This literary study examines Hermann Hesse's Peter Camenzind from a social psychological perspective. The focus is on examining the protagonist's personal changes as a result of influences by important relationships. Other characters and the social categorization are examined with regard to their influence on the protagonist's life path and identity formation. The analysis is divided into the sub-categories of childhood, youth, becoming adult, adulthood and exploration in order to make a chronological sequence of development clear. It could be shown that certain characters and circumstances have a strong impact on Peters Camenzind's life. Most notable are the parents, the social background, Richard and the carpenter family, but other characters also played a part in the protagonist's remarkable development. For future research, it would be interesting to examine the protagonist’s alcoholism and depressive tendencies from both a linguistic and psychological perspective.