Existentialism in Demian and Crime and Punishment Essay

Existentialism is evenhandedly common in literature, despite being a relatively naked school of thought, and both Demian and Crime and Punishment show existential philosopher traits. This gives individually book non vindicatory a philosophy, plainly overly a certain feeling and brainpower. Existentialism starts that with the idea that existence precedes essence, or purpose. We come emerge into this earthly concern without a purpose, and we simply exist. Our task is to find a purpose. The world around us is an alien chaos, a circus that we stumble with, stressful to find a meaning for our life. In Demian, it is clear that Sinclair does not bang his purpose.His struggle is to find out what it is. Jean-Paul Sartre says, Life has no meaning a priori? its up to you to give it a meaning. Hesse declares that each man had exactly wiz genuine vocation? to find the way to himself?. His task was to discover his take in destiny (Hesse, 132). It is clear, then, that we come int o the world with nothing, no purpose at all. The only genuine task we have is to figure out what we are divergence to do here. According to Existentialism, no one layabout find it for you, and, similarly, no doctrine or philosophy deal find it for you. Sinclair learns these same lessons.Demian pulls Sinclair a calve from mainstream religion early in the account, saying that the division of good and offense has no real meaning. Later, Pistorius tries to teach Sinclair about myriad past religions, but Sinclair rejects him, feeling that he should try to come up with something original instead. throughout the report, Sinclair engages in different mentor-pupil relationships (like his relationships with Demian and Pistorius) but eventually he shrugs those off, taking his friends learning with him and facing the world totally. That is what e trulyone must do, eventually?face the world alone. And alone is exactly how we feel, as we stumble through this circus of a world. Sinclair s pends some of his time not just feeling but also being by himself, adrift. When he leaves his family and his sisters, it does not affect him much(prenominal), if at all, he is so isolated. He connects only with a precious few people, and never for very long. He somehow distances himself from his peers. Even when he was partying and drinking a lot, he found a way to separate himself from them. In that case, it was the role of put forward in his life. Demian is a story about one mans journey.The ratifier never really learns the story of any other character, not even Demian himself, who remains something of an enigma to the very end. This puts the story in an existentialist mindset. Sinclair is drifting through a swirling, gray mass of humanity. Alone is also how we must act. Jean-Paul Sartre says, It is only in our decisions that we are important, and, We must act out passions before we can feel it. This pretty closely mirrors the sentiment presented when Pistorius says, You can t consider prohibited anything that the soul desires (Hesse, 116).It is only when we make our own decisions and act for ourselves that what we do has meaning. Hesse puts the existentialist framework to work for him by function it to highlight the need for independence and spiritual self-reliance. Dostoyevsky, on the other hand, uses the mindset to facilitate Raskolnikovs downward mental spiral, highlight his aloofness, and pull the story along. The world of St. Petersburg is, without a doubt, a strange and hostile place for Raskolnikov. He stumbles along and things eternally happen around him. He repeatedly wakes up with people in his room.He sees things in the street, such as the boozy rape victim early in the story, or a attached Marmeladov, that cause him to lose his cool. More and more, he finds himself doing crazy things without regard for logic or even common sense. People in this world booze him. He has no idea what they are up to, and he is constantly paranoid that peo ple are plotting against him. His guilty, delirious inner world combines with the crazy, higgledy-piggledy outer world to make Raskolnikov into a raging, feverish, maniac. He is not just any raging, feverish, maniac, though. He is an aloof raging, feverish, maniac.He considers himself better than those around him, and his sea captain mentality drives his antisocial behavior. His antisocial behavior, in turn, gives the character and story a feeling of being alone. Not only is the world crazy, but also Raskolnikov is separated from it and everyone in it, at least until the very end of the book. He is isolated, so much so that at times he can feel it clearly with every fiber of his being that he could never again address these people (Dostoyevsky, 122). Finally, Dostoyevsky uses this chaotic world to drive his story along.Things are constantly happening by coincidence, and Dostoyevsky moves the plot forwards at a dizzying pace, forcing Raskolnikov to act. It is fantastic that Raskoln ikov should happen upon Marmeladov soon after he is injured, and that Raskolnikov should collect people discussing the very same murder that is on his mind, and that someone should listen on him and hear his confession. The frenzied plot makes it much easier for both Raskolnikov and the reader to slip into a mania, which is surely Dostoyevskys aspiration. The philosophy of existential philosophy, too, plays a part in Crime and Punishment.Sartre says that the only true goal of our lives is that which we set for ourselves. Raskolnikov, through the main portion of the story, has no clear goal. He wavers between wanting(p) to turn himself in and trying to avoid suspicion. Sartre says, Man can ordain nothing unless he has first understood that he has no other aim than the one he sets himself, and it is clear that Raskolnikovs will is pretty much useless. He can effect no real change in either himself or in his surroundings until he finally picks a goal and follows through with it.H is personal development is completely halted during his entire patch of indecision. Only in the epilogue do we see him lay out to change, begin to forsake his philosophy of the superman, find happiness, and fall in love. The philosophy of existentialism was around long before anyone gave a name to it, as is certify by Dostoyevskys St. Petersburg, the perfect example of an existentialist world. Both Dostoyevsky and Hesse use existentialist ideas help them express their points. Andrew Holbrook, 2006.