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Part 10, Chapter 9
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
Less than a year after Thomas’s death, Christian moves to Hamburg and marries Aline Puvogel—no one is around to stop him any longer. Thomas appointed Kistenmaker the executor of his will, the administrator of his estate, and Hanno’s guardian. No one is happy with how Kistenmaker is handling these important tasks. Thomas specified that his assets be liquidated and the firm dissolved within a year of his death, and Tony is distraught when she learns of this. What will become of Hanno? She can’t believe Thomas would choose to shut down the firm. Why should “history […] come to an end” when there is an heir to inherit it?
Many of the earlier sections of the novel begin with the family together, but that pattern fades as the family business flounders and more Buddenbrooks die. Part 11, the final section of the novel, sees the remaining Buddenbrooks torn apart by grief and distance. Here, readers also learn why Thomas was so adamant about keeping the details of his will a secret: he has decided to dissolve the firm. After decades of decline and not feeling confident in Hanno’s ability to revive it, Thomas has decided that the family business will die with him. Whether a final attempt to preserve his dignity or a cynical admission of failure, his surviving family will never know for sure.
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Themes
The process of liquidation begins. The short time frame Thomas prescribed forces Kistenmaker and Marcus to make quick, unfavorable deals, selling off the warehouse and stored grain at a loss. Though Thomas’s estate is valued at an estimated 650,000 marks, it amounts to not even half that in the end. Soon, rumors spread that Gerda may be forced to sell her house to make up for the Buddenbrook family’s “dwindling” fortune. Gerda informs Tony that people have been harassing her about settling outstanding accounts.
The short time frame Thomas designated for the sale of his assets more or less forces Kistenmaker to accept underwhelming offers. One has to wonder if Thomas intended to punish or humiliate his family from beyond the grave, letting them reap the rewards of their collective lifetime of laziness and self-indulgence.
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Gerda considers returning home with Hanno to live with her father in Amsterdam. One day, Gosch (the broker) pays Gerda a visit and offers to buy the house for a sum of 85,000 marks. Kistenmaker scoffs at this low offer and insists he can get a much better price—but he sits on it for so long that in the end, the house is sold for 75,000 marks. Kistenmaker arranges for the purchase of a new home for Gerda and Hanno, just beyond the Burg Gate. They move there in autumn of 1876.
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Ida Jungmann is let go—Hanno is 15 now and no longer needs her care. More significantly, though, Gerda has never gotten along with Ida, whose air of self-importance Gerda doesn’t appreciate. Tony tries to intervene, but to no avail. And so, Ida returns to her home in West Prussia and moves in with family.
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Whenever Tony visits Hanno at Gerda’s new home, she tells him stories about his ancestors. In Amsterdam, meanwhile, Christian’s “morbid fantasies and fixations” grow worse. Eventually, his wife (Aline) and doctor convince him to enter a sanatorium. Christian is unhappy at the facility and writes letters to his family in which he expresses his wish to leave, but the sanatorium is strict and won’t allow it. Aline, meanwhile, makes use of Christian’s wealth to lead the carefree, pleasurable lifestyle she enjoyed before their marriage.
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