The story of Steppenwolf is the story of a long spiritual journey that can be related to mostly everybody. Everyone, either for their entire lives, or for just one specific point in their lives, searches for their true selves and tries to find out who they really are. This story of the Steppenwolf, Harry Haller, is all about finding out who he really is. Even though I believe the whole story, from the time Harry received the Treatise of the Steppenwolf, to the end, was a dream, I believe it was a spiritual journey for Harry, nonetheless. A person can go through a magnificent change of their self just by thinking or dreaming and making new decisions and coming to new conclusions in their minds. Something physical does not necessarily have to happen for someone to come out of a situation or a thought to have his or her inner selves changed. .
Hermann Hesse created this story and wrote it down for the readers in a very specific way. As a fiction writer, Hesse put all the elements into the story the way he wanted them to be in there. Every aspect from the point of view to the setting is exactly how Hesse wanted this story to be portrayed. The point of view of this story plays a huge role. Aside from the prologue, which is told from the first person narrative point of view of the nephew of the woman Harry is renting his room, the entire story is told from the first person point of view, as told by Harry Haller, the protagonist. This is so important to the understanding and the telling of the story because the readers only get to see things through Harry's eyes, which may not be a very reliable source of information. To me, Harry Haller is an unreliable narrator because his outlook on society is so negative that his views may be clouded and his opinions and the way he tells his story could be very swayed in the direction that the way society behaves is bad. Another reason Harry is an unreliable narrator is the fact that he frequently partakes in the usage of many drugs, mainly opium, and a lot of alcohol.