Genre
An educational novel
Setting and Context
The events take place before World War I, to be more precise in a time period from 1905 to 1915, in Sinclair’s hometown and a town where his boarding school is situated, in Germany.
Narrator and Point of View
First-person point of view. The story is told from the perspective of an older protagonist, Emil Sinclair, who reflects times of childhood and youth.
Tone and Mood
Thoughtful and analytic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Emil Sinclair is the protagonist. People, who are weak, who don’t “bear the mark” and don’t want to look for the truth, are considered to be the antagonists.
Major Conflict
A man versus society conflict
Climax
The moment, when Emil realizes that Frau Eva is a person from his sketches is a climax of the story.
Foreshadowing
When the narrator says that this novel is a story of his youth, it becomes clear that what this novel is about. His actions also foreshadow what a type of a person he is going to be.
Understatement
The scene when Max Demian suggests killing Franz Kromer is an understatement, for Max talks about killing someone as something completely usual and normal.
Allusions
The characters of the story constantly mention such names as Plato, Dante, Nietzsche, Novalis, Faust, Heinrich Heine, Bach and Bismarck. There is also a mention of the Bible.
Imagery
Imagery is used to describe the emotional states and visions of the characters.
Paradox
Death is birth.
This paradox is used for denoting of renewal.
Parallelism
It was my corner, my secret, my refuge.
Emil describes an importance of his dream to him with the help of parallelism.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
I’d even lend you a hand.
A hand means help. Max promises Emil to help him, if he decides to kill Franz Kromer. It is metonymy.
He also played music composed prior to Bach, and the old Italians.
The old Italians mean Italian composers. It is synecdoche.
Personification
If Nature has made you a bat you shouldn't try to be an ostrich
Nature is an example of personification.
