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The Influences Of Genesis And The Gay Science Of Demian

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The Influence of Genesis and The Gay Science of Demian In Herman Hesse’ well-known bildungsroman, Demian, the novel contains connections to both the Bible and Nietzsche’s, The Gay Science. These influences are seen through Hesse’ discussion of “Two Worlds” and its similarity to Genesis; the mark of Cain and its connection to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and the preparation for World War 2 to Nietzsche’ concept of preparatory human beings. Hesse’ influence from the Bible is seen in chapter one, “Two Worlds”, through the similarity between Sinclair’ life and the Bible is the story of the Fall. Sinclair believes the world is divided into two, the world of light and the world of darkness, opposites of each other. The world of light being “love and strict rules, education and example” (Hesse 3) Whereas, the world of dark is comprised of, “beautiful, horrible, wild cruel things” (Hesse 4) Sinclair was born into the world of light, the Golden Age, paradise. However, as Sinclair grows he becomes more and more familiar with the world of dark, “whenever I turned my eye or ear the other world was always there.” (Hesse 4) As the story progresses, Sinclair meets Kramer who symbolizes the world of darkness. Out of fear, Kramer causes Sinclair to tell false stories claiming he had “stolen a whole sack of apples” (Hesse 7) What seems to be an innocent lie takes Sinclair down the unexpected path to the world of dark. Due to Sinclair’s lie he further commits more sins including, “committing

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