One can find many similar recurring themes in the novels Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, and Perfume, by Patrick Suskind. Both authors use an aspect of nature as a symbol, the river. Since the time of the ancient Chinese, Pharaohs, Romans and Greeks, people have believed that the flow of the river represents the flow in one's life. They use the river to symbolise peoples' existence. In both books, the river portrays spiritual aspects that tell …showed first 75 words of 1272 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1272 total…the verge of dying , the river always portends that character's life story and views and acts upon people's life and death. So the river acts like a judge, ready to take lives of the avaricious. Through the river, both stories acquire overall unity between the characters, the setting, and the plot. Bibliography: ·<Tab/>Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. New Directions Publishing: New York. 1957. Suskind, Patrick. Perfume. Vintage Books: New York. 1985