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Part 6, Chapter 2
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
One day, Thomas returns to the office after spending an hour at a gentleman’s reading club. Not long after, he spots Christian walking down the street toward the office, having apparently come from the Club—where he’s been all morning. The moment Christian arrives, Thomas takes him aside. He admonishes Christian for his poor work ethic.
Thomas and Christian continue to clash over Christian’s decadent lifestyle, which Thomas condemns for the optics of it (Christian’s behavior reflects poorly on the entire Buddenbrook family) and on moral grounds.
Active
Themes
When Thomas complains that Christian spends all his time drinking and attending theater performances, Christian retorts that Thomas himself once enjoyed art and literature, but he eventually found purpose through his work. Christian, in contrast, hasn’t yet found his purpose. This infuriates Thomas, since it proves that Christian knows he’s behaving dishonorably—and yet chooses to behave that way anyway.
Christian and Thomas’s argument sheds additional light on the nature of their dysfunctional relationship and on the connection between work and purpose. Christian suggests it’s unfair of Thomas to be so hard on him since Thomas actually has more going for him than Christian: Thomas has found purpose in his work, whereas Christian is purposeless and floundering. While Christian’s cavorting might look like selfish pleasure-seeking behavior, it’s actually an expression of Christian’s existential suffering from not having any direction in his life—in other words, a pitiable form of escapism.
Active
Themes
Thomas’s insults infuriate Christian, who insists that Thomas only likes working at the firm because he’s in charge. Christian has no such independence, so the work isn’t as rewarding. Thomas replies that Christian is free to find work someplace else if he desires independence—they’ve each inherited money from their late father, and it doesn’t come with any strings attached. Christian expresses his interest in working for a firm in Hamburg. And so, in May of 1857, Christian leaves for Hamburg.
Active
Themes
