Henry Haller, called “Harry” by many other characters, is the protagonist of the novel. He is approaching 50 years old, and he was formerly a successful writer. Because of his anti-war position, he lost credibility and respect in his field during and after the war. In the novel, he rents a room in town from which he wanders, drinks, and laments his fragmented personality. Haller believes that there is an irreconcilable duality in his personality: He is a bourgeois intellectual who enjoys the comforts of modern life, and he is also a wolf of the Eurasian Steppe (the Steppenwolf of the novel’s title). The novel explores the implications of Haller’s self-perception, highlighting how his Steppenwolf persona is a simplification of his true nature. Haller is intelligent and spiritual, finding solace in music, art, and literature, but he is also vehemently anti-Modernist, hating new technology and music to the extent that he feels entirely removed from modern society.

Haller is an archetypal hero in the novel, and his quest is the search for personal satisfaction and fulfillment, though he does not accomplish his task in the end of the novel. When Haller and Hermine meet and discuss Haller’s predicament, including his suicidal ideation, he reveals how social conditioning is both a limiting and freeing influence in his life.