Narziss and Goldmund

Humans are one of the only species that are expected to meet someone, fall in love, and mate for life. It is socially engraved in us that we are to marry for life, and to be completely faithful to that one person. Given a person of Goldmund's free spirit and constant need for change, and to experience the new, puts one giant obstacle in his path. He cannot settle down, however much he craves everlasting …

…have had to live, and living meant transcending both the mother world and the father world. In death, Goldmund has surpassed Narziss, because Narziss will someday die as well. Narziss & Goldmund, by Hermann Hesse, contains a distinct cyclical structure. This structure is contributed to through characters, themes, ideas, times, and places. These elements help to present an intricate and carefully laid portrayal of the human psyche and the transcendence of the mother and father world.