“A Man by the Name of Ziegler” written by Hermann Hesse essay

Introduction
Philosophers in general have always been preoccupied by such deep and ambiguous questions as the meaning of human life, the sense and meaning of death, the meaning of value, etc. Existentialism is a philosophical movement, the major thinkers of which emphasize the dominant role of such questions for the existence of human beings. The purpose of this paper is to analyze existential themes and messages of the story “A Man by the Name of Ziegler” written by Hermann Hesse. The major thesis is the following: in this short story, Hesse draws attention to the herd-driven conscience by the modern people, and points out that existential crisis of the humanity is inevitable because people are diverting from their true selves and substitute own meaning of life by collective values and perceptions.
1. Existentialism and Hesse’s works
A distinctive feature of existentialism is the focus on the individual: contrary to other philosophical approaches, existentialists believe that there is no universal meaning and value of life, and that every individual actually creates own sense of life and value by making acts and decisions, and following the path of own life. Existentialists take the existence of a free will and free choice for human beings as the axiom.
In existentialism, a very important concept is one’s authenticity – the ability of a human being to connect with the true self despite the pressures and demands of the external world. A situation when someone loses the connection with own essence and replaces internal freedom by the values and rules of the outer world is viewed as self-deception in existentialism. Many prominent philosophers and writers were inspired by the ideas of existentialism and further expanded these ideas. To some extent, the ideas of existentialism can be better illustrated by metaphors and allegories than described directly.
One of the prominent writers who developed the ideas of existentialism in literature is Hermann Hesse. The most famous novel which focused the readers’ attention on existential questions was “Steppenwolf”. However, Hesse raised existential questions in his other works as well. One of such works which inspires the reader’s thought is a short story called “A Man by the Name of Ziegler”. In this story, Hesse uses metaphors and allegories to show how the humanity tends to avoid authenticity and omit existential questions by adopting a “herd” consciousness, and how these tendencies lead to the “dark night of the soul” and consequent existential crisis.
2. Ziegler as the collective image illustrating flaws of modern people
First of all, it should be noted that Hesse uses Ziegler as the collective image showing the character an average person nowadays. This character is used to reveal the weaknesses and shortcomings of the modern people. Hesse uses different images and metaphors to show the extent to which the humanity tends to focus on collective perceptions instead of individual values. For example, he describes Ziegler as “one of those people we see every day on the street, whose faces we can never really remember, because they all have the same face: a collective face” (Hesse 36).
Furthermore, Hesse points out how Ziegler betrayed his individuality because he was guided by the external influences instead of internal motives: “his life and activities were governed less by desires and strivings than by prohibitions, by the fear of punishment” (Hesse 36). Hesse also emphasizes how Ziegler, like all other modern people, did not notice that his inner values were replaced by external forces and influences, and believed into own uniqueness and individuality: “like other men he regarded himself and his life as the centre of the world” (Hesse 36).
As a true existentialist, Hesse uses the image of Ziegler to deride the deference to money and science common among modern people. Hesse describes Ziegler’s beliefs in the following way: “he had unlimited respect for not only money, but also for a second power: science” (Hesse 36). At the same time, Hesse illustrates that Ziegler (like the majority of other people) did not really understand anything related to science, and used external reference points to make own opinion about science: “He could not have said exactly what science was, he had in mind something on the order of statistics and perhaps a bit of bacteriology, and he knew how much money and honour the state accorded to science” (Hesse 36).
Hesse also mocks at Ziegler’s self-admiration and his need for social approval: “Wearing his new suit with cloth buttons (he was very fond of it)” (Hesse 36), “he cast respectful or haughty glances at the guests around him, depending on how they were dressed” (Hesse 37). Ziegler’s perception of himself and perception of other people is determined by external attributes such as social status, clothes, etc. The whole description of Ziegler illustrates that he seldom or never turns inward or follows own interests and wishes, but rather makes the decisions basing on what is expected from him by the society. In general, Ziegler is the vivid illustration of what the existentialists call “bad faith”.
3. Discovery of own individuality and existential authenticity
As the story unveils, Hesse describes in detail what happened when Ziegler (maybe for the first time in his life) followed own interests and motives. It happened when “he picked up a small dark-coloured pellet, rather like a pill, rolled the dry, weightless little thing between his fingers” (Hesse 37). However, as the new visitor entered the room, Ziegler quickly returned to his common way of relying on the social opinion and decided not to return the pellet to hide his act of disobedience: “he closed his hand, put it in his pocket and left” (Hesse 37). The second moment when Ziegler was also authentic and gave away to his inner impulse was the moment when he put the pill in the mouth. Although these actions might seem senseless to the modern person, these actions were driven by interest and curiosity which reflected the true personality of Ziegler, and not the superficial mask he wore to match the social requirements.
The metaphoric message of the situation described by Hesse is the following: modern people are not ready to discover own individuality and to be authentic; even if they make an attempt to be authentic, the pressure of the external world and their own lack of readiness to explore the world through the prism of own individuality will force them back into the habitual way of living. The subsequent visit of Ziegler to the zoo and his insight of the animal world illustrate this statement. Ziegler’s view of the animal world has changed, just as his perception of the human world; however, Ziegler was not ready for such experience, so he was shocked and unsettled by this transformation. Hesse shows the bewilderment, misery and eventually terror of Ziegler to demonstrate that being true to oneself and authentic is not simple, and that modern people are not prepared for seeing the truth of the reality. They would rather seek comfort in the comprehensible setting; for example, Hesse states “he listened to conversations in the hope of hearing something comforting, something understandable and soothing” (Hesse 38).
4. The dark night of the soul and existential crisis of the humanity
In the end of the story, Hesse describes the pitiful final of Ziegler’s life: “a crowd collected and the guards seized him, and he was taken away to an insane asylum” (Hesse 38). His spiritual state of dismay, misery and confusion show that after the transformation Ziegler experienced the state which the existentialists call “the dark night of the soul” – the state when a person’s feelings are weary, the spiritual state is depressed, and the person is extremely discouraged at life and its meaning. Hesse describes the state of Ziegler after his transformation as “dejected and wrenched out of all habits of thought” and “hopelessly ashamed of himself” (Hesse 38). The new experience and new knowledge turned the Weltanschauung of Ziegler upside down, and brought the “dark night of the soul” to Ziegler. As a result, he was put to an insane asylum, and, most likely, remained in an existential crisis towards the end of his life.
Hesse’s allegory can be extended to the whole mankind: people who do not follow the rules and have viewpoints different from the conventional ones are considered insane, stigmatized and feared. Hesse points out that in the modern society there is little place for true authenticity and little place for freedom. At the same time, he shows that even the most typical individual whose values are shaped by the society can unintentionally enter a situation which changes his perception of the reality and of the self. For an unprepared person, such situation will lead to the “dark night of the soul” and eventually to an existential crisis. Therefore, Hesse’s short story also warns the humanity against the “collective” way of thinking, and emphasizes the importance of personal existential authenticity.
Conclusion
In the short story called “A Man by the Name of Ziegler” Hesse conveys his concerns of the lack of authenticity in human beings, the lack of connectedness with the true self, and the substitution of own understanding of the meaning of life by external values, rules and opinions. Hesse shows what might happen to an individual who never thinks over the sense of own life and never turns inward if, at some moment, this individual decides to follow own interests and intentions instead of living up to the social conventions. However, in addition to this warning message, Hesse also shows that the modern world will not accept someone who is being authentic and views the reality in a different way – this person would be rather put to an insane asylum as it happened with Ziegler. The message sent by Hesse in this story is three-fold: the first layer of this message shows that being authentic and original in the modern community-driven world is dangerous. At the second layer, Hesse shows that every person might face situations when it is necessary to be authentic and develop personal perception of life, so for people who are unprepared to this experience such situations might lead to existential crisis. At the third, upper layer of this message, Hesse shows that the lack of authenticity and existential understanding of the reality among the members of the society might damage the whole society because it turns into “nothing but a degenerate, dissembling mob of bestial fops, who seemed to be an unbeautiful mixture of all the animal species” (Hesse 38).