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Part 1, Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Buddenbrooks, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family and Sacrifice
Tradition, Modernity, and Change
The Protestant Ethic
Personal Fulfillment and Self-Knowledge
Pretense and Etiquette
Summary
Analysis
Herr Jean Jacques Hoffstede, the elderly town poet, is among the first to arrive. Then the consul’s sons Thomas and Christian return home from school. Christian’s older brother, Thomas, isn’t as academically inclined as Christian; he also has rather unhealthy teeth. Thomas has strong features and resembles his grandfather, Johann. 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 that he “will have some work to do.” Johann smiles and explains that the sweets are from Lebrecht Kröger, his generous relative. Guests continue to arrive. There’s Pastor Wunderlich, an elderly widower. Wunderlich arrives with the broker Herr Grätjens. Senator Dr. Langhals arrives, too, accompanied by his wife. Then there’s the wine merchant Köppen and Köppen’s wife.
This early scene establishes Thomas and Christian as opposites, and that will only become more apparent as the story progresses and the boys grow up. For now, Thomas’s resemblance to Johann suggests (if only symbolically) his allegiance to the Buddenbrook family and all it stands for. His subpar academic performance perhaps suggests an incurious mind. Christian’s academic prowess portrays him as a competent and intelligent young person. Thomas’s bad teeth will become an important symbol as the narrative goes on, pointing toward the inner rot that gradually undoes the Buddenbrook family over time.
Active
Themes
At 4:30 the younger and older generations of Krögers arrive, as well as the Consul Justus Kröger’s sons, Jakob and Jürgen. Mayor Oeverdieck and his wife arrive next. The Krögers—the parents of the Bethsy Buddenbrook—arrive next, and slightly late. Consul Buddenbrook kisses his mother-in-law’s hand as Johann Buddenbrook cheerily greets the Kröger patriarch, Lebrecht Kröger, a large and respectable man who has powdered hair and wears fashionable clothing. Lebrecht’s son Justus is there, too—sporting a fashionable moustache. Family and friends talk amongst themselves, and soon Ida Jungmann and the kitchen maid open the doors for the guests to enter the dining room.
Active
Themes
