Talking to the Man in the Mirror: Understanding and Controlling the Multifaceted Self

Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolfpits Henry Haller’s two senses of self against each other: the self preserved by the duality between man and wolf and the self made up of a ‘garden’ of a thousand selves. The immortals, desperate for Haller to recognize the delusion of a simple two-fold self, lead him to the magic theater, where he sees himself in several different mirrors (and rooms which mirror his desires). Yet even as Harry comes face-to-face with compelling reflections that present a more complicated self than just that of man and wolf, he stubbornly clings to the dual-nature narrative, ultimately ‘failing’ the test of the magic theater. The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan sees the mirror as a gateway to the self, an integral stage in the formation of a child’s identity. Nietzsche, in turn, believes that the spirit undergoes three metamorphoses before the child can utilize its self to “will its ownwill” (Nietzsche 141). The ‘Treatise on the Steppenwolf’ foretold that Haller “is aware of the existence of that mirror in which he has such a bitter need to look and from which he shrinks in such deathly fear,” revealing that Haller senses that he is more than just a wolf of the Steppes, but is also afraid of what he will encounter if he thoroughly explores his ‘garden’ of selves (Hesse 56). The mirrors and rooms within the magic theater present images which force Haller to go down a path that leads to a confrontation with his true self. Carl Jung would further argue that each reflection Haller sees represents a different ‘imago’ of his collective unconscious, each of which he must either discard or integrate into his personality. In Steppenwolf, Hesse holds a mirror up to mankind to reflect a deep-seeded temptation to latch onto over simplistic narratives of the self, indulging a child-like desire to shy away from the parts of the self that instill fear and stall the progression towards individuality. [Read more…]

Industrialization and the Conformist Man

The arrival of industrialization was without a doubt a clear turning point for mankind, in terms of technological development and in terms of the way mass society subsequently leads everyday life. For Tolstoy, industrialization in Russia came not as an advancement, but a danger to mankind. In The Death of lvan Ilyich, Tolstoy argues through numerous literary devices that modem society lacks an individuality and compassion it once had. The “everyman” character and superficial bourgeois highlighted by Tolstoy’s dispassionate writing style reflect his discontentment with materialistic, post-Industrial Revolution society and the threat it poses to individuality and true sentiment.

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Ivan Ilyich Essay by IC

Existentialism PBA by RW