Demian

Demian In every piece of literature there is always a sense of imagination. Now, that imagination can cause a variety of different scenarios. Some may say that the main character could look one way, but then another set of people can say that the main character looks entirely different. That’s also true with the “meaning” in some parts of the text. The only person who really knows the truth is the author, because the author obviously wrote the book. So it is up to our own imagination to determine what is, and what is not. This thought can also be applied to Demian by Hermann Hesse. Some say that Max Demian isn’t a physical reality, but only a figment of Emil Sinclair’s imagination, while others are stating that Max Demian is a physical reality. On the Oprah Winfrey Show, O, Oprah did a documentary with a girl named Jani. Jani has a horrible case of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia by definition is a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and by poor emotional responsiveness. Common symptoms include auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by a significant social or occupational dysfunction (“Schizophrenia”). Basically Jani was seeing various hallucinations since she was 5 (she is now 10). She would have nice hallucinations where they would be friendly, or bad hallucinations where they would want her to hurt her family members or even herself. At first Jani didn’t understand what was happening to her mentally, and she thought she was normal and that everyone could see her hallucinations, like “11 o’clock” who was a friendly cat. This is very relatable to Sinclair’s life because Demian was a hallucination to Sinclair, Sinclair just didn’t realize it. First off, Sinclair said, “For years I have been unable to distinguish between what I experienced in these dreams and in real life.” (Hesse 28*) That quote speaks for itself. Sinclair was unable to acknowledge what

Citations: Hesse, Hermann. Demian. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1989. 0-171. Print. Schofield, Jani. Personal Interview. 2009. "Schizophrenia." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia>. Fincher, David, dir. Fight Club. 1999. Film. 3 Jan 2013. <http://www.imdb.com/title/ tt0137523/>. (*) 2nd published copy of Demian by Hermann Hesse (**) 1st published copy of Demian by Hermann Hesse