In American Beauty, there are a lot of similarities to Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. Lester, the main character, is on a trip to find and improve himself and at the same time, to escape from his reality. Siddhartha was trying to reach the ultimate goal of Buddhism, Atman or the pure self.
<Tab/>Lester starts out in the movie as a total loser whose marriage is a loss, according to his daughter, "sprays his shorts" whenever she brings a girl friend home from school. He over hears his daughter's friend Angela say that he should "get buff," so he decides to do so. This starts hi…
