the people he now cared about. Raju's commitment to finding out who he was only came at the end and he wasn't entirely alone. The drought that was ravaging his city made him. Siddhartha, on the other hand, finds his identity through his own will, but is helped throughout the journey by the people he meets on his journey. As stated before, Siddhartha's purpose in life is to discover who he truly is, to be able to understand himself and the world, and overcome his ego. “"And Govinda saw that this mask smile, this smile of unity over flowing forms, this smile of simultaneity over thousands of births and deaths - this smile of Siddhartha - was exactly the same as the calm, delicate, impenetrable smile, perhaps the smile kind, perhaps mocking, wise, a thousand times than Gotama, the Buddha, as he perceived him with reverence a hundred times" (Hesse, 131). The author shows us that Siddhartha has indeed achieved enlightenment, found his identity and understood himself. This was ultimately Siddhartha's goal: to achieve enlightenment and understand oneself. Siddhartha's way led him to his identity, but Raju did not come as close as Siddhartha did to finding his. Mishuzima tries to find her identity in a similar way to Raju, but Mishuzima takes her seriously..