Steppenwolf Paragraphs 401-448 Summary

  • Harry is all jazzed about the costume ball, and is even getting pretty good at getting down with his bad self.
  • Hermine won't tell him what her costume is going to be, and he's really curious to know.
  • She asks Harry if he's happy, and he says he is, but (waaah-waaah) he doesn't like it. He wants to feel unhappy, but not the kind of unhappy he was before he met her. It's a new kind.
  • He used to be unhappy because he was afraid to die and also suicidal at the same time (a bit of a problem). Now he wants to find a nobler unhappiness, which will make him ready to die.
  • Hermine tells him that their problem is that they have visions of greatness inside of them, but that their lives are pretty boring after all. She blames reality for not giving them the chance to go through great trials and adventures to fulfill their potential.
  • What people like Hermine and Harry need, according to Hermine, is the hope that there is more to life than just life… that there is a world outside, or another life. That's the hope that Mozart gives, like Goethe said in Harry's dream, earlier.
  • After their deep conversation, Harry has to go to Maria, because she has promised to give him the last night before the big party.
  • He keeps thinking about what Hermine said as he walks to Maria's, and decides that when Goethe laughed at the end of his dream the first night he met Hermine, it was the laughter of the immortals, after having lived through many lives and sufferings.
  • While he waits for Maria at a restaurant, Harry gets inspired and writes a poem called "The Immortals" inspired by his epiphany.
  • Maria shows up and they start getting it on. They both recognize that it might be the last time they are together, because the day that Hermine wants Harry, they both know he'll go to her.
  • Harry's got a feeling that there are going to be some particularly exciting events at the next night's party.