The novel is a severe criticism of academic education that ignores students' personal development; in that respect, it is typical of Hesse's work.

Heilner is expelled from the seminary, and Giebenrath is sent home after his academic performance declines as symptoms of mental illness develop.

[3] Back home, he finds coping with his situation difficult, having lost most of his childhood to scholastic study, and having never formed lasting personal relationships with anyone in his village.

He is apprenticed to a mechanic, and seems to find satisfaction in the work: it is visceral and concrete, as opposed to the intellectual abstraction of scholarly pursuit.

Despite some personal fulfillment in this existence, Hans never fully adjusts to his new situation, and on a pub crawl in a neighboring village he and some colleagues get drunk.