“Like Arrows in the Hand of the Warrior, So Are Youths”: Reading Ishmael’s Expulsion in Genesis 21 in Light of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha

An intertextual reading of Ishmael’s expulsion in Genesis 21 and Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha illuminates Ishmael’s path as a universal process of coming-of-age. We argue that the two works share major themes, which are reinforced and illustrated with common motifs. In both cases, the son is disengaged from the past and, after being reborn, establishes himself in the world.