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Part 1, Chapter 5
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
For dessert, the Buddenbrooks serve an impressive array of cookies, cakes, fruits, and custards. The children get plum pudding. Thomas fetches two bottles of Madeira from the cellar, and then Johann toasts “the Buddenbrook family, both present and absent.” The consul is perplexed at his father’s mention of “absent” family members and wonders whom Johann is referring to. Others make their own toasts; Hoffstede recites a poem he has written to mark the occasion.
The volume of rich foods the Buddenbrooks consume over the course of a single meal is almost comically large—and then Thomas fetches sweet Madeira wine to wash it all down. Again, this establishes early on the family’s taste (literally) for decadent, indulgent treats. Johann’s cryptic comment about “absent” family members seems to allude to his estranged son Gotthold (whose acrimonious letter the consul discussed with Antoinette earlier), building narrative tension and intrigue.
Active
Themes
