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Part 7, Chapter 4
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
Some people consider Thomas Buddenbrook a man of “vanity,” owing to the attention he directs toward his physical appearance. But between the “private and public duties” he now has as partner of the Buddenbrook firm and as senator, it’s clear that he is “losing his edge, [i]s wearing out much too quickly.” Dr. Grabow urges him to take it easy, but Thomas insists he can handle his heavy workload. And indeed, his business is doing extremely well: as good as it had when his grandfather ran the firm.
Thomas throws himself into his work for the firm and his new responsibilities as a senator. Though it is obviously wearing him down, work is all he has known. Without it, he lacks purpose. Moreover, he has been raised to associate work with moral goodness, and rest with moral shortcoming; and at least for now, Thomas’s efforts are paying off. The firm is doing better than it has in years.
Active
Themes
Feeling in need of a new project, Thomas decides to build a new, magnificent house on a plot of land where the dilapidated home of a recently deceased spinster once stood, in a nice, middle-class neighborhood. It’s not a cheap project, but Thomas crunches the numbers and decides he can manage it. He asks Tony for her thoughts. She enthusiastically approves of the new home—and she’s delighted and honored that he values her opinion. Gerda is also on board with the new home.
Thomas splurges on constructing his new home, but not without careful consideration. It’s a reward for all his hard work, yes, but it's also something of a business investment: appearances matter a great deal to Thomas, and he believes that a successful and important man needs a house that reflects his prominent status.
Active
Themes
But Thomas’s life isn’t all sunshine and roses. Young Hanno is behind developmentally, not yet talking or walking at 15 months old. He has recurring seizures. For a time, everyone fears he will die. Eventually, though, the seizures become milder and less frequent, and Hanno starts to gain strength and learn to walk and talk. He gets taller, and as he grows up, he starts to look like a Buddenbrook. Ida Jungmann moves into Thomas’s household to serve as Hanno’s governess.
Active
Themes
In autumn, construction of Thomas’s new house begins, and it swiftly becomes the talk of the town. There’s an elaborate celebration on the day of the roof raising; people drink champagne, and Thomas treats the builders to a feast at a nearby inn. The Iwersens, who own the small flower shop directly across the street from the new home, congratulate Thomas on the new house as they pass by him one day. Thomas compliments Herr Iwersen on the shop’s window display, and Iwersen says his wife made it. Thomas momentarily makes eye contact with Frau Iwersen, but he doesn’t say anything. Then he walks away.
Active
Themes
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