The main themes of Steppenwolf are introduced in the first section of "Harry Haller's Records." The novel is dark, and the main themes and conflicts are loneliness, division, elitism versus mediocrity, self-mutilation, and suicide. The nephew sums up Steppenwolf's character quite nicely in the preface. He states:
[T]he Steppenwolf's look pierced our whole epoch, its whole overwrought activity, the whole surge and strife, the whole vanity, the whole superficial play of a shallow, opinionated intellectuality. And alas! The look went still deeper, went far below the faults, defects and hopelessness of our time, our intellect, our culture alone. It went right to the heart of all humanity, it bespoke eloquently in a single second the whole despair of a thinker, of one who knew the full worth and meaning of man's life. It said, "See what monkeys we are! Look, such is man!" and at once all renown, all intelligence, all the attainments of the spirit, all progress towards the sublime, the great and the enduring in man fell away and became a monkey's trick.
Of course, the themes can be grouped together based on causality. Loneliness, division, and elitism versus mediocrity go together. Steppenwolf's principal problem arises as a result of his view of society and the role of the social classes. He despises bourgeois society, yet he cannot remove himself from it successfully. He aligns himself with the Immortals — artists whose work permits him to see a "divine and golden track" before him (Mozart, Goethe, and so on). Bourgeois society is synonymous with mediocrity in Steppenwolf's eyes; therefore, it is contemptible. Steppenwolf's solution is to separate himself from the bourgeoisie completely. At first, this entails physical separation and self-imposed loneliness; however, as his convictions grow stronger, he believes suicide is his only option.
