Ideological reading has been defined as a deliberate effort to read against the grain of texts, of disciplinary norms, of traditions, of cultures. It is reflected in movies, music, art, literature, photography, theatre and all forms of expressional communications. Stephen Prince, in his work, Movies and Meaning talks about depiction of ideologies in Movies as, “a system of social or political beliefs characteristic of a society or social community. Ideological film theory examines the ways in which films represent and express various ideologies." The ideologies reflected in media and literature is the mirror image of the societal values prevalent at that time. For instance the unrest of the German youth and their disappointments in the post world war1 is clearly portrayed in the novel.Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse is ideal for a reading beyond the text, it reflects the social order and collective and individual unrest prevalent during the period of post world war I Steppenwolf (orig. German Der Steppenwolf) is the tenth novel by German-Swiss author Hermann Hesse. Originally published in Germany in 1927, it was first translated into English in 1929. Combining autobiographical and fantastic elements, the novel was named after the abandoned wolf of the steppes. The story in large part reflects a profound crisis in Hesse's spiritual world in the 1920s while memorably portraying the protagonist's split between his humanity, and his wolf-like aggression and homelessness. The human and the wolf are extremely dichotomous, the human represent the submissive and passive bourgeoisie while the aggressive wolf is symbolic of the rebel, the active supporter of the proletariat (which shows influence by the communist ideology); thus there is a clear dichotomy in on individual itself in terms of ideologies.The protagonist is suspected to be ailing in spirit, temperament and character.

The book Steppenwolf and Siddhartha was written by Hesse at a time when the extremely negative conditions of post World War I Germany –specifically, the social repercussions of the extremely high death toll of German men and the paralyzed economy – shaped the disturbed and indignant writings of Herman Hesse and the social consciousness of the German people. This social consciousness morphed into many new cultural movements, which shared man of the same feelings that Hesse expressed in his writings. This is evident in the conversation between Haller and Hermine in page 138;.it says “nobody wants to avoid war, nobody wants to spare himself and his children the next Holocaust if this be the cost. To reflect for one moment, to examine himself for a while and examine what share he has in the worlds wickedness-clearly nobody wants to do that.” Hesse’s Steppenwolf and Siddhartha were written as a clear response to WWI and its aftermath. Thus, all the negative aspects of the power relation is explained in the text. The novel itself is a literary version of cubism where Hesse talks about one attribute of hair and without finishing the explanation moves on to explain Steppenwolf’s perspective on Nietzsche, also Steppenwolf’s’ hallucinations in the magic theatre bar about Herminie Mozart, Nietzsche and others. In the history of the evolution of music and art, the period of 1920s was regarded as the period of experimentations in art (which was definitely a result of the Dada movement), this era was called as the psychedelic age which kick started popular pub culture and jazz, these aspects has been dissected in the book and inspired and influenced by the book, the music group by the name of Steppenwolf became largely popular. All these relatively newer forms of entertainment was propagated by the above mentioned pub culture which also became the hub of drug and alcohol indulgence particularly among the youth of Europe, who were facing identity crisis and psychosocial moratorium due to the economic crisis the continent was facing in the post WWI era. This has been brought out by Herman Hesse in the chapter called MAGIC THEATRE: FOR MAD MEN ONLY, wherein Harry Haller, hallucinates conversing with Mozart, Pablo, Nietzsche and a prostitute Hermine who are products of his delusions and inexistent. Through this it portrays a popular psychedelic culture which was a result of the intense need for emotional catharsis by European youth. The manner in which the characters live and die appear and disappear without order as a result of haler’s delusions are symbolic of the element of emerging ideology of expressionism and abstractionism in art, which had very much of the German lifestyle.

Weimer republic was the interim government formed in Germany after WWI, WP was anti-war in nature, and this seems to have influenced Herman Hesse. Therefore, it has all the complexities and attributes to qualify as an ideal text for ideological dissection. Steppenwolf, as a book, for that matter screams out ideologies which remain subdued and choose to be manifest only in politically correct forms of art, music, literature and theatre.

The book is a story and discourse of only an individual called Harry Haller the Steppenwolf, but it reflects the socio-political and cultural aspects of a collective entity at a given period of time in the history and how the manifestations has influenced a movie in the year 1974, a popular music culture-jazz and theatre and visual arts. As it begins, the hero is beset with reflections on his being ill-suited for the world of everybody; regular people and his unhappiness in the frivolity of the bourgeois society. In his aimless wanderings about the city he encounters a person carrying an advertisement for a magic theater who gives him a small book, Treatise on the Steppenwolf. This treatise, cited in full in the novel's text as Harry reads it, addresses Harry by name and strikes him as describing himself uncannily. It is a discourse of a man who believes himself to be of two natures: one high, the spiritual nature of man; while the other is low, animalistic; a "wolf of the steppes". This man is entangled in an irresolvable struggle, never content with either nature because he cannot see beyond this self-made concept. The pamphlet gives an explanation of the multifaceted and indefinable nature of every man's soul, which Harry is either unable or unwilling to recognize.(it is attached with the document in the form of video) It also discusses his suicidal intentions, describing him as one of the "suicides"; people who, deep down knew, they would take their own life one day. But to counter this it hails his potential to be great, to be one of the "Immortals". The monologues and narratives about Harry Haller, by the observer brings out the frustration inherent in the protagonists, from all dimensions, Hesse intended to depict the intensity and depth of the aggravation and disturbance experienced by him and other intellectuals. It clearly brings out all the complexities experienced by any post WWI German youth. The presence of a wolf and a human being is nothing but reflection of the uncertainty of the countries political fabric and its economic stability. Though the Treatise, Hesse predicts the emergence of a Totalitarianistic regime in Germany and Harry Haller is projected with traits of Hitler of the post WWI era. The book for the first time reflected the literary translation of cubism and abstractionism which till then as largely limited to the visual arts.

An art form contemporary to Hesse was Cubism. The movement was led by such artists as Picasso, Braque literary collage. Characters come and go throughout the novel, characters whose identities revolve and whose relation to the plot— and “reality”—shift as Hesse explores one theme and then another. At the same time the novel assumes the, and Gris, who were attracted to the idea of the tableau-object: “the painting as a built up, constructed object or entity with a separate life of its own, not echoing or imitating the external world, but re-creating it in an independent way.”7 One variety of such an artwork was the collage, which incorporated a variety of extraneous matter onto the painting’s surface. Steppenwolf is a quality Cubist painting, drawing upon specific elements in Hesse’s personal life, fictionalizing and blurring them, and reconstructing them into an independent entity whose relationship to the originals is at best tenuous. Cubism is a resultant of the DADA Movement art forms. Abstraction and Expressionism were the main influences on Dada, followed by Cubism and, to a lesser extent, Futurism. There was no predominant medium in Dadaist art. All things from geometric tapestries to glass to plaster and wooden relief were fair game. It's worth noting, though, that assemblage, collage, photomontage and the use of ready made objects all gained wide acceptance due to their use in Dada art. For something that supposedly meant nothing, Dada certainly created a lot of offshoots. In addition to spawning numerous literary journals, Dada influenced many concurrent trends in the visual arts (especially in the case of Constructivism). The best-known movement Dada was directly responsible for is Surrealism. Dada self-destructed when it was in danger of becoming "acceptable". This was adapted to the Steppenwolf as well. The delusion of Harry Haller, the appearance and disappearance of characters, the conflict between Harry as a human being and the wolf in him all can be best explained by this form of ideology in art.

Inspired by the book Steppenwolf, a band with the name of "Steppenwolf" was suggested to John Kay by Gabriel Mekler, Steppenwolf's first two singles were "A Girl I Knew" and "". The band finally rocketed to worldwide fame after their third single, "Born to Be Wild", and their version of Hoyt Axton's "The Pusher" were prominently used in the 1969 cult film Easy Rider (both titles originally had been released on the band's debut album). Included a song Born to be Wild, The song, which has been closely associated with motorcycles ever since, introduced to rock lyrics the signature term "heavy metal" (though not about a kind of music, but about a motorcycle: "I like smoke and lightning, heavy metal thunder, racing' with the wind..."). Written by Dennis Edmonton, it bears close resemblances with the poem of haler in page 78. Then followed albums had several more hits, including "Magic Carpet Ride" from Steppenwolf the Second and "Rock Me.” Monster, which criticized US policy of the Nixon-era, and Steppenwolf 7 were the band's most political albums, which included the song "Snow-blind Friend", another Axton-penned song, about the era and attitudes of drug problems. These albums are still remembered by fans as two of the best rock & roll snapshots of the attitudes of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

This emergence of jazz as the popular culture was attributed to the Dada movement, internal frustration of the Germans, the influence of the emerging trends of abstractionism which further influenced the book Steppenwolf. The events can be seen in the light of circular casualty, one leading to another. The song ‘born to be wild’ was picturized on Harry haler’s inherent wolf and reflected on the darker side of the protagonist which was insecure, instinctual and aggressive traits. The song goes like this…

Born To Be Wild

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

In whatever comes our way

Yeah, God I'm gonna' make it happen

Take the world in a love embrace

Fire all of your guns at once and

Explode into space

Like a true nature's child

We were born, born to be wild

We can climb so high

I never want to die

Born to be wild

Born to be wild

The delusions of the protagonists involve great artists, writers an thinker like Goethe, Picasso, Nietzsche ant others, they too bring in their respective ideologies and suppositions to the novel.Their ideas receive special treatment in Steppenwolf. In a complex and fantastic scene near the conclusion of the novel, Harry Haller attends a drug party at Pablo’s Magic Theater. While there he becomes intoxicated and, finding Pablo and the prostitute Hermine asleep side by side, he hallucinates driving a knife into Herminie’s chest. Still fantasizing, he imagines a conversation with Mozart about the necessity of learning to laugh at the apparently real and to remain mindful of only the ideal, then a trial in which he is sentenced to eternal life for his imagined murder of an imaginary figure. Mozart suddenly returns and becomes Pablo, who likewise chides Haller for his confusion of the ideal and real and then vanishes, with Hermine in his vest pocket, leaving Haller to his thoughts. Sober again, Haller is prepared to resume the game of life, to suffer its agonies and senselessness once more, hopeful that he someday will be able, like Goethe and Mozart, to distinguish between ideas and appearance and to rise above it all and laugh. Or, in Nietzsche’s terms, to overcome himself, to become an “over man,” unfettered by conventional and artificial limits and free to experience. Hesse’s Steppenwolf is very much a product of its times, despite its more overt abstraction. That Hesse could fashion a narrative which broke so completely with convention yet was so emblematic and symbolic of its environment indicates the tumult which characterized both Hesse’s life and the general European atmosphere of the 1920s. Steppenwolf is distinctly autobiographical. While the life of Harry Haller—Hesse’s alter ego—is in the details dissimilar to that of his namesake, it nevertheless suggests the latter’s trials. His brief marriage to Ruth Wenger, his second wife, had collapsed. She had become ill early in 1925 and subsequently passed in and out of several contexts in the book. The stress of her illness and of his and his wife’s mutual estrangement took its toll on Hesse, who began frequenting the bars and dance halls of Zurich, and often in the company of women. Wenger herself appears briefly in the novel as Erika, who implores Haller to return to her. Therefore the book has also been used as a mirror by Herman Hesse. Hesse’s stay in Zurich also provide the setting for many of Haller’s experiences in the novel, where he encounters an eclectic assortment of pimps, prostitutes, musicians, drug dealers, and other individuals who, like Haller, and Hesse, see themselves on the fringes of society. Precisely the more lurid scenes in Steppenwolf form an intriguing intersection among the plot, the author, developments in visual art, and Hesse’s environment.

Also, there was a growing influence of humanistic and existentialism as a new and dynamic school of thought in psychology, Hesse has drawn largely from the existentialism, the wolf and the human aspect could also be the real (wolf)and the ideal self (Haller). Borrowing elements of Freud’s psychoanalysis, it also talks about Oedipus Complex, an in this regard, Hermine is also seen as an alter ego. Haller’s sexuality, and Hermine is for Haller a personification of his previously-suppressed eroticism. The transformation of Hermine into a doll is a critical point in the narrative. Another psychological interpretation is hat men during the early 19^th century was increasing deviating away from the gender stereotypical notion of themselves as purely dichotomously masculine, Hermine, according to several literaians, was Haller himself, she was symbolic of the feminine element in him. Therefore, with regard to depiction of women, though the female characters themselves do not hold much significance, their relationship to the protagonist is beautifully wowen into intricate psychological complexities of a suffering, insecure and lonely human being.At the same time, he is captivated by the bourgeoisie, he is repulsed by it. He can only look upon their contentment with admiration by separating himself from them. Steppenwolf considers himself superior because he values enlightenment. When reading or writing poetry, or listening to Handel or Mozart, Steppenwolf has occasionally stumbled on “the track of the divine,” and it is this that gives him pleasure. The problem is that these moments of divine truth are rare and fleeting. Instead, Steppenwolf spends most of his days engaging in bourgeois activities such as reading, opening mail, walking, and so forth. This is intolerable for him.

It is important to note the influence of philosophy on the novel, and it first becomes evident in this section of the text. The bourgeoisie dedication to respectability, responsibility, and morality are a direct reflection of Confucianism. Hesse studied Chinese philosophy in great detail, and its influence cannot be overemphasized here. The Confucian golden rule, “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself,” is the founding premise of the bourgeois society. It is this benign attitude that bothers Steppenwolf because he feels it leads to complacency. It would be a mistake to say he wishes ill on other individuals, and it would be inaccurate to say he is a bad person. Steppenwolf simply maintains a different set of values than everyone else. The extent of his divided nature will be revealed when he reads the treatise. In the meantime, it is simply apparent that he chooses not to participate in bourgeois society because he considers everything about it to be inferior.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company, (according to wikepaedia) is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. Its name comes from the Hermann Hesse novel. Martha Lavey, long-time ensemble member, has been artistic director since 1997 and David Hawkanson has been executive director since 2003. Through its New Plays Initiative, the company maintains ongoing relationships with writers of international prominence and supports the work of aspiring and mid-career playwrights. In 1988, Steppenwolf presented the world premiere of The Grapes of Wrath, based on the John Steinbeck novel, which eventually went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play. In 2000 it presented the world premiere of Austin Pendleton's Orson's Shadow, which subsequently was staged off-Broadway and by regional theatres throughout the country. Steppenwolf operates several internship programs for students and young professionals. The main mode in here is the theatrical translation of abstractionism and using expressionism as a means of emotional catharsis. It has also influenced a traditional dance form called tarantula, the vigorous movements also reflect the need for emotional venting.

The influence music sand art had on Hesse and it’s reflections in Steppenwolf indicate that the inherent discontentment was largely expressed through alternative means rather than a mass scale revolution. Critic Keith Murray calls the work oh Herman Hesse as ‘a novel of maturation’ and remarked that if there was a mass scale violent movement by the German youth of the post WWI era, art forms like these would not have merged , as this was a revolution in silence.

Though Haller is portrayed to be showing bourgeoisie leanings, this is also widely criticized by Hesse, as evident from the Treatise of Steppenwolf, he had regarded them as political criminal an intellectual seducer, (page 63)

The book is largely seen as a literary palindrome…there are many interpretations to it, each time read, it brings to surface anew ideology or philosophy, which is a criticism or in support of the contemporary social order. It holds popularity with other commendable forms of art it had produced, the characters and the plot, the dialogues, monologues are all contradictory. There are no verifications to the fact that Haller was executed or not. However, its complexity, unusualness, ability to play with negative human emotions and criticize the existing social situations and a lot more makes the novel as well as the protagonist, Steppenwolf addictive to the core to any person experiencing discontentment and frustration while finding meaning for his/her existence. And it’s this vary nature that makes this text ideal for an ideological anatomy.

Like the sun that circling

Oh! Let the longest day be day and night;

On your frenzied life we spy

And refresh ourselves thereafter

Cool and unchanging is our eternal being,

Cool and unchanging is our eternal being,