Buddenbrooks Part 4, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Gosch and Consul Buddenbrook return to the council meeting, where the mood has considerably improved. On the ride home, Consul Buddenbrook urges Kröger not to dwell on any of the unrest all that much—in the end, the so-called revolution is just “a farce.” He laments the misguided efforts of the protestors, who are not acting in their best interest. Kröger is unresponsive. Just then, a rock crashes through the carriage window and bounces against Kröger’s fur-padded chest. Though unharmed, he is rattled and furious.

Consul Buddenbrook’s diminishment of the revolution as just “a farce” demonstrates how confident he is in the ruling class’s hold on power. He believes that it, like his own prosperity, are immune to the forward march of time. But the physical threat of violence embodied in the rock that crashes through the carriage window, hitting Kröger, ominously suggests that this might not be the case.

Active Themes

When the carriage nears home and reaches the lantern-lined path to the terrace, Buddenbrook is horrified at what he sees: Lebrecht Kröger’s “yellow, ragged, deeply furrowed” face—the face of an old and sickly man. Buddenbrook runs from the carriage to help Kröger, but it’s too late: Kröger is dead.

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Even if Kröger’s shock from the thrown rock has only caused his death symbolically, his passing represents the inevitable collapse of the old as the passage of time gives rise to the new. The consul might have been able to stop the protestors today, but he can’t stop the inevitable changes that occur with the passage of time.

Active Themes

Buddenbrooks: Part 4, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis