Luke Skywalker and... Siddhartha?

So for the past week in English class, we've been reading a book called Siddhartha.

When our class was told that we had to watch a movie and compare it to Siddhartha, I was ecstatic. At long last, I could watch one of my favorite movies (and one of the most iconic movies of all time) and pass it off as homework when my mom walked into my room to make sure I was working. This had been my dream for the past four years, and I finally got to live this dream during the second semester of my senior year.

On a slightly more serious note, while I was watching the A New Hope, I actually did notice many things that connected Siddhartha and George Lucas' masterpiece. We were supposed to focus on the hero's journey, and that was something I found in spades.

For one, both stories start off with a disgruntled hero, one that longs to get out and stretch their legs. Granted, Siddhartha starts off a bit more well-off than Luke Skywalker, and Siddhartha is fortunate enough to not have to wait for his guardians to die before he can take off, but both of them eventually end up leaving home (which is the only home they've known their whole lives) to learn more about spirituality in each of their relative worlds. Siddhartha sets off in search of true enlightenment while Luke goes off in pursuit of the Force, something that pretty much governs everything in the galaxy far, far away. Now, hero's journeys don't necessarily have to start with disgruntled dudes who have to get away from home to learn something spiritual, but these two beginnings do indicate that the hero is probably motivated to improve themselves, whether its for themselves or for those around them. The nobleness of these causes manifest themselves later in the story when Siddhartha imparts his enlightenment on Govinda and Luke redeems Daddy Vader from the dark side. The will to improve oneself initially is all that it takes for someone to set off on a hero's journey that impacts the lives of others.