Character Analysis
Emil Sinclair
The young protégé of Demian is far from being an average person. Recognized by Max Demian as a possessor of the "mark" of uniqueness at the age of ten, Sinclair is guided by Demian and others in his search for complete cognition of what it is to be a human being and to subsequent fulfillment. Hesse, in his prologue, has told us that every individual is special. In each, nature is attempting to complete the human evolutionary process by creating the ultimate human. Sinclair follows the triadic development constantly utilized by Hesse. He falls from childhood innocence, suffers much of the anguish of life, and finally, through his acute self-knowledge, transcends his despair to a state of semi-harmony with life and self. As all of Hesse's writing is autobiographical to varying degrees, Sinclair, in describing his attitudes, sufferings, and search for self, can be considered the voice of the author himself.