Humanities 100 class, book required:Demian by Hermann Hesse - Essay Example

Humanities 100 book required:"Demian" by Hermann Hesse First of all, Sinclair’s view on the world was limited within the influence of his parental guidance. To be specific, he was able to sense that his personal experience was entirely different from the value system put forth by his parents. For instance, Sinclair’s parents considered that worldly experience and related value system must help and individual to feel security. They did not encourage him to go beyond the limits of his private domain because they considered that the same is enough for a child to understand the world.

On the other side, a boy named as Kromer plays the most important role in Sinclair’s life because he forced him to go beyond the limits of parental guidance. Still, Kromer is portrayed as a mischievous character who unknowingly leads Sinclair towards the truth. This maybe a coincidence because Kromer’s real intention is still unknown to the readers. It is impossible to prove that Kromer’s sympathetic attitude towards Sinclair is the grass-root level reason behind his attitudinal change towards Sinclair.

But the guidance from his parents did not help Sinclair to feel that he is living in a real world. So, he decided to go beyond the limits of the world view provided by his parents. This is not unusual because traditional view of the world and related value system limits human thought on the possibility of spirituality beyond religious belief in general. As far as I am concerned, my parents provided a traditional value system. To be specific, my parents’ world view was limited within the sphere of their own belief system.

In the beginning, I was forced to believe that human beings must try to follow the traditional belief system and related values. Gradually, I came to know that all the values within the traditional belief are not applicable to all. For instance, staunch belief cannot help human beings to keep themselves away from poverty and related problems. Instead, human beings must try to assess the depth of the problems faced by them and must take some remedial measures to rectify the same. Hermann Hesse stated that, “Levels of awareness, then, determine Demian’s meaning and design” (n. pag). This helped me think that I must discover my values.

To be specific, I know that mere tradition view on the worldly affairs cannot help one to gain values. This change is related to my urge to keep myself away from parental guidance. But the only difference was that there was no ‘Kromer’ in my life to lead me towards my own value system. So, I decided to form my own value system related to my worldly experiences. Today, I have my own value system and this helps me to realize the importance of human life, beyond traditional value system related to parental guidance.

Still, it is difficult to prove that traditional view of the mortal world is entirely false because the same helped me to realize that one is responsible for one’s own deeds. Similar to Sinclair, I am able to view the world from a different angle because I know that spirituality is beyond religious belief. Works CitedHesse, Hermann. Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclairs Youth. New York: Penguin, 2013. Print.