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Full Title  Demian

Author  Hermann Hesse

Type of Work  Novel

Genre  Bildungsroman (a coming-of-age novel about education or moral development)

Language  German

Time and place written  1917, Switzerland

Date of First Publication  1919

Publisher  S. Fischer

Narrator  Emil Sinclair

Climax  Sinclair's discovery that the woman he has been painting is Demian's mother

Protagonist  Emil Sinclair

Antagonist  Society in general—those who do not bear the mark

Setting (time)  A span of ten years prior to World War I, roughly 1905–1915

Setting (place)  Germany—Sinclair's hometown and the cities in which he is educated

Point of View  An older Sinclair, looking back at his childhood

Falling Action  Demian runs into Sinclair, who invites him by his house to meet Eva.

Tense  Past

Foreshadowing  Since Sinclair is writing about his own experience after the fact, he is able to constantly foreshadow his future developments; this happens often with regard to ways he will think in the future, but also with events, for instance, the war

Tone  Contemplative and analytic; psychological

Themes  Psychology; good and evil; the will; narration

Motifs  The mark of Cain; mentoring relationships

Symbols  The sparrow hawk

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