The Importance of Flowers in Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf chronicles Harry Haller’s battle with the duality of his own soul. Harry believes that he is half man and half wolf because while a part of him is fascinated by those who find satisfaction in the routine bourgeois lifestyle and even sees some appeal in the comfort of it, the other part feels utter contempt for the mediocre and instead seeks to live for pleasure and transcending the human condition of boredom. I believe that the imagery surrounding ‘flowers’ in the novel was used to convey the Steppenwolf’s (Harry) search for higher living and his journey with sensuality and pleasure, because it was always used when describing the encounters that appealed to his primal self. Harry Haller primarily begins his journey to self-acceptance when he meets Hermine, who serves as mirror to the wolf part of his soul. The moment he meets her he notices “She wore a thin dancefrock cut very low and a withered flower in her hair,” (43). The thin, low cut dress already surround Hermine with sensuality, something that she…show more content… While Steppenwolf dances without care at a ball, he becomes intoxicated with the energy of those around him as well as his own. The entire crowd becomes a “wild dream of paradise” and he describes his sensory experience, “flower upon flower wooed me with its scent. I toyed with fruit after fruit. Serpents looked at me from green and leafy shadows with mesmeric eyes. Lotus blossoms luxuriated over black bogs. Enchanted birds sang allurement from the trees,” (79). This wild carefree atmosphere free of the vain and useless airs of the bourgeois, heavily appeals to Steppenwolf’s desire to indulge, because it makes him feel euphoric, a rare if not completely nonexistent occurrence among the