Grammar School

The story of Emil Sinclair's youth, as narrated in Demian, begins when Sinclair is ten years old and attending a grammar school in the small German town where he lives with his parents and two sisters. Sinclair describes a formative childhood experience when he lied to another child, Franz Kromer, bragging he had stolen apples from a local farmer. Although Sinclair is innocent of any crime, Kromer blackmails him by threatening to report to the police or to the farmer that Sinclair has stolen the apples. For weeks afterwards, Kromer threatens Sinclair into providing him with whatever money he can pilfer from his house, as well as other items. Sinclair's life becomes dominated by his fear of Kromer and his fear of being found guilty by his parents or other authorities. Sinclair comes to feel that he has committed a sin, and that he now belongs...