Fourth Reading Response *SPOILER*

         I interpreted the ending of this book as having two resolutions.  The first one being that Harry went to a masked ball, not only because Hermine told him to, but because he wanted to.  Throughout the entire book, and as I have mentioned in the other reading responses, Harry has hated the whole concept of dancing.  Even during his 'training' from Hermine he was reluctant to participate, and deep down, only did it in fear of himself committing suicide.  This is a huge event in Harry's life where he can honestly say that he enjoys dancing.  No matter what happens next, Harry has gone through a life-changing experience and has come out a more well-rounded man.  The tone of this section is very soothing due to the magnificent description of Harry's love for dance.  However a second resolution seems imminent because, despite still forty pages left, Harry's metaphoric immortality issue has not been resolved.
         Harry's will to be a part of the immortals is of much more personal importance for Harry.  Through a series of related out-of-world experiences, which were implicitly  drug-induced hallucinations, Harry goes through a very powerful rite of passage.  Just like he promised to Hermine, Harry killed her.  What was strange and very clever was the trap that many of the readers, including I, probably fell into, was the false implication that by killing Hermine Harry would become an immortal.  It is later explained by Mozart in the hallucination, that the exact contrary was true.  Harry took life too seriously and a true immortal would not have killed her.  What Harry didn't realize until the very end was that when Hermine was teaching him to dance, it only superficial.  She was actually training him to not care about the bourgeois, or about anything in general.  Harry killing Hermine was the final lesson for him; to show him that he needs to stop taking life with such extreme seriousness, and also to show how impossible is was for him to become immortal before.  So from the point when Harry met Hermine until the final meeting with Mozart, he was being prepared for the door to immortality to be opened.  Whether or not Harry decides walks through the door, is up to the audience.
         There are a multitude of themes used throughout the novel, but in my opinion, the main one is the concept of immortality.  Harry's explicit definition is one "who belongs to a reality which is timeless".  Examples are Mozart, Goethe, Hermine (we later discover), and a secondary character Pablo.  One thing that all immortals have in common is their grand sense of humour of the world, and not taking anything too seriously.  I believe that Harry's misconception was that to be remembered was to be immortal and vice-versa.  But when Mozart was writing his music, or Goethe was writing his poetry, they had no intention of being famous.  They did it for the love of it.  As a sort of proof of my theory, Hermine didn't have a special gift or anything to be famous for, yet she was still immortal.

Third Reading Response

         Halfway through the book, there is another change in tone.  Harry is about to kill himself but after meeting Hermine, his bourgeois counter-part, he willingly and blissfully becomes a slave to her.  She slowly teaches Harry the pleasures of the bourgeoisie lifestyle; primarily dancing.  This tone is lighter and makes the reader want to continue, especially since the last hundred pages where about Harry hating the world and wanting to commit suicide.
         This lighter approach is only a mask for an alarming amount of conflict.  As Hermine teaches Harry to dance, a great sense of hypocrisy arises in Harry.  All of Harry's thinking life he has hated the bourgeois and now all of a sudden he is thick within it...and enjoying it.  He doesn't stop this guilty pleasure because he knows if he does he will kill himself.  The fear of death, before reaching his desired immortality, is also stopping him.  All the while, even as Harry begins to enjoy dancing, he mentions that this happiness is only temporary and he is eventually doomed to a life of depression, which I interpret as foreshadowing for the ever approaching climax.  A much more explicit proof of foreshadowing is when Hermine makes a deal with Harry: "I will save your life, teach you to live, and you will fall in love with me...but in return I want you to kill me".
         I must take a minute to admire the writing.  Hesse has written a point of view that the reader may not have not experienced before, let alone the reader at the time the book was written.  In my opinion this book, especially at this point in the novel is a huge eye opener, and an overall reminder to keep my mind open to all sorts of ideas.  Society itself is just a consensual reality of life, it is not by any means the right reality, or better yet, that there is a right reality at all.  Harry's outside view of society, his disconnection to the 'system', is extremely interesting.

Second Reading Response

         Just a few pages past the end of the prologue the tone completely changes from a relatively calm one to a much more sadistic and depressing one.  As the reader reads on they discover that Harry's main problem with life, is one and the same as the reason he calls himself the Steppenwolf.  I won't discuss the explanation in full because I encourage you to read the book.  The gist is that he feels he will never be an immortal (metaphoric) like Mozart or Goethe because he cannot be at ease with himself.  In his mind, he has two souls; one of a man and one of a wolf of the Steppes.  Anything that one part likes, the other repels with disgust.  Consequently he is in constant conflict with the ''bourgeois' world he lives in.  Part of him that is the man loves the bourgeoisie lifestyle, but the wolf part condemns it as stupid and dispensable.  However at the same time he believes that a prerequisite to immortality is to not care, and just laugh at everything as well as disposing of all contradictions.  As you can see, the tone of this section of the book is extremely dark and morbid.  For me, although the ideas were definitely interesting it was a struggle to get past the numerable somber subjects, especially the topic of that he will be the taker of his own life.
          The idea of the people in which he calls bourgeoisie has struck me as fascinating and perhaps truthful as well.  When Harry talks about the bourgeois he doesn't mean the Karl Marx definition of the "upper-class and wealthy", but rather anyone who lives just for momentary pleasure, hence he calls them 'pleasure-seekers'.  He talks about them as thoughtless drones who just wander through life looking for simple and unintellectual pleasures (his prime example being dancing).  What was interesting to me, was the possible application of this to modern times.  I would agree that there definitely is a substantial demographic that fits that profile; perhaps not as enthusiastic as Harry describes, but nonetheless present.  I would even go so far as to say that I, and perhaps the majority of you reading this, are in this demographic ranging from the full enthusiast to the more reluctant participant.  On a side note, I am curious to know if it is possible for adolescents in general, to not be bourgeois due to the numerous hormones and other such things compelling us to act as we do, or perhaps I am being too stereotypical.

First Reading Response

         After reading the first twenty-two pages of this book, I was captured by it.  The beginning pages are written in journal form, not from the view of Harry Haller (the Steppenwolf), but rather from the view of an adolescent who is the son of the owner of the boarding house where Harry stays throughout the book.  The young adult talks about Harry as some sort of extreme character, and even metaphorically calls him an alien from an alien world.  At first he dislikes Harry but as the prologue continues we learn more about Harry from the teenager's view.  I find this a very smart move by Hesse because before the audience even gets into the main story (which is written in journal-form as well), they have already gotten a feel for not just the setting, but also how a 'regular' person would view Harry, which I am assuming the majority of the readers can relate to. This made the contrast between an outsider's opinion of Harry and the reality of Harry more dramatic than what readers might have experienced, without the prologue.  Consequently, after hearing the many opinions of what the adolecnesent thought of Harry, first with hatred then admiration, the reader is now eager to see what the real Harry is like.  They want to know if he is similar to what the teenager thought of him or not.  The prologue acts as a reality check, to settle a ground base for the readers and in hindsight it was a very good choice of writing.