The process of Individuation of the Main Character in Hermann Hesse’s Demian

Abstract

This article is an attempt to analyze the process of individuation of the main character. The process of individuation means to know oneself. The novel is the main source of data collection. Books, research articles are secondary sources. This research is qualitative. Research approach is inductive. Research technique is interpretive content analysis. The current study indicates that psychological strength of all human beings is intertwined with the socially undesirable contents of personality. By embracing these unwelcome parts, the search for the self is nearly completed. The search for self- identity is important and cannot be ignored. A person suffers from mental, physical and social issues due to lack of attention to the self and his lack of ability to recognize and integrate the opposites of good and bad in the form of “persona”, “shadow” and the likes in him. Such a person suffers from psychological disorders. Psychoanalytic theory can be applied to study other characters of the novel.