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.