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Part 4, Chapter 11
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
Bethsy greets Justus Kröger and invites him to sit down. She has invited Justus to Meng Strasse to discuss the consul’s will with Thomas, Tony, and Herr Marcus, the chief clerk. Bethsy asks Justus to serve as Clara’s guardian, and Justus accepts. Thomas and Herr Marcus enter the dining room. Justus asks if it’s apt to call Thomas “consul” yet, but Thomas informs him that he has invited Gotthold to fill the late Consul Buddenbrook’s role, and Gotthold immediately accepted. Justus agrees this was a prudent decision on Thomas’s part. Bethsy greets Herr Marcus warmly and shares with him Consul Buddenbrook’s dying wish for Herr Marcus to join the firm as partner. Herr Marcus gratefully accepts.
Part 5 begins as many of the others have, with the Buddenbrook family gathered together. This time, the occasion that has brought them all together is far more grim, as they assemble to go over the terms of the consul’s will. Thomas’s announcement that he has chosen Gotthold to fill the late Consul Buddenbrook’s position at the consulate shows that Thomas is continuing his late father’s legacy, treating Gotthold with compassion and fairness after years of estrangement from Johann. Thomas also shows his appreciation for loyal associates of the family by offering Herr Marcus a partnership to the firm.
Active
Themes
Justus suggests they get down to the business of sorting through Consul Buddenbrook’s will. Other than setting aside a dowry for Clara, Justus has no interest in the money. When the consul died, everyone was surprised at the substantial fortune he left behind—the firm had fallen on hard times over the past decades, but for all the consul’s worrying over money, the family made back most of what they lost, and then some. In total, the family fortune comes to around 750,000 marks.
On the one hand, Consul Buddenbrook’s death marks the end of an era. But the happy surprise of the substantial fortune he has left behind gives new hope for the future—if his descendants can manage that fortune well.
Active
Themes
The group moves on to the intricacies of the will. Consul Buddenbrook arranged for Bethsy to be the universal heir and to keep all the firm’s assets together. He has allotted 17,000 thalers courant to Tony’s dowry in the event that she seeks to marry a second time—her first marriage cost the family quite a bit. Tony scoffs unhappily at the small sum but tries not to show it.
Active
Themes
