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Part 5, Chapter 7
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
That summer is a happy one for the Buddenbrooks. Thomas returns to Meng Strasse in July. When he’s not working in town, he visits Travemünde, where his family is on holiday. Christian takes a full holiday, complaining of a pain in his left leg. Dr. Grabow examines him but can’t find anything wrong. In Travemünde, Thomas and Tony visit with the Schwarzkopfs. Frau Schwarzkopf prepares coffee and food. Captain Schwarzkopf announces that Morten is now a successful doctor in Breslau.
Thomas and Christian’s different attitudes toward vacation highlight their different work ethics. Whereas Thomas only joins his family in Travemünde when he doesn’t have work to do, Christian has no qualms about taking a full holiday to unwind and restore his ailing health. Ironically, it seems that the more Christian rests and indulges his various ailments, the worst they get. Meanwhile Captain Schwarzkopf’s update about Morten’s successful medical career gives Tony a glimpse at the happier future she might have had with him, had she not given in to her family’s demands to marry Grünlich.
Active
Themes
In August, the Buddenbrooks return to town. Pastor Tiburtius joins them upon his return from Russia, and then the Arnoldsens arrive. Thomas escorts Gerda into the landscape room to meet Bethsy, and it’s “a very beautiful scene” as the women embrace and exchange formal pleasantries. Tony is in especially good spirits, happy that Tiburtius is the only religious man in the house at present and that Thomas has chosen her friend Gerda to marry.
The two engagements are welcome news to the Buddenbrooks because they represent the continuation of the family legacy. Thomas’s engagement to Gerda, moreover, brings the possibility of an heir.
Active
Themes
The Buddenbrooks are still officially in mourning, so they only celebrate the two engagements in private. Nevertheless, word spreads throughout the town. Some townspeople are impressed by Gerda’s family wealth. Others find her odd and “pretentious.” But that’s fitting for Thomas, who is himself “a little pretentious.” Thomas is in fact quite different from past generations of Buddenbrooks. He dresses fashionably, even down to his underwear. In conversation, he quotes Heine.
Active
Themes
Since the families must celebrate the engagements in private (because the Buddenbrooks are still in mourning), it gives them a better opportunity to really get to know one another. Tony enthusiastically shows everyone the landscape room. After a celebratory dinner one night, Gerda and her father take out their violins and play a duet.
Active
Themes
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Later that night, the group eats sabayon together and plans the rest of the summer, deciding that the guests will stay for the rest of the month, perhaps into September. Clara’s wedding will take place at home, after Christmas. Thomas’s will take place in Amsterdam after the new year. Gerda and Thomas have already made plans to tour Italy for their honeymoon. Tiburtius and Clara decide against taking a honeymoon.
Active
Themes
