Demian

Demian Questions

Demian is the story of a boy, Emil Sinclair, and his search for himself. Emil was raised in a good traditional home at the turn of the century in the nation of Germany. His family is very wealthy and they have a reputation as a principled, religious family. As a boy, Sinclair views the world within the walls of his home as representing all that is good, pure, and innocent. But starting at a young age, he feels an inner conflict between his own little world, the "world of light," and the outside world, or "forbidden realm" which represents sin and loneliness. Even though his mother, father, and two sisters remain within the "world of light", he constantly feels attracted to the outside realm. He ends up feeling uncertain between both of his little worlds, and not belonging to either one of them. Within these two realms that Sinclair experienced, one can think of applying the idea of two realms to one's own life. In my own life, within realms that I may have experienced, I understood the value system that my parents taught to me to be very different from the value system that I acquired while I was growing up.

My parents taught me values that stressed to be in accordance with my culture. I was taught that girls were responsible for the cooking and cleaning within the household and the boys had the freedom to go out if they pleased, which created a double standard. My parents taught me that the values of a girl are very different from the values of a boy. While I was growing up, I experienced many changes within me that allowed me to change some of the values that I was taught. For example, I learned the value of equality between boys and girls. I learned that men have a good amount of responsibilities just as women do. I learned this while growing up and living on my own. I noticed that in some other cultures, men are not always seen as the dominant one. This realization allowed me to have better relationships with men. I think that this realization that I had, along with many other instances where I changed some of my values, was my own way of breaking free from the traditions that I was bound by. I never thought of myself as going against my parents by being negative, but instead being introduced to a whole new "realm." I think that today, my parents would view my changed thinking as me being "Americanized." I think that my parents would think that since I am living on my own, I am being influenced in a way where I am being taken away from the values of my traditional culture.

I think that the changes that I experienced within my life created uniqueness in me that I accommodated to. I think that my uniqueness very much includes my new values that I learned from my environment mixed with the traditional and cultural values that I learned from my parents. I think that it was my struggle between two worlds that I experienced while growing up. For example, in Demian, the struggle between Sinclair's two worlds is evident when Sinclair is about 10 years old. While playing one day with some fellow schoolmates, Franz Kromer, an older kid, joins them. In an effort to impress the older boy and his schoolmates, Sinclair makes up a story in which he and another accomplice stole a bag of apples from a fellow neighbor. Although the story is untrue, Kromer threatens Sinclair with exposure if Sinclair does not pay him off. Unable to