THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS IN REVEALING
EMIL SINCLAIR’S INDIVIDUATION AS SEEN IN
HERMANN HESSE’
DEMIAN: THE STORY OF
EMIL SINCLAIR’S YOUTH
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
WINDA PRADNYA PARAMITA
Student Number: 001442118
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
JOGJAKARTA
2008
It is inhuman to bless when one is being
cursed
Nietzsche
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillah, I finally have accomplished my undergraduate thesis. I thank to Allah SWT for everything that is given to me. There were times when I lose my way and my faith, but He never turns His back on me. To Him my life belongs.
I would like to underscore my indebtedness to my former advisors, Mr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, M. Hum. and Ms. Theresia Enny Angraini, M. A.
for their guidance and advice in working this thesis. I owe them apology for letting them down. I should also like to express my gratitude to my major sponsor, Mr. Hirmawan Widjanarka, M. Hum. for his patience in completing this thesis
and Ms. Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd. M. Hum. My gratitude also goes to the lecturers and staff of English Letters Department for their aids during my study in Sanata Dharma University.
My deepest indebtedness belongs to my father, Ibnu Machlad, and my mother, Wiendaryaningsih. I understand it takes a lot not to give up on me. I owe them everything for their patience, understanding and everything they give to me.
I owe my memories in Jogja to mas yo2k and my best friend Rita, Bontet, Dentina and Yuni. There are no words to describe how much I thank them. I am what I am now because you are always there.
To Ndut, Linda, Ana, tanti, Wiwin, mba Wheni, Siska, Galih, and Jodhi thank you for the patience in dealing with my mood and for being my friends. It means a lot to me more than I can ever say.
Winda Pradnya Paramita
TABLE OF CONTENTS
B. Review of Related Theories………... 8
1. Theories of Character and Characterization………..…… 8
2. Theories of Dream……… 11
3. Theories of Individuation……….. 13
4. Theories of Symbol……….. 17
5. The Relation between Literature and Psychology………..….. 18
C. Theoretical Framework………..…….. 20
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY……….. 21
A. Object of the Study……… 21
B. Approach of the Study………... 22
C. Method of the Study……….. 23
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS………..……….. 25
A. The Development of Emil Sinclair……… ……….. 25
1. Childhood………. 26
2. Adolescence……….…………. 29
3. Individuation………. 33
B. The Revelation of Sinclair’s Individuation ………….………. 35
1. Revelation of Shadow……… 36
2. Revelation of Persona……… 40
3. Revelation of Anima………. 42
4. Revelation of Wise Man……… 44
5. Revelation of Self……….. 46
1. Dream as Nostalgic Memories……….... 48
2. Dream as Representation of Fear………... 49
3. Dream as a Prediction of Things about to Happen………..…… 50
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION………...…………. 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY……….. 53
APPENDIX……… 55
ABSTRACT
WINDA PRADNYA PARAMITA. The Significance of Dreams in Revealing Emil Sinclair’s Individuation in Hermann Hesse’ Demian: The Story of Emil
Sinclair’s Youth. Jogjakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters,
Sanata Dharma University, 2008.
Individuation is something that not every person can achieve during his lifetime. In a novel by Hermann Hesse called Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth, a journey to reach individuation is being told. Emil Sinclair, the main character, struggles to find his individuation that lies deep in his unconscious psyche. To reach it he has to uncover his archetypes and accept them as parts of his personality. He also has to pay attention to his dreams and understand each of his dreams in order to embrace the archetypes. The journey brings him to Frau Eva, Demian’s mother, who turns out to be his daemon and helps him to unlock the final door to individuation.
This thesis is aimed at solving three problems. The first is the character development of Emil Sinclair. The second problem is the revelation of Sinclair’s individuation; how Sinclair reveals each archetypes within him to reveal his Self and reach individuation. The final problem is the significance of dreams in revealing Sinclair’s individuation.
The method applied in this thesis is the library research. The main source are Hermann Hesse’ Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth and other sources that closely related to the topic discussed in this thesis. The approach applied in the thesis is psychological approach.
From the analysis, it can be concluded that Sinclair finally reveals his archetypes with the guidance of his friends and his dreams. Each archetypes blends to one another and leads Sinclair to his Daemon, Frau Eva. She then teaches him to make truce with his environment and to love his life. This thesis finds out that to reach individuation, one must listen to the voices within and learn from the dreams one has. The dreams functions as guidance and clue during the journey. It is difficult to do but once it is accomplished, one will be able to understand the meaning of life and the destiny one bears. Sinclair manages to overcome the challenges the nature gives him and as the result he finds his true Self.
WINDA PRADNYA PARAMITA. The Significance of Dreams in Revealing Emil Sinclair’s Individuation in Hermann Hesse’ Demian: the Story of Emil
Sinclair’s Youth. Jogjakarta: Jurusan Sastra Ingris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas
Sanata Dharma, 2008.
Tidak semua orang mampu mencapai individuasi. Novel Hermann Hesse yang bejudul Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth berkisah tentang perjalanan mencapai individuasi. Emil Sinclair sebagai tokoh utama berjuang meraih individuasi yang terdapat jauh di dalam alam bawah sadarnya. Untuk mencapai individuasi Sinclair harus membuka archetype yang ada dalam dirinya dan menerimanya sebagai bagian dari kepribadiannya. Sinclair juga harus memperhatikan mimpi-mimpi yang dialaminya serta memahami makna dari mimpi-mimpi tersebut agar dapat menerima archetype. Perjalanan mencapai individuasi ini mempertemukan Sinclair dengan Frau Eva, ibu dari Demian, yang ternyata adalah belahan jiwanya. Frau Eva membantu Sinclair membuka pintu terakhir menuju individuasi.
Sripsi ini bertujuan memecahkan tiga permasalahan. Permasalahan pertama adalah perkembangan karakter Emil Sinclair. Permasalahan kedua yaitu pengungkapan individuasi dalam diri Sinclair, bagaimana Sinclair satu persatu mengungkapkan archetype dalam dirinya untuk kemudian menguak Diri dan mencapai individuasi. Yang terakhir adalah peran penting mimpi-mimpi yang dialami Sinclair dalam pencapaian individuasi.
Metode yang diterapkan dalam tesis ini adalah studi pustaka. Data-data yang digunakan adalah novel karya Hermann Hesse yang berjudul Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth, dan sumber-sumber lain yang erat kaitannya dengan obyek yang didiskusikan dalam tesis ini. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam analisis di tesis ini adalah pendekatan psikologi.
Hasil dari analisa ini menunjukkan bahwa Sinclair berhasil mengungkapkan archetype dalam dirinya dengan bantuan teman-temannya serta mimpi-mimpinya. Setiap arketipe melebur satu sama lain dan membawa Sinclair pada belahan jiwanya, Frau Eva. Dari Frau Evalah Sinclair belajar untuk berdamai dengan lingkungan dan mencintai hidupnya. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa untuk mencapai individuasi seseorang harus mendengarkan suara hati yang terdalam dan memahami mimpi. Mimpi tersebut berfungsi sebagai pembimbing dan petunjuk dalm mencapai individuasi. Hal ini tidaklah mudah, tetapi bila terlaksana maka orang tersebut akan mampu memahami makna hidup dan takdir yang telah digariskan untuknya. Sinclair telah berhasil mengatasi rintangan-rintangan yang dibuat oleh alam untuknya. Sebagai hasilnya, Sinclair menemukan dirinya yang sejati.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
From time to time, people are interested in dreams. Some people think that dreams are fantasies or images they have thought before they sleep. Others think that dreams are good or bad signs about things to happen. Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, stated “the best avenue for discovering the content and the activity of the unconscious is through our dreams” (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 148).
Having same opinion with Freud, C. G. Jung had an interesting thought about dreams. He considered a dream as an important factor in framing the conscious outlook. He believed that through dreams we can gain deeper understanding about the dreamer. Feist states that Jung believed “the natural condition of human is to move toward self-realization. Thus, if a person‘s conscious life is incomplete in a certain area, that person’s unconscious self will strive to complete that condition through the dream process” (Feist, 2002:119). Therefore, we can help to solve a person’s problem by interpreting the dreams she or he has.
hidden from us” (Jung, 1964: 20). Since symbols in a dream have different meanings to different people, one needs to learn about the dreamer’s character, the environment he or she lives in, important events she or he had before dreaming etc.
Once one is done interpreting a person’s dreams, he or she is able to reveal the part of his or her incomplete conscious life. When this process is done to every dream that a person has, often it leads to a new deeper understanding of his or her life; it brings her or him to wholeness. Fordham said that Jung believed to be whole means “to become reconciled with those sides of personality, consciousness and unconsciousness, which not been taken into account” (Fordham, 1956: 77). In further step, this ‘wholeness process’ leads us to individuation.
Psychological rebirth, also called individuation, is a process of becoming a complete individual or whole person. People who have gone through this process have achieved realization of the self, minimized their persona, and become conscious of their anima or animus and their shadow (Feist, 2002: 116-117). This process, of course, is difficult to accomplish. Therefore, individuation is rarely achieved. Persona, anima or animus, and shadow are the archetype of the unconscious. Sometimes they reveal themselves through dreams in symbolic forms. Therefore by understanding and interpreting dreams we can get a step closer to individuation.
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conscious attitude. Since the artist's work responds to the needs of his society, the archetypal images that the artist uses are morally neutral; therefore a great work of art is always morally and intellectually ambiguous (Jung, 1933:86).
The good example of artist who always being led by his unconsciousness in creating literary work is Herman Hesse. Recovering from nervous breakdown Hesse was motivated to study the theory of psychoanalysis, specifically Jung’s analytical psychology, which clarified and contrasted in his mind his own intuitive approach to the problems he portrayed in his earlier writings (Gotschalk, www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2115). This new understandinginspired Hesse to write Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth.
the realm and taught him not to deny his shadow and instead he had to understand and to accept his shadow completely. Years later when Sinclair continued his study in other town he met Pistorius, from whom he learned about dream. It was Pistorius who told him to draw every object that appeared in his dreams, especially unknown objects. Pistorius taught him about the important of dreams and the symbols in it. Sinclair started to reveal his individuation by revealing the meaning of his dreams and the symbols in it. During his friendship with Pistorius Sinclair never met Demian. When his friendship with Pistorius was about to break up, Sinclair dreamed about a man. Not long after his painting was done, Sinclair met Demian and his mother, Frau Eva. Soon Sinclair realized that the painting he made was Demian’s face as an adult though the last time he met Demian when Demian was still a teenager.
During his journey, Sinclair revealed his individuation step by step. First he learned about his shadow and persona. Then he learned about his Anima and Wise man. The shadow, persona, anima, and the image Wise man were the archetypes of unconsciousness that lead Sinclair revealing his Self. The self unites opposing elements of psyche, male and female, good and evil, light and dark forces. Those archetypes were connected to each other by Sinclair’s dreams. This whole process called individuation process.
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that allows for a peaceful and harmonious being.
The issue of individuation that has been mentioned above is the topic of this undergraduate thesis. How Sinclair learned about the revelation of his individuation and the significance of dreams in Sinclair’s individuation are going to be discussed in this undergraduate thesis. Yet, it is important to analyze the characterization of Sinclair before discussing the revelation. Therefore the characterization of Sinclair is going to be discussed first. Hopefully the discussion will help people in understanding the beauty of Hesse’s works and move them to revealing their own individuation.
B. Problem Formulation
The following problems are going to be discussed in this undergraduate thesis.
1. How does Sinclair’s characteristic develop? 2. How does Sinclair reveal his individuation?
3. What are the significances of dreams in the Sinclair’s individuation?
C. Objectives of the Study
D. Definitions of Terms
1. Dream
In Feist’s Theories of Personality Jung said that dreams are our unconscious and spontaneous attempt to know the unknowable, to comprehend a reality that can only be expressed symbolically Dreams are often compensatory; that is feelings and attitude not expressed during waking life will find an outlet through the dream process (Feist, 2002: 118).
2. Individuation
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
According to Herman Hesse, inner harmony can only be attained by the
complete acceptance of all natural desires and actions. He illustrates the necessity of self-awareness through his portrayal of the individual and his or her continuous
quest through life to ultimate self-acceptance. In the novel Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth, Hesse creates Sinclair’s personal quest as the major character to illustrate the pain and despair resulting from uncertainty in one’s feelings and actions.
It is said in http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=40 that through Sinclair’s stories of his life, Hesse teaches that self-understanding and peace can only come with the recognition and realization of all one’s drives. In pursuit of this goal, one must not allow the often unnatural and hypocritical standards of society to prevent the expression of all aspects of one’s personality.
Seidlin says in his essay “Herman Hesse: The Exorcism of the Demon” that Hesse’s main characters in his novels share one thing in common; that is:
To know oneself, to explore the hidden corners in one’s soul, not to flinch even if one finds these corners populated with beasts and demons; this is the purpose of Emil Sinclair’s (Demian), Steppenwolf’s (Steppenwolf) and Goldmund’s (Narcissus and Goldmund) travels (1973: 63).
Seidlin also states that
and it will not rest until the last veil is drawn back (1973: 54).
The same as Seidlin’s opinions about Hermann Hesse’s works, Ziolkowski states further that the essential theme of Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth is that Hesse believes human experience three-stage quests in their search for identity. Therefore Hesse uses this pattern in his novels, including Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth. Sinclair stepped out from the innocence of his childhood into a despair caused by “the knowledge of good and evil; and this despair gives a way to a new and higher faith in himself” (1973: 1366). Ziolkowski quotes Sinclair’s words in Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth “an enlightened man had but one duty- to seek the way to himself, to reach inner certainty.” Then the literary critics have to find out “how, rather than whether, the quest plays a role in Hesse thought and work” (1973: 134).
Through this thesis, the writer tries to develop the question Ziolkowski asked, how a man seek the way to himself, to reach inner certainty and how it plays a role in his life; in this case the man refers to Emil Sinclair the narrator of Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth. Hopefully, by analyzing and answering the question the writer gain a better view in understanding individuation. The writer also tries to prove that dreams do have significant roles as a guidance and a clue in finding individuation.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theories of Character and Characterization
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or narrative work endowed with moral and disposition qualities that expressed in what they say (the dialogue) and what they do (the action)” (1981: 20). According to Holman and Harmon (1986: 81), through the characters we will find the presence of moral uprightness and the simpler notion of the presence of creature in art that seem to be human beings. It means that a character in a story can be an imitation of human presented as a brief description of a person who has definite quality (1986: 83).
E. M. Foster in Aspects of the Novel (1972: 18) says that there are flat characters and round characters. A flat character is built around a single idea or quality and is represented in outline and without much individuality detail, and so they can be mainly described in single phrase or sentence. They are characterized by one or two traits. The round characters are complex in temperament and motivation, and are presented with subtle peculiarly; thus they are as difficult to describe with any adequacy as person in the real life; and like the most people they are capable of surprising us.
A character should not be static because the plot and the story go forward therefore it affect the character. In other words a character should develop because the story in which the character occurs also develops. At the end of the novel, the character will not be the same anymore from what it is at the beginning of the novel (De Laar and Schoonderwoerd, 1963: 171).
relationship with other characters or (and) wider social relationship, such as occupation and social class. Basic characteristic can be seen also from character’s ways of thinking, feeling and acting. Second, a character can be analyzed from his or her appearance from various points of view, including how the character sees himself or herself. A character can be studied from how he or she develops or fails to develop during the course of the story.
Murphy illustrates some ways that author attempts to make his character understandable and come alive for the readers (1972: 161-173):
a. Personal Description
To describe the character, the author explains physical appearances of the character. The description is often related to his psychological condition. The personality itself can be reflected from the external appearance.
b. Speech
The author can give us insight into the thought of a certain character through what he or she say. Whenever a person is speaking, he is giving the readers some clues to his or her character.
c. Past Life
By learning about a person’s past life, the author can give the reader a clue that has helped to shape a person’s character. The character’s past life is always closely connected to his or her present life.
d. Conversation with Others
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readers need to pay attention towards the conversations of other characters. It is useful to go to speech by speech to determine exactly what it is meant or implied by each character.
e. Thought
The readers follow the inner life of the character’s mind and then make the association of the ideas. In brief, readers are facilitated to disclose the thought inside the character’s mind.
2. Theories of Dream
Two people known as great dream analysts are Freud and Jung. For Freud the dream reveals what the dreamer would rather keep hidden. By exploring the dream, someone is forced to face things that are suppressed and rejected within oneself. On the other hand, Jung thought that the dream acts as a mirror of the ego. It reveals what is missing within the dreamer’s consciousness. The dream acts as a teacher and a guide on the road toward wholeness. Jung considered dream to be a compensation of neglected aspect of a dreamer’s personality in waking life. It means, for example, when a man ignore his shadow consciously, he will have a dream in which his shadow figure appears. In Theories of Personality Jung states “The natural condition of human is to move toward completion or self-realization. Thus, if a person’s conscious life is incomplete in certain area, the person’s unconscious self will strive to complete that condition through the dream process” (Feist, 2002: 119).
the personal and collective unconscious and to integrate them into consciousness in order to facilitate the process of individuation” (Feist, 2002: 228). Jung believed that to understand a dream the analyst has to unravel its relationship with the dreamer and his life, then discovering the significance of the various images the dream present. Each image or symbol must be taken in turn till its meaning for the dreamer is established as nearly as possible. Each dream is taken as a direct expression of the dreamer‘s unconscious and only to be understood in this light (Fordham, 1956: 97).
According to Jolande Jacobi in his essay Symbols in an Individual Analysis
“If a young person is afraid of life and finds it hard to adjust to reality, he might prefer to dwell in his fantasies or to remain a child. In such a young person (especially if he is introvert) one can sometimes discover unexpected treasures in the unconsciousness strengthen his ego and give him the psychic energy he needs to grow into a mature person. That is the function of the powerful symbolism of our dreams.”
Dream can be interpreted on an objective level or on a subjective level. On objective level the dream is related to the dreamer’s environment, while on subjective level the dream-figures are taken as representing aspects of the dreamer’s personality. Fordham states, “The subjective aspect of dreams becomes more important in the subjective level of analysis when the personal problems have been seen and understood” (Fordham, 1956: 99).
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3. Theories of Individuation
According to Jung, the total personality consists of separated interacting system. The principal ones are the ego, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious and its archetypes, and finally, the self, which is fully developed archetype that unifies the personality.
a. The Ego
Ego is the conscious mind that responsible for feeling of identity and continuity. It consists of conscious perceptions, memories, thoughts, and feelings. Consciously, it is the center of the personality.
b. The Personal Unconscious
A person’s personal unconscious is formed by individual experience and is therefore unique to each person (Feist, 2002: 98). Fordham says that it is formed from repressed infantile impulses and wishes. (p. 22). It is determined by not only experiences that are ignored, forgotten, and repressed; and experiences that are too weak to make impression upon the person but also by the reactions to those experiences.
c. Collective Unconscious
In contrast to personal unconscious,
The collective unconscious has roots in ancestral past of the entire species. The physical contents of the collective unconscious are inherited and pass from one generation to next as physic potential. Therefore, the contents of the collective unconscious are more or less the same for people in all cultures (Jung in Feist, 2002: 98)
that is dreams with meaning beyond the individual dreamer and that are filled with significance for people in every time and place (Feist, 2002: 98).
One of the contents of collective unconscious is archetypes. The archetypes, Jung thought, is a universal idea which contains a large element of emotion. It originates from a permanent deposit in the mind of an experience that has been constantly repeated for many generations. Archetypes interpenetrate and interfuse with one another. For example, in Hitler, there is a fusion of the demon and hero archetypes and the result is the satanic leader (Feist, 2002: 99). Jung explained further that in it self, an archetype is neither good nor evil. It is morally neutral, and becomes good or evil only by contact with conscious mind.
Jung identified several archetypes. The ones that he felt were especially important include the persona, the shadow, and the anima/animus. To Jung, abstract figures, situations, places and processes can also give expression to them (Feist, 2002: 127).
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persona, the individual become particularly susceptible to the unconscious.
The shadow is a step further towards self-realization when one recognizes and integrates it. It is the negative or inferior (undeveloped) side of the personality. The shadow may be hidden from public view by persona or repressed into personal unconscious.
It is the archetype of darkness and repression; represents those qualities that people do not wish to acknowledge but attempt to hide from themselves and others, including animal tendencies that Jung claimed we have inherited from our infra-human ancestors. Jung said that to be whole, people must continually strive to know their shadow (Feist, 2002: 101).
Von Franz said in his essay “The Process of Individuation”, when a person attempts to see his shadow, he becomes aware of (and often ashamed of) those qualities and impulsively denies it in himself but can plainly see it in other people; such things as egotism, mental laziness, carelessness, cowardice, etc (1964: 168). The shadow can appear in dreams and in many forms.
Sometimes an individual feels impaled to live out the worse side of his nature and to repress his better side. In such case, the shadow appears as a positive figure in his dream. But to a person who lives out his natural emotions and feelings, the shadow may appear as a cold and negative figure (von Franz, 1964: 172).
The anima is said to represent the feminine in men, and come from three sources: individual man's experience with women as companion; man's own femininity- rooted presumably in the minority of female genes and hormones present in man's body; and the inherited collective image that has been formed from man's collective experience of woman through out the centuries (www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/fonda/jung03.html).
and wife as one grow. This projection is said to be responsible for the passionate attraction or aversion and a man's general apprehension of the nature of women. Should a man mistakenly identify with the anima, Jung says, she can produce effeminacy or homosexuality. Anima is also responsible for the feminine tendencies in a man’s psyche such as vague feelings and moods, receptiveness to the irrational, capacity for personal love, feeling for nature and his relation to the unconscious (von Franz, 1964: 177).
Self is called the "midpoint of the personality" a centre between consciousness and the unconsciousness. It signifies the harmony and balance between the various opposing qualities that make up the psyche. It motivates people’s behavior and causes them to search for wholeness especially through the avenues provided by religion. To actualize the self, people must overcome their fear of unconscious, prevent their persona from dominating their personality, and recognize the dark side of them. Also they have to muster greater courage to face their anima or animus. By doing so, they will reach individuation. Individuation means the harmonious blending of all aspects of human’s total personality. It means that the psyche has evolved a new center that is the Self; which takes the place of the old center, the Ego.
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the individuation process.
The self-realized person must allow the unconscious self to become the core of the personality. To deal with the unconscious is a difficult process that demands courage to face the evil nature of his or her shadow and to accept the feminine or masculine side. The self-realized person is dominated by the conscious ego but achieves a balance between all aspects of personality (Feist, 2002: 117).
4. Theories of Symbol
In analytical psychology, symbol considered as an important element, to understand the symbol means to understand the unconscious (Grotjahn, 1971: 160). Symbol is projection of someone’s unconsciousness. In order to know what is projected, the analyst needs to know his or her ideas, feelings, and emotions that occur in his or her symbolical language. Grotjahn states:
“The symbol preserves (or prepares) mastery over thought, ideas, emotion, or, in the case of projecting symbolic representation into the outer world, it establishes magic-mystery over reality. Such mastery, even if only illusionary may avoid anxiety and may lead to creative action later” (1971: 163).
Jung uses the word symbol rather than sign because there is a distinction between symbol and sign. As Fordham says “A sign is a substitute for, or a representation of a real thing, while a symbol carries a wider meaning and expresses a psychic fact which can not be formulated more exactly.” (p. 20)
deals with nature and reality. This phase views images as symbols that show analogy or similarity proportion between a work of art and the nature that it imitates. In this phase the work of art is not a shadow of nature, but it enables the nature to be reflected in it.
The third phase is mythical phase. In this phase symbols function as an archetype. Mythical phase looks at literature as a technique of communication and symbols are the communicable unit that is a recurring image called archetype.
There is other way to identify symbols. Rohrberger and Woods state that the readers can usually trust the story for the identification and discovery of symbols because when an author wishes to mark an object or detail with symbolic significance, he will indicate, either explicitly or implicitly, his intended meaning. “Symbols are not things invented by an author to confuse the readers; it is not a strange object with far-fetched meaning arbitrarily attached to them, but they are, in literature as in life, a vital part of our experience” (Rorhberger and Woods, 1971:136).
5. The Relation between Literature and Psychology
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analyzed using psychological theories are human life, personality, behavior, emotion, idea, actions, etc. As Ellis explain that:
The discipline is able to contribute much to the study of literature. The discipline that would appear to be the most useful to literary study must be those that will assist in analyzing both literary text and their function in human life and society (974:249).
Lindeur explain that “literature is best at describing the human condition in a dramatic form while psychology has the strength to investigate human’s character or behavior in systematic ways” (1984: 44). It means that literature depicts human condition in dramatic way while psychology studies human characteristic systematically. Both subjects have one common purpose that is to depict human condition.
According to Kalish:
Literature ‘holds the mirror up to the man’. A good writer or novelist can communicate the feelings of their characters and make them more alive than the real people whose behavior the psychologist attempts to describe. The writer can use the understanding provided by psychologist to enrich the stories, and the psychologists can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good authors (1973:28).
Furthermore the relation between analytical psychology and literature has been observed by Jung in his book The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature. He states that the connection between the analytical psychology and literature arise from the fact that the practice of literature is a psychological activity (e. g. the mind activity) and can be approach from the psychological angle ( Jung, 1966: 65).
C. Theoretical Framework
Human behavior and self realization is the main theme of this thesis, which can only be analyzed by psychology theories. Therefore psychological approach is applied in this thesis.
This analysis takes some theories to answer the problems proposed in formulation. The theories are: theory of character and characterization, theory of symbol, theory of dream, theory of relation between literature and psychology, and theory of individuation.
Theory of character and characterization is applied to give clear description of the major character of the novel. Theory of individuation is used to support theory of character and characterization. Theory of individuation is applied to analyze the unconscious mind of the major character. The theory is also used to analyze the revelation of the major character’s individuation. The theory of character and characterization and theory of individuation are applied to answer problem formulation number one. Since theory of individuation belongs to psychological theory, the theory of relation between psychology and literature is needed to show that literature and psychology is closely related.
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The novel used in this thesis is Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth by Hermann Hesse. The novel is the first perennial library edition and published in 1969 by Harper and Row Publisher in New York. Thomas Mann wrote in his essays “Introduction to Demian: the Youth of Emil Sinclair” that Hesse did not wish to have appeared over his own name as the author of Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth. The tenth edition was the first to bear Hesse’s name (1969: xii). Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth appeared under the pen name of Emil Sinclair for several reasons. Hesse needed to protect himself personally and professionally from further public attacks on his position on the war. The pseudonym also signaled the beginning of a new phase in his life and a new period of creativity, which had emerged not least because of the insights gained through psychoanalysis. He also wanted to escape the mold of the middle-aged author of “school”, “artist” and “family” novels.
Hesse was soon recognized as the author of Demian by Jung and Otto Flake, who honored his wish for privacy. Later, however, he was challenged publicly by a Swiss literary critic to admit to his authorship, and the book henceforth appeared under Hesse’s own name.
which is represented as the light and dark realms. Hesse uses much symbolic diction in his novel to give a more puissant presentation of Emil Sinclair and the conflict between right and wrong. The symbolic elements lead Emil to find himself as an individual with the mark of Cain. Herman Hesse used many symbolic items and events throughout his novel to present Emil Sinclair's new self-knowledge. The utilization of Hesse's symbolic strategy shows his complexity as a writer as well as in his character. Combining each of these symbolic elements, Hesse created Emil Sinclair's character, purpose, and destiny towards his individuation.
It is said in Gottschalk: www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php that the novel’s rich biblical symbolism is subjected to a radical Nietzsche an re-interpretation, combined with social and cultural criticism. Hesse’s long-standing fascination with Nietzsche is also evident in his polemical political pamphlet Zarathustra’s Return: an Appeal to German Youth by a German in1919.
B. Approach of the Study
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interpret and evaluate emotional and psychological disorders of characters of a work of art. This criticism analyzes the characters’ problem from the unconscious aspects.
The psychological approach is used to reach certain goals. The first goal is to observe character’s behavior and describe what was observed as objectively as possible. The second is to analyze the factors that help Sinclair revealing his individuation and to analyze the archetypes that lead Sinclair to individuation. The third is to interpret Sinclair’s dreams and to analyze the significance of the dreams in Sinclair’s revelation of individuation.
C. Method of the Study
This analysis uses library research method to collect needed theories. The primary data is a novel entitled Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth written by Hermann Hesse. The theories that are applied in the analysis are taken from articles, books, such as Theories of Personality by Jess and Gregory Feist, The Voice of the Symbol by Martin Grotjahn, An Introduction to Jung’s Psychology by Frieda Fordham; and also internet as secondary data.
of Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth and theories of literature and psychology. The theories are focusing on character and characterization, symbol, dream and individuation. A link between literature and psychology is also needed to show that literature and psychology is closely related. Therefore, the theory of relation between literature and psychology was also collected together with other theories mentioned above.
The third step was applying psychological approach and all theories that had been collected in analyzing the problems formulated in this work. The approach and the theories were used to analyze the characters and the dreams and to make analysis based on problems formulated earlier.
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
The novel Demian: the Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth started with the saying “I wanted only to try to live in accord with the prompting which came from my true self. Why was that so very difficult?”(xiii) Emil Sinclair, the narrator and the main character of the novel, said it. The saying reflects the essence of the novel. It is about Sinclair’s journey to discover the secret of his self as well as the hidden corners of individuation. This chapter analyses the steps of revelation of individuation that Emil had through and the dreams that guide Emil in reaching individuation.
The first part of the analysis shows the characteristic of Emil Sinclair. It analyzes how Sinclair feels about his neighborhood, and his family. Also it studied Sinclair’s thought in each phase of his life. The second part of the analysis studies the character development in Emil during the process of individuation. It describes how each step of individuation influences his personality. The third part of analysis explains the importance of dreams. It illustrates the interpretation of Emil’s dreams. The interpretation shows the important role of dreams in revealing Emil’s individuation.
A. The Development of Emil Sinclair
his guiding dreams lead Sinclair in revealing his individuation. The important episodes happen in three phases of Sinclair’s life. First is the childhood. He spent his childhood in a small town where his parents are members of high class society. Second is adolescence, time when he was sent to a boarding school until before he entered college. Third phase is adult, the phase when he met Demian again.
1. Childhood
The story begins when Sinclair was ten years old. He was born in an upper class family. His parents are a role model of the society. They always do everything in perfect manner, including organize their house. This is how Sinclair describes his parents’ world “It was a realm of brilliance, clarity, and cleanliness, gentle conversations, washed hands, clean clothes, and good manners. This was the world in which morning hymns were sung and Christmas celebrated” (p. 5).
Sinclair, though he was very young back then, feels there are two realms mingle in his parents’ house.
“The realms of day and night, two different worlds coming from two opposites poles mingled during this time. My parents’ house made up one realm, actually embracing only my parents themselves; love and strictness, model behavior, forgiveness and good resolutions, wisdom and the words of the Bible. …The other realm, however, overlapping half our house, was completely different; dominated by a loud mixture of horrendous, intriguing, frightful, mysterious things, this second world contained servant girls and workmen, ghost stories, rumors of scandal” (p. 6).
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offends his sisters, he ought to apologize since his sisters like other things from realm of light are fragile. He has to treat them respectfully otherwise they will brake down and cry.
“Sisters were like parents, were to be comforted, and respected; if I had quarreled with them I always reproached myself afterwards, felt like the instigator, the one who had to ask for forgiveness. For by offending my sisters I offended my parents, all that was good and superior” (p. 8).
There are times when Sinclair really feels that he does not belong to his family; in a sense he knows he is different from them. The family worship God and purity sincerely. They never do anything that will be categorized as a sin. Like a piece of cloth, they are pure white and never blended with other colors. While Sinclair thinks that pure white is boring, he is more attracted to the black, the representation of the realm of shadow; where nothing is sacred, pleasure and sin is legal.
“There were times when I actually preferred living in the forbidden realm, and frequently, returning to the realm of light seemed almost like returning to something less beautiful, something rather drab and tedious” (p.7).
However it does not mean that Sinclair hates white, purity, and religion. He wants to be like his parents “sometimes I was absolutely certain that my destiny was to become like mother and father, as clear sighted and unspoiled, as orderly and superior as they” (p. 7). He knows that to please his family means to be as decent and good as they are.
realm of Light is stronger than it’s opposite,
“When my conscience did not trouble me, it was often delightful to play with them, to be good and decent as they were and to see myself in a noble light. That’s what it must have been like to be an angel! (p. 8)”
Sinclair went to a private Latin school and as his parents wish, makes friends with other rich boys in school including the mayor’s son and the head forester’s son though he can not to be close enough with his friends to call best friend. In fact Sinclair does not get along too well with any boys from his school. It is because Sinclair is more attracted to play with boys from public school. He plays with the boys though he knows his parents would not allow him. So Sinclair sees these boys secretly and it even makes him more attracted to them.
During his childhood, Sinclair meets two boys that change his life entirely. They are Max Demian and Franz Kromer. Kromer blackmails Sinclair because of invent story he tells him. Kromer opens the door to Sinclair’s first archetypes; Shadow.
Demian is the guide of the journey to Sinclair’s individuation. He introduces a new point of view in the story of Cain and Abel. He also tells Sinclair a concept of God beyond good and evil, that unlike what people says, God has the right to do whatever He want to, since right or wrong, good and evil is only human paradigm. The new idea of God shocked Sinclair. It forces him to leave his comfort, safe world to find the true meaning of his life.
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“Many people experience the dying and rebirth-which is our fate-only this once during this entire life. Their childhood becomes hollow and gradually collapse, everything they love abandons them and they suddenly feel surrounded by the loneliness and mortal cold of the universe” (p. 50).
This is a difficult time since no one understands him, even his parents, how strange it feels entering puberty.
“The slowly awakening sense of my own sexuality overcomes me, as it does every person, like an enemy and terrorist, as something forbidden, tempting and sinful. What my curiosity sought, what dreams, lust and fear created- the great secret of puberty-did not fit at all into my sheltered childhood” (49).
2. Adolescence
In this phase Sinclair has found his Shadow and Persona. Now everything has changed for Sinclair. He is no longer interested in his surroundings. The family seems strangers to him. His innocent childhood world is gone. The impulses from the dark world have destroyed his calm life and made him fearful.
He is a rebel of the family and because of his attitude he is sent away to private boarding school. The break from his past and his innocence is complete. Sinclair is on his own.
Sinclair is very lonely so he talks so much and Beck is a good listener so he encourages Sinclair to talk more. “When he called me a damned clever little bastard, the words ran like sweet wine into my soul. The world glowed in new colors; thoughts gushed out of a hundred audacious springs” (p.72). It turns out that despite his ignorance and hatred to the world around him, Sinclair needs someone to talks to and to share thoughts and feeling; someone who understand.
Then Beck tells him about Mrs. Jaggelt, the owner of a stationary store, and her sexual escapades behind the counter. This is the first discussion about sex Sinclair ever had and it shocked him. Through the conversation Sinclair sees that he is no longer “the damned clever little bastard; I’d shrunk to a mere boy listening to a man” (p.73). The story triggers Sinclair’s sexual awakening. In other words, Alfonso Beck has an important role in Sinclair’s life. He introduces Sinclair to sexual awareness other to alcohols. This is the first step in finding Anima which soon Sinclair discovers.
That night, after being drunk for the first time, Sinclair dreams; a dream about his family, Demian, and his parents’ home. It is a nightmare for “everything had been laid waste, everything had been trampled on by me!” (p. 75). Sinclair feels so guilty, alone and in despair but he never realizes it until that night. This is how he feels yet no one realize how desperate Sinclair is. It is very overwhelming. “If the arm of the law had reached out for me now, had bound and gagged
me and led me to the gallows as the scum of the earth and a desecrator of the temple, I would have not objected, would have gladly gone, would have considered it just and fair.” (p.75)
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“I was going rapidly downhill. My first drunken frenzy was soon followed by others. I had become the ringleader and star, a notorious and daring bar crawler. Once again I belonged entirely to the world of darkness and to the devil, and in this world I had the reputation of being one hell of a fellow.” (p.76)
His attitude becomes worse and worse and reaches such level that he is placed on probation and his father is called. Sinclair is on the verge of collapse. Yet, Sinclair realizes that this is just another process he has through. Since part of him is belong to realm of Shadow Sinclair feels lonely. He finds his own world in the loneliness. In it, he discovers the first door to individuation.
“In this unpleasant fashion I was condemned to become lonely, and I raised between my self and my childhood a locked gateway to Eden with its pitilessly resplendent host of guardian. It was a beginning, an awakening of nostalgia for my former self” (p.78).
Then, on the same park Sinclair meets Beck, he sees Beatrice. She is the key of the door to his Anima. Since then Sinclair’s behaviors totally changed. He becomes a good student and never touched alcohol anymore.
Sinclair makes a painting of Beatrice yet during its making process the painting gradually changes. It resembles an image of God, half male, half female. Later Sinclair realizes it is a portrait of Demian. Then gradually he begins to sense that “this was neither Beatrice nor Demian but myself. Not that the picture resembled me-I did no feel that it should-but it was determined my life, it was my inner self, my fate or my daemon” (p.86).
The painting is a reflection of his Anima. To Sinclair Beatrice plays important role in finding Anima. She functions as a catalyst to trigger the healing forces within Sinclair.
conversation with Demian. He remembers Demian’s says concerning the journey which everyone must undergo to discover themselves “the life of a hedonist is the best preparation for becoming a mystic.”(p.88) Sinclair realizes what Demian has said is happens to him.
“And what he had said on our last and quite disagreeable meeting about wasted life leading t sainthood suddenly also stood clearly before me. Wasn’t that exactly what had happened to me? Hadn’t I lived in drunkenness and squalor, dazed and lost, until just the opposite had come alive in me with a new zest for life, the longing for purity, the yearning for the sacred?”(p.89)
Sinclair also recalls Demian’s interest on the carved figure of bird I the entrance to his house. He paints the bird based on his memory. The finished painting shows a sparrow hawk with “half its body stuck in some dark globe out of which it was struggling to free itself as though a giant egg—all of this against a sky-blue background.”(91)
Sinclair sends this painting to Demian. After some time, Sinclair finds a note placed in his book. It said,” the bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. The God’s name is Abraxas.” (94).
It is for the first time Sinclair hear the name of Abraxas. From his teacher he learns that Abraxas is the name of God of Gnostic belief. It is said that Abraxas is the God that both good and evil, the God that uniting the Dark and the Light. Sinclair is amazed because this is the God he has looking for though he doesn’t know the name.
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journey he will be reborn and destroy the world of false polarities. Abraxas becomes Sinclair’s ideal and functions as the chief symbol of totality; a symbol of the realm beyond good and evil.
Then Sinclair meets Pistorius, a church organist. He teaches everything Sinclair needs to know to complete his journey.
“Pistorius, who was himself a full-grown eccentric, taught me to maintain my courage and self-respect. By always finding something value in what I said, in my dreams, my fantasies and thoughts, by never making light of them, always giving them serious consideration, he become my model.” (112)
Pistorius said that “if you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What is not part of ourselves does not disturb us” (116). So Sinclair learns more to understand the self within him and learns to take himself just the way he is because by accepting yourself wholly, then you can accept the world around you.
Sinclair realized that the time is come for Pistorius and him to end their journey. Pistorius is no longer able to walk with him along his journey since he has not overcome his own problem.
“Suddenly I realized deeply within me: what Pistorius had been and given to me was precisely what he could not be and give to himself. He had led me along a path that would transcend and leave even him, the leader, behind.”(p.129)
3. Individuation
daemon. It is shocking to know that the daemon does exist. Her name is Frau Eva and she is Demian’s mother.
Sinclair now realizes that “Each man has his ‘function’ which he can choose himself, define, or perform as he pleases.” (131) and he sees that “An enlightened man had but one duty- to seek the way to himself, to reach inner certainty, to grope his way forward, no matter where it led.” (131)
Frau Eva introduces Sinclair to a group of people who make up an intimate circle. All of them share the belief of the rebirth of the individual. For the first time in his life Sinclair can share his thoughts and feeling to others and discuss it as a group. .“I, who had been isolated for so long, learned about the companionship which is possible between people who have tasted complete loneliness.” (p.140) they share same idea “For us, humanity was a distant goal toward which all men were moving, whose image no one knew, whose laws were nowhere written down.” (P.149)
During summer, Sinclair lives the fulfillment of his dream, peaceful and relaxed. His love to Frau Eva is no more consumes him. Frau Eva as his daemon has unites all of his archetypes. She teaches him to love his life and Sinclair is prepared to enter the society with a new understanding.
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in a long hall, bedded down on the floor. I felt I had reached the destination which had summoned me.” (170) He met Demian that was laying next to him. Dying, he tells Sinclair that whenever he needs him all he has to do is “listen within yourself, then you will notice that I am within you.” (171) Finally Sinclair unites with Demian. Demian opens the door that leads to Sinclair’s inner self. From now on Sinclair lives in his individuation.
Sinclair is wounded in the war, yet the wound is not the only one that hurt. “Everything that has happened to me since has hurt.”(171). The pain comes from the realization of his journey’s end. He is back in the real world. He understands now how he must react to his own inner feelings and therefore, he does not need a mediator to interpret them for him. As Sinclair says in prologue “I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me” (2).
B. The Revelation of Sinclair’s Individuation
unconscious level. In his journey of revealing individuation Sinclair is alienated from his surrounding. Sinclair’s struggle in finding his true self in alienation is illustrated in the next three chapters. Chapter four “Beatrice” introduces the readers to Sinclair’s friends who assist him on his journey. Chapter five “The Bird Fights it’s Way Out of the Egg” and chapter six “Jacob’s Struggling” tell about Emil’s struggle with himself to find his true self. In this three chapters Sinclair is alienated, alone, and fights to overcome his inner turmoil.
The final two chapters are about Sinclair’s return from alienation with new self-understanding. Sinclair reaches his individuation. Sinclair reunites with Demian and meets his mother Frau Eva with whom he falls in love with in the seventh chapter “Eva”. The Final chapter “the End Begins” brings Sinclair’s journey to a conclusion, the individuation. Sinclair is no longer an innocent youth. He understands the pattern of life and gains a higher level of awareness. Sinclair knows that the justification for his life and everybody else lies within each individual and not in the external world, as he says, “I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me.” (p. 2)
1. Revelation of Shadow
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Sometimes Sinclair plays with his classmates, the Mayor’s son and the forester’s son in order to please his parents because “though they were quite unruly, they were both members of the good, legal world.” (p. 9).
Sinclair likes to play with the boys from public school because to him it is an adventure to the other world, the world of the commoners, the world to which he not suppose to enter because of his status. Though Sinclair is not allowed to play with the boys from public school especially one like Franz Kromer, a son of a drunken tailor, yet sitting and talking with those boys is more fun than playing with the boys from Latin school.
One day when Sinclair plays with his public school friends, Franz Kromer comes and joins them. They start “boasting and heaping praise on themselves for all sorts of schoolboy heroics and tricks they had played” (10). Afraid that Franz Kromer will notice his silence, Sinclair invents a story of how he stole some apples from a garden near the mill. Franz Kromer questions the truth of the story and Sinclair swears by his father that it is true. Franz Kromer walks him home and tells him that he knows the garden’s owner will reward him two Marks for reporting who the thieves are. Franz Kromer blackmails Sinclair two Marks for his silence.
Sinclair is unable to confess to his parents; therefore he steals from them to pay off Franz Kromer though the amount is never enough. Now he has a secret that makes him different from his family, a secret that makes him the member of dark world and somehow it creates an unforeseen and unexpected feeling “I felt superior to my father…it was odious and hostile feeling, but it was strong and deeply attractive, and shackled me more than anything else to my secret and my guilt.”(17).
Even so, Sinclair is still his father’s son. Though they are different now, he really wants ask him forgiveness “but one cannot apologize from something fundamental, and a child feels and knows this as well and as deeply as any age.” (18).
The split between Sinclair and his parents grows until he feels like a stranger in his own house “amid the ordered place of our house, I lived shyly, in agony, like a ghost; I took no part in the life of the others, rarely forgot myself for an hour at a time.”(p. 25).
Sinclair now lives in the dark realm, the world where his family never belongs to for all their lives. Sinclair for he first time recognize his Shadow, “For the first time in my life I tasted death, and death tasted bitter, for death is birth, is fear and dread of some terrible renewal.” (p. 18) and it brings him to the new world.
The important of this episode is that it depicts the beginning of the journey to Sinclair. He begins to suffer from a tortured psyche
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and I was forced to feel how I was being shackled and held fast with new roots to the outside, to the dark and alien world” (p. 18)
Sinclair is in despair as he says, “my condition at that time was a kind of madness.”(p. 25). Then he meets his savior, Demian, in school. Demian, though several years older than Sinclair, develops a friendship with Sinclair, which is makes Sinclair proud because Demian is special boy, “In contrast to us, he seemed strange and mature, like a man, or rather like gentleman…his firm, self-confident tone toward the teachers won the admiration of the students.” (p. 26). This is the deepest impression Sinclair has when they share the same class for the first time learning the story of Cain and Abel:
“I kept glancing toward Demian whose face held a peculiar fascination for me, I observed the intelligent, light, unusually resolute face bent attentively and diligently over his work; he didn’t at all look like a student doing an assignment, but rather like a scientist investigating a problem of his own…his eyes gave him an adult expression-which children never like- faintly sad, with flashes of sarcasm…When I think back on it today, I can only say that he was entirely himself, with a personality all his own which made him noticeable; his manner and bearing was that of a prince disguised among farm boys, taking great pains to appear one of them.”(p. 27).
Demian, through his observation of Sinclair and his ability to read people’s mind, finds the core of Sinclair’s problem and mysteriously frees him from Franz Kromer. Since then, Sinclair and Demian are bound to each other though Sinclair refuses to admit the bound on their early years of friendship.
He begins to suffer from dreams of torture as he did when he was under Franz Kromer’s domination. His unconscious psyche starts calling him to begin his journey to individuation. Yet Sinclair denies the call since he realizes that he “had tried to pass through the labyrinth of the world but the way had proven too intricate for me” (p. 46).
He attempts to return to the protection of his family and pretends that everything was as before, “I retreated, went straight to my mother’s lap and the security of a pious, sheltered childhood…I had to replace my dependence on Kromer with a new one, for I was unable to walk alone. So, in the blindness of my heart, I choose to be dependent on my father and mother.” (p. 46).
So now Sinclair enters the phase of infantile regression for he denies the journey that is fated for him. As any other person who is in this phase, Sinclair remains to his mother. Therefore the life he should have lived manifest it self in conscious and unconscious fantasies. Sinclair now has been “unable to distinguish between what he experienced in dreams and real life” (p. 28). Sinclair’s unconscious mind starts taking control. His unconscious mind prepares him to know Persona, the second archetype.
2. Revelation of Persona
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conscious psyche than to unconscious psyche, because what he really wants to do is confesses to Demian and tells him everything about Kromer.
The presence of Persona becomes clearer when Sinclair enters puberty. He has to repress every feeling that dealing with sexuality because according to his parents it is sinful and forbidden. Puberty affects everything including dreams, physical appearance and the way of thinking. Still Sinclair’s parents treat him as a child.
I led the double life of a child who is no longer a child. My conscious self lived within the familiar and sanctioned world; it denied the new world that dawned with me. Side by side with this I lived in a world of dreams, drives, and desires of a chthonic nature, across which my conscious self desperately built its fragile bridges, for the childhood world within me was falling apart.” (p. 49).
Living in despair, once again Demian saves him. They meet in the confirmation class. Slowly Demian teaches Sinclair to deal with his Persona. He makes Sinclair believes in him so that Sinclair is willing to shares his secrets with Demian.
One shocking moment yet beautiful that makes Sinclair’s Persona fades away is that Sinclair sees Demian in a trance by his own willing during the class.
“He sat there completely motionless, not even seeming to breathe; his mouth might have been carved from wood or stone. His face was pale like a stone, and his brown hair was the part of him that seemed closest to being alive…the real Demian looked like this, as primeval, animal, marble, beautiful and cold, dead yet secretly filled with fabulous life.”(p. 67).
3. Revelation of Anima
During his gloomy days Sinclair is sent to a preparatory school in other city. Living in a boarding house doesn’t help Sinclair in his attempt to find and to understand his fate: the true Self. Sinclair knows that he has to live his life on his own way though it will make his parents and the teachers disappointed. His classmates and the boys in the boarding house make fun of him. He ignores them because he thinks he doesn’t need people who don’t understand him. His Persona is already blending together with his Shadow and its result is the gloomy Sinclair.
A year passes by before he meets Alfonso Beck, the oldest boy in the boarding house, in a park. Beck greets Sinclair and ask Sinclair to join him have a drink in a bar. His talk with Beck opens his eyes and mind about the reality, “the fire of enthusiasm flared up within me.”(p. 72) for the first time in a year someone listens to Sinclair and calls him “one hell of a fellow” (p. 72). After drinking too much alcohol Sinclair becomes drunk for the first time.
That night he dreams about his parents and Demian. He feels alone when he wakes up and he can’t take it no more. Sinclair begins to associate with a group of young radicals and becomes their leader. He drunks every night and this affects his behavior at school. His behavior becomes worse s he is placed on probation and his expulsion is just a matter of time.
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expulsion waits for him when he goes back to school.
On the first school day in the same park he meets Beck, he sees Beatrice. This meeting leaves a deep impact on Sinclair though he never talks to her.
Everything dark and hateful was to be banished, there were to be no more tortured nights, no lust. In place of all this I raised my altar to the image of Beatrice, and by consecrating myself to her I consecrated my self to the spirit and to the gods, sacrificing that part of life which I withdrew from the forces of darkness to those of light. My goal was not joy but purity, not happiness but beauty, and spiritually.”(p.82)
Sinclair’s behavior changes almost immediately. He doesn’t visit bars anymore, he stays clear from alcohol, his grades become better and he enjoys the time alone again. His behavior becomes serious and dignified. This is his way of worshipping Beatrice. Sinclair also makes a painting in effort to portray Beatrice as the image he remembers, “She was tall ad slender, elegantly dressed, and had an intelligent and boyish face. She probably was not much older than I but seemed far more mature well-defined, with a touch of boyishness in her face, and this was what I liked above all.” (p. 80) Hints of boyishness, well-defined and mature indicate that what Sinclair sees is actually a reflection of himself, a reflection of his feminine side called Anima that part of his unconscious psyche. His Anima functions as a “healer”.
When Sinclair seems like loosing control and endangered himself as almost to be expelled from school, the Anima appears and put Sinclair back to the right track. The Anima helps Sinclair deals with his neighborhood. His family and the teachers are happy because Sinclair becomes a good student and a good boy. Sinclair does this not to please them instead he wants to do so.
painting of Beatrice. When it is done, the painting doesn’t look like her. It indicates that the Anima’s task is over. The Anima combines with the masculine side transforming into one enlighten individual. This process illustrated in the painting. It begins as a portrait of Beatrice but transforms to Demian and eventually becomes Sinclair as he says,” I began to sense that this was neither Beatrice nor Demian but myself. Not that the picture resembled me- I did not feel that it should- but it was what determined my life, it was my inner self, my fate or my daemon.”(p. 86)
Since the role of Beatrice is over, Sinclair’s feeling towards her fade away,” I often caught sight of the girl I called Beatrice but I felt no emotion during this encounters, only a gentle harmony, a presentiment: you and I are linked, but not you, only your picture; you are part of my fate.”(p. 86)
4. Revelation of Wise Man
Years pass by since Beatrice period and Sinclair is to leave preparatory school and enters university. Though now Sinclair can get along with his school life, his soul is still restless. There is a voice within him that keeps calling him to continue the quest. But the quest is difficult and the thought that the quest will lead to uncertainty hesitates Sinclair,
“Perhaps I would have to continue my search for years on end and would not become anything, and would not reach a goal. Perhaps I would reach this goal but it would turn out to be an evil, dangerous, horrible one?” (p. 99).
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memory of his last meeting with Demian, the words Demian said to him when he was drunk from one night to another, “My dear Sinclair, it is good to realize that within us there is someone who knows everything, wills everything, does everything better than ourselves”(p. 88).These words encourage Sinclair to continue the quest. Demian tells him that there is a guidance within everyone that will lead them to find what they are looking for.
Sinclair journey brings him to Pistorius, an organist. Soon they become friends and Pistorius teaches Sinclair about individuation, Abraxas, and the importance of dreams. Pistorius is Sinclair’s Wise Man. It is from Pistorius Sinclair learns that individuation is a heritage from the ancestral that every human being inherit. But only few who willing to look deep within and follow the voice they hear to find individuation. And since the quest is hard and painful only fewer who can keep up till the end and find the individuation. Each quest is different from one person to another. As Pistorius says to Sinclair, “you can’t compare yourself with the others: if Nature has made you a bat, you shouldn’t try to be an ostrich” (p.113)
Pistorius prepares Sinclair so that he will be ready for the next level of the quest. This is his task as Sinclair’s Wise Man.
“Pistorius thought me to maintain my courage and self-respect. By always finding something of value in what I said, in my dreams, my fantasies, and thoughts, by never making light of them, always giving them serious consideration. He became my model” (p. 112).
