Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews April 4, 2023 March 28, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Pablo plays perhaps the most instrumental role in the changes that occur in Steppenwolf. Clues to his importance are present from his first mention in the narrative. Hermine foreshadows Pablo’s importance in her extreme admiration for him and her claim that he can play all instruments and speak all the languages of the world. The fact that Pablo is the character most associated with music provides a persistent cue to his significance. Indeed, he is a genius bandleader and therefore in charge of defining the rhythms to which all others must tune their behavior. Yet, despite Harry’s efforts to discover Pablo’s value, we have little to go on until the very close of the novel, when Pablo introduces Harry to the Magic Theater.
In the Magic Theater, the seemingly simple-minded Pablo achieves his apotheosis, revealing himself to be the most enlightened figure in the story. In fact, an earlier criticism of Pablo—that he seemed unproblematic as a child—turns out to be a marker of his profound wisdom. Pablo’s wisdom does not require the stifling books and theories under which Harry has buried half his life. Rather, Pablo’s wisdom stems from lived experience, and from a deep consideration of the world that exists within one’s own soul. As Pablo explains to Harry, the important thing is to play music and play it well—not to waste time talking or theorizing about it. Pablo’s ability to shift effortlessly between his two saxophones as he plays symbolizes the ideal integration of the spiritual and the physical to which Harry aspires.
Please wait while we process your payment