Demian Herman Hesses' novel Demian tells the story of a young boy named Emil Sinclair and his childhood growing up before the First World War. Emil struggles to find his new self-knowledge in the immoral world and is caught. between good and evil, which is represented as the realms of light and darkness. Hesse uses a lot of symbolic diction in his novel to give a more powerful presentation of Emil Sinclair and the conflict between good and evil. Symbolism gives direction, foreshadowing, and meaning to every aspect of the novel. Emil Sinclair's home when he was a young child is a very important symbol in the novel. As Emil goes to school, he is shown worldly immoral value. The confusion between good and evil creates the need for a safe haven for Emil. Emil describes his home as a kingdom of light and states that he and his family all belong to this kingdom. The house itself was once a monastery, giving it a more powerful representation of the realm of light. This symbolic asylum represents Emil's innocence within himself and sets him apart from the real world. Another refuge Emil retreats to is after finding himself a member of the Mark of Cain. Eva's garden symbolizes the garden of Eden (a religious setting therefore of the kingdom of light) and Emil separates himself there as one with the mark of Cain, separated from the rest of the corrupt world. The two settings symbolize Emil's importance in the world as well as his destiny. The Garden of Eden presents itself as another symbolic place. The event that Emil told the story of stealing the apples from the garden was a very symbolic point in the novel in which Emil moves away from his kingdom of light. The garden from which Emil stole the apples represented the Garden of Eden and the apples, or forbidden fruit, symbolized Emil's first sin. This event foreshadows the continuation of the conflict between good and evil. Emil's first step out of the realm of light gives way to more symbolic events in which he is further immersed in the realm of darkness. At the beginning of the novel, Emil notices that there is a coat of arms above his house representing the religion of Cain. The coat of arms contained a hawk bird. Hesse uses this symbolic approach to give the hawk a purpose in the rest of the story, as a symbol of the Mark of Cain. Emil discovered that the bird represents the god Abraxas. From there, Emil is determined to find the meaning of the bird and Abraxas. After the rain washed away a painting of Beatrice painted by Emil, Emil was able to see Demian and himself on the canvas. Emil then painted a picture of the hawk on the same canvas. Hesse used this event to symbolize the connection between Emil, Demian and Abraxas. Having united these characters into one, Hesse was able to conclude Emil's transformation in the New World. Emil sees the bird again above the corridor of Frau Eva's house. The bird in Eva's hallway symbolized her house as the house of Cain. Now Emil has found himself and knows that his place is there. Emil sees the bird outside again as clouds in the rainy sky. This clearly shows that the rest of the Old World is ready for the transformation to the New World. In the final scenes of the novel, Emil is on the battlefields of the First World War. One night, Emil looks up into the sky and sees an image of a vast village of people engulfed in a divine figure who resembles Eva. The figure then crouches and gives birth to the people who are now bright, shining stars. This is the most important symbolic event in Hesses' novel. The divine figure symbolizes Eva, being the leader of the Cain people. People who were swallowed up by the divine figure.