FREE ESSAY ON HERMAN HESSE

HERMAN HESSE

Herman Hesse is one of the world's most necessary writers. Until winning the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1946, however, he was virtually unknown outside of German speaking
countries. Since then he has been an icon for the young every where because of his
ability to communicate the same struggles that many aspiring students face. Many of his
characters (often sharing his initials, i.e. Harry Haller of Steppenwolf) struggle within
a world that seeks to extinguish individual creativity.
Born in 1877 to a Protestant family in southern Germany, Hesse from the beginning was a
square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Perhaps it should be noted that his goal was
to be a well-rounded person, finding it difficult to fit into the square confines of his
culture. According to biographies, Hesse admits that he was adamant about becoming a poet
from an early age- twelve to be exact. While at school, he discovered that curriculums at
home and abroad are not designed to nurture poets the same way they are for more
practical professions such as doctors and scientists. In fact, one of the earliest of his
works, Beneath the Wheel , depicts his own rebellion against such a system, which he sees
as lethal to the soul that does not yield.
At the age of seventeen, frustrated with life, he ran away and after brief encounters
with local police, landed a job as a bookkeeper's apprentice. Hesse spent four years
struggling to remain focused, and eventually began to be published. After brief success
with short stories and poetry, he married a woman and fathered three children, but became
even more discontent with his place in life. In 1911, this sparked his journey to a place
that always held great mystery and intrigue to him- India. Forever a believer in the
ancient wisdom of the East, Hesse sought answers to his own life, which are often
reflected in his works. The Orient had always represented an ideal in his mind, and his
time spent there gave birth to one of his most noteworthy achievements, the short novel,
Sidhartha.
Among Herman Hesse's other famous novels are Demian, Steppenwolf and Narcissus and
Goldmund. Like the title character in Sidhartha, the characters of his works center
around people who do not readily fit into society and their struggle to define themselves
and the world around them.
As noted previously, Sidhartha is the result of an extended visit to India where Hesse
sought piece of mind he believed could only be found in Eastern traditions. Many of his
characters also seek spiritual resolution to the problems that they face. These problems
usually are the result of being free thinkers or more importantly having the ability to
think outside the confines that their society imposes especially conformity. Conformity
in learning was Hesse's main qualm, upset with the way "learning" was actually the
memorization of facts or gaining the ability to think as the "teacher" thought.
While the traditional story of the Buddha is about the nobleman, Sidhartha, who rejects
material possessions after being denied the experience of suffering from his family,
Hesse's take on the story has been noted as being a more western-accessible version.
Hesse's Sidhartha seeks the original Bodhisatva (Buddha) and other spiritual teachers of
India. The original story finds Sidhartha actually becoming the first to be enlightened
and named Buddha. This is interesting because of the ability of Hinduism (the birth place
of Buddhism) to remain idle, and not center around any historical events; allowing the
altering the format of it's written teachings without losing the impact of their meaning
or depth. 
Besides the author's internal struggles, another factor to consider in the writing of
Sidhartha was turmoil in the rest of the world. Sidhartha was conceived in the chaotic
years preceding World War I, and this period of tension due to history making decisions
is exemplified by the story's theme of choosing the correct ethics in which to live by.
Eternally opposed to war, Hesse reflects the proverbial seeker as one who is overwhelmed
by the turbulence of the world and turns inwardly for the solution.
As mentioned previously, the themes from one of Hesse's novels is sure to be found in
another. Sidhartha is similar to Demian in this respect concerning the development of
spirit and primarily the quest for truth. Both Sidhartha and Demain find their main
characters discovering that truth "cannot be obtained from teachers, but only personal
experience. (Anslem, p.358)"
Sidhartha has a common thread with Narcissus and Goldmund as well. In both stories, the
main character has a life long companion who shares interest in the quest for absolute
truth and understanding. In both journeys, the two separate and reunite often, each
taking a different approach to enlightenment. Here Hesse is able to present the spectra
of choices to spiritual development at different times of the character's experience
while avoiding judgement or losing focus of the ultimate goal. The two go through
nobility and poverty and back again (similar to Greek tragedy) without achieving an
all-encompassing truth.
Sidhartha, the well off son of a Brahmin (the highest class in Indian society), is not
satisfied with his life at home. He lacks the faith in traditional rituals and only
concentrates on the ever widening gap between Dogma and reality. He seeks to deny
physical and material wealth and dedicates himself to the monistic lifestyle of a Samana.
This only brings him " a flight from self, a temporary palliative against the pain and
folly of life...(Beerman, p.200)".
Hearing that there is one who exists with knowledge of everything, he seeks Guatama- the
Buddha. He travels with the Buddha although he remains doubtful he will find it to be his
final destination.
The Buddha does satisfy his logical needs, but leaves him longing for metaphysical
relief. He recognizes Buddha's experience as more profound than any other, but does not
accept it as his own, and searches for his own personal awakening.
It is then he realizes that he has been searching for a way to change his being instead
of unifying it with his spirit, where upon he returns to his sensual characteristics. He
spends a great deal of time in his old world of excess and eventually becomes disgusted
with it again and wanderlust sets in once more. On the verge of suicide he remembers the
Brahmin teachings of his youth. Reflecting on the invincibility of the life essence and
the divinity all around him he begins to understand that love and devotion is the only
thing that can save him from himself. His new belief is "to have one's heart absorbed in
love brings us to unity with all creatures and unravels the mystery of the universe
(Beerman, p 200)".
While he has achieved this piece of mind, he lacks perfection. At this time he discovers
he has a son born from his years of sensual abundance. His imperfection has a chance of
erasing itself, but his one-sided and focused love drives his son away, causing Sidhartha
the highest suffering. Through this loss he is able to find absolute love and perfection
and most importantly peace in the world.
He no longer saw his friend Sidhartha. Instead he saw other faces, many faces, a long
series, a continuous stream of faces-hundreds, thousands, which all came and disappeared
and yet all seemed to be there at the same time, which all continually changed and
renewed themselves and which were yet all Sidhartha. He saw the face of a fish, of a
carp, with tremendous painfully opened mouth, a dying fish with dimmed eyes. He saw the
face a newly born child, red and full of wrinkles and ready to cry. He saw the face of a
murderer, saw him plunge a knife into the body of a man; at the same moment he saw this
criminal kneeling down, bound, and his head cut off by an executioner. He saw the naked
bodies of men and women in the postures and transports of passionate love. He saw corpses
stretched out, still, cold, empty. He saw the heads of animals-boars, crocodiles,
elephants, oxen, birds. He saw Krishna and Agni. He saw all these forms and faces in a
thousand relationships to each other, all helping each other, loving, hating, and
destroying each other and become newly born. Each one was mortal, a passionate, painful
example of all that is transitory. Yet none of them died, they only changed, were always
reborn, continually had a new face...
This is an excellent passage to illustrate the ultimate understanding that many of
Hesse's characters achieve. Sidhartha, himself, finds the world and the spirit unending
and forever in change, and with this knowledge he is able to accept things the way they
simply are. The faces that Govinda sees before he passes away represent the different
stages, whether symbolically or literally, that he has seen his friend undergo in his
life. It is my belief that these faces represent the "Everyman" concept and that
eventually it shall be the way that many of us view the world after enough experience
with it.
It is widely accepted among critics of Hesse that his meaningfulness among young people
is largely due to his ability to show them the way they view the world and the way they
will soon come to view the world without being patronizing about it. Hesse also lacks the
forcefulness that many other writers tend to have in regards to his message. Rudolf
Koester writes, " Hesse's 'individual' has no desire to impose his will on others. These
individuals do not contribute to human betterment...by using humanity as raw material for
their autonomous wills, but they contribute by their mere existence...
(p. 205)."
Hesse counsels against the common ideals and standards of achievement. Because each of
our destinies is unique, there can be no one way of being gauged by another's. He felt
that one should be subjective when deciding the worth of an individual and their
potential.
In conclusion, I will quote Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. with his ideas of why even today the youth
of America have such an affinity for his work, " Hesse is no black humorist. Black
humorists' holy wanderers find nothing but junk and lies and idiocy wherever they go...
Not so with the wanderers of Hesse; they always find something satisfying- holiness,
wisdom, hope (p. 209)." It is a great accomplishment to capture the spirit of the young
seekers of truth and knowledge in a tumultuous world, it is an even greater
accomplishment to present with a fair and optimistic conclusion.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Felix Anslem, "Herman Hesse" in Poet Lore (copyright 1947 by Poet Lore, Inc) Vol. LIII,
No. 4, Winter, 1947, pp. 353-60
Hans Beerman, "Herman Hesse & The 'Bhagavad Gita'" in Midwest Quarterly (copyright 1959
by Midwest Quarterly, Pittsburgh State University) Vol. I, No.1, October pp. 27-40
Herman Hesse, "Sidhartha", Copyright 1951 by New Directions Publishing Corporation, New
York, New York.
Rudolf Koester, "Self-Realization: Hesse's Reflections on Youth" in Monashefte (copyright
1965 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System). Vol. 57, No.4,
April-May, 1965. Pp. 181-86 
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "Why They Read Hesse" Wampeters Foma &Granfallons (copyright 1974:
reprinted with permission of Delecorte Press/Seymour Lawrence). Delacorte Press, 1974.
Pp. 107-115