The Immortals play a key role within Steppenwolf, although it is not clear until the end exactly what that role is. On one hand, in the beginning, the Immortals separate Steppenwolf from other members of society, the bourgeoisie in particular. On the other hand, through the treatise, the Goethe dream, and the Mozart sequence in the Magic Theater, the Immortals provide the key to Steppenwolf understanding his place within society and the universe. The Immortals teach him about himself and society, thereby providing him with alternatives to suicide.
Steppenwolf's problems stem from his inability to tolerate the bourgeoisie. Even though he lives among them, Steppenwolf repeatedly denounces bourgeois society and the "fat and prosperous brood of mediocrity" he associates with it. He states, "Ah, but it is hard to find this track of the divine in the midst of this life we lead, in this besotted humdrum age of spiritual blindness, with its architecture, its business, its politics, its men!" Steppenwolf is suicidal because he cannot effectively separate himself from bourgeois society. He acknowledges the presence of the divine; in fact, there are rare moments when he feels at one with God and can see the "divine and golden track" before him. Such moments of enlightenment occur while reading poetry or listening to classical music. The Immortals are the artists whose creations allow him to become one with God.
