Steppenwolf
SteppenwolfThe story of Steppenwolf is the story of a long spiritual journey that can be related to mostly everybody. Everyone, either for their entire lives, or for just one specific point in their lives, searches for their true selves and tries to find out who they really are. This story of the Steppenwolf, Harry Haller, is all about finding out who he really is. Even though I believe the whole story, from the time Harry received the Treatise of the Steppenwolf, to the end, was a dream, I believe it was a spiritual journey for Harry, nonetheless. A person can go through a magnificent change of their self just by thinking or dreaming and making new decisions and coming to new conclusions in their minds. Something physical does not necessarily have to happen for someone to come out of a situation or a thought to have his or her inner selves changed.
Hermann Hesse created this story and wrote it down for the readers in a very specific way. As a fiction writer, Hesse put all the elements into the story the way he wanted them to be in there. Every aspect from the point of view to the setting is exactly how Hesse wanted this story to be portrayed. The point of view of this story plays a huge role. Aside from the prologue, which is told from the first person narrative point of view of the nephew of the woman Harry is renting his room, the entire story is told from the first person point of view, as told by Harry Haller, the protagonist. This is so important to the understanding and the telling of the story because the readers only get to see things through Harry’s eyes, which may not be a very reliable source of information. To me, Harry Haller is an unreliable narrator because his outlook on society is so negative that his views may be clouded and his opinions and the way he tells his story could be very swayed in the direction that the way society behaves is bad. Another reason Harry is an unreliable narrator is the fact that he frequently partakes in the usage of many drugs, mainly opium, and a lot of alcohol. His substance abuse and negative outlook on society make his point of view quite jaded and probably not a very reliable source for what is really going on in the world. For all the read knows, the whole book could be a dream world and we, the readers, are supposed to read his story as if it is really happening that way. Having this story told in the first person is also important because the reader never fully knows the thoughts or feelings of the other characters in the book. The only way the reader gets to know the other characters in the book are by how they are portrayed and described by Harry, who might not be the most reliable of sources for getting information on other characters.
The character of Harry Haller is an extremely round character. In the telling of this story, the reader learns of so many dimensions and of so much depth to his character. Harry is an extremely thoughtful character; maybe a little too thoughtful. He scrutinizes every bit of his life, from his childhood to his day-to-day living. This makes him a round character and the fact that he changes throughout the course of the story, makes him a dynamic character. Whether the whole account of the story is a dream of Harry’s or actually happening to him, he goes through a change; his mind has been changed by the end of the story. At the beginning of the story, Harry is a very melancholy, troubled man, who is extremely conflicted by the pains of his everyday existence in the “real†world, while dealing with his spiritual world at the same time. To the reader, it seems as if Harry goes through a series of changes. In the beginning he is extremely somber and alone and almost reaches to the point of suicide until he meets Hermine. Then after he meets Hermine, he seems to instantaneously change his personality. His way of thinking and his outlook on life has been changed. He all of a sudden has a reason to live, and he now seems to fit in more with society. Harry’s “new and improved†self seems to be going along just fine, until a point comes when he is just unable to be that kind of person in society anymore, but before he has time to completely snap and break all the way off from society, Pablo seems to save some of what is left of his diminishing “new†self, to try and show him his true self. It was told that Harry did not fully accomplish what he was supposed to accomplish in the Magic Theatre, and was essentially banned from the theatre for twelve hours, he took all those experiences with him and was definitely a changed man because of it.
Because this story is told from Harry’s first person narrative point of view, the other characters in the book are not as round as Harry’s character is. Even though Harry describes Hermine, Maria, and Pablo with incredible detail, we never know their feelings or if they have much depth to them. We also do not know if these other characters are static or dynamic. Because the readers cannot see into the minds and thoughts of any of the other characters, we do not know if they go through any changes throughout the story.
Setting too plays an extremely vital role in this story. It is set in Europe, most likely Germany, where Hermann Hesse was from, and set around the year 1929. This is important because in this setting, Harry is able to rent a room in the bourgeois society while not actually being a part of it. The fact that the room he rents is an attic room, which he keeps cluttered with books and cigar ash, in a nice house in the bourgeois society, sets up his whole way of life. He is extremely conflicted in that he scoffs at the way people act in this middle-class society, yet he yearns to be a part of it. This one of the many struggles that seems to ultimately lead to the change of his self. His way of living would be unheard of in this day in age, in America, so that setting allows the story to take place. The other events, such as the late-night, ballroom dancing and such things like that do not seem to be all that common now or in America. And of course the setting of the Magic Theatre had an incredible impact on the story. Whether it was in a dream or not, that Magic Theatre made things happen the way they did. Another aspect of the setting that is important to the story is the use of drugs throughout. The drugs were not a physical time or place to be in, but they allowed different places and things to appear and happen and without them the story would be lost.
Hermann Hesse has written this story and made every part of it the way it is because if it were told any differently or from any other point of view, it would not have the same effect as it does. Having the story being told from the first person point of view of Harry Haller, the unstable, melancholy man, who believes himself to be an actual Steppenwolf (a man with a wolf of the Steppes living inside him), is the most important aspect of this story. The setting and character aspect of the story are certainly important, but not nearly as important as the point of view. The readers get to live this story through the eyes of the protagonist, Harry, who went through some magnificent journey and changed significantly during the course of the book.