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Steppenwolf reflects a profound crisis in Hesse's spiritual world in the 1920s while memorably portraying the protagonist's split between his humanity, and his wolf-like aggression and homelessness. The book is presented as a manuscript by its protagonist, a middle-aged man named Harry Haller. As it begins, the hero is beset with reflections on his being ill-suited for the world of everybody; regular people and his unhappiness in the frivolity of the bourgeois society.

Hesse is a master at blurring the distinction between reality and fantasy.

He also felt that his readers focused only on the suffering and despair that are depicted in Harry Haller's life, thereby missing the possibility of transcendence and healing. This could be due to the fact that at that time Western readers were not familiar with Buddhist philosophy, and therefore missed the point when reading it, because the notion of a human being consisting of a myriad of fragments of different souls is in complete contradiction of Judeo-Christian theologies. Also in the novel, Pablo instructs Harry Haller to relinquish his personality at one point, or at least for the duration of his journey through the corridors of the Magic Theater. In order to do so Harry must learn to use laughter to overcome the tight grip of his personality, to literally laugh at his personality until it shatters into so many small pieces. This concept also ran counter to the egocentric Western culture.

The underlying theme of transcendence is shown within group interaction and dynamics. Throughout the novel Harry concerns himself with being different, with separating himself from those he is around. Harry believes that he is better than his surroundings and fails to understand why he cannot be recognized as such, which raises the idea that in order to rise above a group one must first become one with a part of it.

The duality of human nature is the major theme in the novel and its two main characters, Harry Haller and Hermine, illustrate this duality. Harry illustrates the duality through an inner conflict and an outer conflict. Inwardly, he believes two opposing natures battle over possession of him, a man and a wolf, high and low, spirit and animal.

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"In this unusual novel by Herman Hesse, Harry Haller is the Steppewolf, lonely, isolated, and struggling with conflicting desires of arrogance, emptiness, and longing. Things change dramatically when he meets a woman quite different from him."

"One really does not know which character was real and which was a figment of Harry's bruised psyche."

"Many critics considered the book to be pessimistic and nihilistic. The reason, perhaps, was that they didn't understand the Buddhist parts."

"Steppenwolf is a term given by the protagonist of the novel unto himself for the reason which he regards himself as possessor of multiple conflicting personas. The Steppenwolf within is a savage and animalistic feeling which drives the character to become a nuisance and irritable and is in constant conflict with the 'human' character within. The story is very much about personal spiritual conflict and how various thoughts of reclusiveness, annoyance, cynicism and even suicide are constantly bombarding the mind of a person who knows his faults at face value but does not know how to change and take control of them."

"This novel is supposedly the writings of Harry Haller, a lonely intellectual who feels isolated from the rest of the world. The story is the account of his existential transformation. Beyond the plot, it is an exploration, a painful one, on the hollowness, emptiness and meaninglessness of life. It talks about how lonely we really are, in the confusing and unexplainable world in which we live. It also talks about the desperation routine brings on, the fakeness of love..."

"What's the book about? About one man's journey into the hell of his own being, paralleled only by the hell of a world he finds no home in; words from Hesse's Demian come to mind: "My story is not a pleasant one....It is a story of nonsense and chaos, madness and dreams--like the lives of all men who stop deceiving themselves."

"Steppenwolf raises many questions, and answers none satisfactorily--understandable given that human beings are essentially cosmic orphans, alone and adrift on a small planet, making everything up as they go along. Hesse does not like this. He seeks order and rationale, a raison d'etre...but all he finds is stupidity, primitiveness, and ennui."

"Hippies in the late sixties embraced the book's references to drug use, anti-war activity, provocative music and sexual promiscuity."

"Herman Hesse name-drops elements of Eastern culture in an obnoxious attempt to make his novel more "exotic". The novel also reads like the pathetic wet dream of an old man. The protagonist of the book, a plain, bitter old man has sex with young, attractive women. And the protagonist openly acknowledges that he's really not drawn to them by their intelligence, only to their youth and good looks, going so far as to point out that one of the women really is too stupid for him. And there's a gratuitous hot-bisexual women scene. Way to alienate half of your audience, Hesse."

"Steppenwolf is Hermann Hesse's classic philosophical novel about the meaning of self and the source of personality. The protagonist Harry Haller thinks he has two souls--that of a man and that of a Steppenwolf (a wolf of the Steppes)--"in continual and deadly enmity." Over the course of many fantastical events, including a couple love affairs, a frenetic masked ball, and a magical theater filled with illusions, Haller is forced to abandon his view of himself as a flawed, two-souled creature and embrace the idea that each person consists of thousands of souls living in a single body: "The breast and the body are indeed one, but the souls that dwell in it are not two, nor five, but countless in number. Man is an onion made up of a hundred integuments, a texture made up of many threads."

"A truly great book, like the glaze of a bursting star, millions of light-years away so that no one gets to see enough of it to truly appreciate it. I think I should hate Hesse for this piece of work. He is expecting too much from humanity. The book is written for a long-extinct species, or perhaps for a species that never existed. To the extent that "a man must seek pleasure which originates and ends in himself"

"People always say how difficult it is to pick the five or ten greatest books ever written. Here's a handy hint to make it easier: Step 1) Write "Steppenwolf - Hermann Hesse" at no 1. Step 2) Build around it. If you ever wanted a real, authentic representation of the essence of being alive, complete with it's chaos, madness, paradox and stunning beauty, this is it. The closest ink will ever get to being flesh."

"Steppenwolf engages what is perhaps man's greatest problem: the battle between hid Id and his Superego, the flesh versus the spirit."

"When people talk about this book they usually say more about themselves that the book. It is a discovery of the transpersonal levels of the Self, and of a possible resolution to half enlightened souls. The book is an expression of more than one level of Being."

"I think the key to understanding this book is thinking of it as the Magic Theatre and the Chess Game presented in it: a collection of allegories of life, characters and situations that may be interpreted and arranged by the reader in an almost infinite array of orders."

"As the story unfolds, Harry meets a woman that is able to enjoy life. Through the interactions with her, Harry learns to "smell the flowers", and through several surrealistic experiences, he recalls his past and evolves into a different person."

"The book, just like its main character, can only be appreciated if you are able to see beyond yourself."