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Sesame Weichbrodt
Dr. Grabow is the Buddenbrooks’ longtime family doctor and friend. He treats the family for essentially the entire span of the novel. Dr. Grabow tends to coddle the Buddenbrooks, often to their detriment. For example, he keeps his mouth shut when he sees young Christian suffer indigestion from overindulging in rich sweets because he knows that no medical advice he might give Christian will convince him to give up the decadent lifestyle he and his family have adopted over the years. He also tends to give the family false hope in the face of dire medical prognoses, as when Bethsy contracts pneumonia. The younger Dr. Langhals tries to balance this out by being unflinchingly frank with the family, (but whether they listen to him is another story).
Dr. Grabow Quotes in Buddenbrooks
The Buddenbrooks quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. Grabow or refer to Dr. Grabow. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 9, Chapter 1 Quotes
“The lung is affected?” [Thomas] asked, looking from doctor to doctor.
“Yes—pneumonia,” Dr. Langhals said, with an earnest, correct bow.
“Just the least touch of infection in the right lung,” the family physician replied, “which we must do our very best to localize.”
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
This passage takes place in Bethsy’s room at Meng Strasse. Elderly now, the Buddenbrook matriarch has fallen gravely ill, and her concerned children call their longtime family physician Dr. Grabow and the younger Dr. Langhals to give their opinions. When Thomas addresses the doctors to get their opinion on Bethsy’s prognosis, their responses are markedly different. Whereas Langhals answers Thomas with frank honesty, explaining that Bethsy has pneumonia (and letting the dire implications of this in Bethsy’s old age speak for themselves), the older Dr. Grabow skirts around the issue, minimizing its gravity of Bethsy’s condition in his declaration that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam
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Dr. Grabow Character Timeline in Buddenbrooks
The timeline below shows where the character Dr. Grabow appears in Buddenbrooks. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 2
...More guests arrive, and the adults find seats on the various sofas and chairs. Dr. Grabow eyes the various sweets that have been laid out and remarks to the eager children...
(full context)
Part 1, Chapter 7
The party continues. Later in the evening, Bethsy Buddenbrook notices that Dr. Grabow, Ida, and Christian aren’t there. Bethsy leaves to search for the missing partygoers. She finds...
(full context)
Part 4, Chapter 11
...for air and quite “yella in the face.” Thomas demands that they send for Dr. Grabow, the doctor. Bethsy rushes over to her husband—but by the time she reaches him, he...
(full context)
Part 5, Chapter 8
...holiday. Christian takes a full holiday, complaining of a pain in his left leg. Dr. Grabow examines him but can’t find anything wrong. In Travemünde, Thomas and Tony visit with the...
(full context)
Part 6, Chapter 2
...trouble swallowing sometimes and is often short of breath. He suspects it’s consumption, though Dr. Grabow hasn’t found evidence of this. He instructs Christian to use a fan, and he prescribes...
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Part 7, Chapter 5
...it’s clear that he is “losing his edge, [i]s wearing out much too quickly.” Dr. Grabow urges him to take it easy, but Thomas insists he can handle his heavy workload....
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Part 8, Chapter 3
...good heavens, that’s what wagon drivers do,” Tony remarks. She complains about the family doctor, Grabow, insinuating that he’s diagnosing Hanno’s nightmares and melancholy as illness when really it’s the political...
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Part 9, Chapter 1
The elderly Dr. Grabow and the young Dr. Langhals exit Bethsy Buddenbrook’s bedroom to talk in private with Thomas....
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Grabow and Langhals leave. Thomas returns to Bethsy’s room, trying to look cheerful. Tony sits beside...
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Bethsy’s condition worsens until at last her death seems imminent—Grabow tells Thomas she may die within minutes, or she may last a few more hours....
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Part 10, Chapter 2
...school regularly due to his fragile health. Recently Dr. Langhals (who has now taken over Grabow’s practice for good) has prescribed Hanno cod-liver oil, apparently to correct for his “insufficient quantity...
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Part 10, Chapter 8
...listening to his chest. Tony pleads with Thomas not to leave them. The elderly Dr. Grabow appears later to examine Thomas himself. He suggests that they send for a nurse for...
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