Jungian Psychology Analyze on Steppenwolf

In Steppenwolf, the author, Hermann Hesse, presents to us a central conflict inside the protagonist Harry Haller’s psyche, in which his humanity and his wolf-like solitude and belligerence split against each other in order to fortify its own existence, (thereby, referring to himself as the lone wolf of the Steppe). Largely influenced by prominent Carl Jung’s psychoanalysis, Hesse portrays the whole spiritual crisis as a struggle amidst distinct modes of behaviors and partial consciousness, or the so-called “archetypes” in Jungian Psychology. Archetypes, which may either interfere or harmonize with one another, are most explicitly forged into characters and scenes of the Magic Theater he enters, a fantasized stage that is set to reflect the mentality of the Steppenwolf himself. According to Jung, one should be able to assemble as many diversified archetypes as possible so to be a more complete person spiritually; Harry Haller, through his experience in the theater, explores new archetypes that lie beyond his past psychological limitations. Particularly in the scene of “Jolly Hunting: Great Hunt in Automobiles,” which happened in one separated room along the horseshoe-shaped corridor, the conflict between Haller’s various archetypes is most vividly animated through dramatization, evoking his subconscious anticipations of the disparate personalities to be encountered within himself. At the meantime, the experience of “Jolly Hunting” brings Harry Haller to his ultimate realization of his self-imposed limitations of a mere dual-faced psyche between “man and wolf” and allows him to expand and individuate other undiscovered subconscious complexes into his own personalities.

As a central character of the “Jolly Hunting” Scene, Haller’s ch...

... middle of paper ...

...xle Way himself, he has explored various archetypes that had been previously hidden in his sub-consciousness. This fascinating experience of “Jolly Hunting” teaches him to realize the multiplicity of the numerous souls and distinct selfs that he consists of and to accept them as inseparable parts of himself. Such essential revelation allows the Harry Haller to thus advance towards further realizations of his own mentality. As delineated in other scenes of the Magical Theater, The Steppenwolf uncovers the infinite possibilities of himself as a unification of which his divergent archetypes can together formulate. Distinct particles of a soul that builds into relationships and entanglements, groupings and attractions between any combinations of personalities, archetypes that individuate in seemingly random orders—that is the beauty of life, lying in each of human soul.