Demian By Hermann Hesse Summary/Analysis

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Demian is a semi-autobiography of German poet Hermann Hesse. It's almost like a psychoanalysis of Hesse's idea of a spiritual awakening, it could easily be a metaphor to a real life experience or a retelling of something experienced all in his head. Taking place in around the late 1800's when he was a child, the book covers about 10 or so years of his life and how each event that took place in those 10 years had shaped his beliefs and understanding of the world, himself, and what lies between. Hermann Hesse uses a pseudonym to tell his stories, the name he presents himself as is Emil Sinclair. This book explores the worlds of literalism and meaning when not only referring to the Bible but in life itself. By this vague description of the novel it's hard to see how truly amazing this work is and understand the meaning that lies under each word. To the core I feel that Demian has been an awakening for me which I hadn't known I needed or was even possible to acquire. I took on a new view of life and myself. The philosophical and spiritual undertones poetically read to me in perfect sense and I felt an uttermost connection even if it's hard for me to explain in words what this book means to me and that's the beauty of it. I sometimes felt that I couldn't quite understand each chapter to its entirety and that I'm missing something.. but the lesson Sinclair and I learned together is that the meaning and the answers we're searching so hard for can only be found in ourselves.

Prologue: Hesse describes how the typical poet tends to write their biographies as if they were some sort of God-like figure, who knows everything about themselves and the world. He admits that he is doing no different than those poets but his writing means something much more than the regular because his is of a human being and not an idealized and fabricated person who already knows everything that the author knows at that moment of writing. Instead his story tells of a boy who is yet to learn, and is not to unleash an inner being but to discover an inner being. He talks about how all people start the same, clueless and lost, but are to take their own ways to find purpose. He ends off the prologue saying, "We can understand each other; but each person is able to interpret himself to himself alone."

Chapter 1, Two Worlds: Sinclair lives a peaceful life in what he calls the 'light world'. In his mind, the world is separated into two sub-sections: the light world and the dark world. Sinclair is well aware of the cruelty and evil that lies in the dark world, or at least he thinks he is. It is later said in the book by his counterpart who I'll introduce later on, "Only the idea's that we really live have value." Implying that Sinclair can not be so dependent on his idea of two worlds if he has never really lived in the second. This carries much more meaning with later context of the book. In this first chapter comes what is illusioned to be Sinclair's first encounter with the dark world but in my personal interpretation I do not think it really was. In his neighborhood, there is a boy named Franz Kromer some years older than Sinclair who he gets involved with. Kromer is a troublemaker to say the least, he is very contrasted compared to Sinclair who wouldn't dare take part in the foolish and troublesome lifestyle Kromer lives. One afternoon Sinclair is chatting with Kromer along with two other school mates. Sinclair gets caught up with trying to fit in with them and makes up a story to sound rebellious. He says that he had stolen a sack of apples from a local farmer. Kromer then later talks with Sinclair privately and threatens to blackmail him. Kromer says that he has ties with that farmer and that if Sinclair doesn't give him a large amount of money, he'd tell the farmer about it and he'd be greatly punished. Sinclair panics as he's never gotten himself into any situation like this, he gives Kromer his money box behind his mothers back despite it not being enough. Sinclair's relationship with Kromer does not end there, he is dragged around and is pressured to do things for Kromer he does not want to do, things like stealing or wandering places they shouldn't be. When Sinclair came home after Kromer had demanded money, he felt that the light realm was no longer comforting, his home did not feel like home.