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Part 8, Chapter 9
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
The elderly Dr. Grabow and the young Dr. Langhals exit Bethsy Buddenbrook’s bedroom to talk in private with Thomas. Dr. Grabow promises Thomas that Bethsy’s health is quite good, considering her age. Dr. Langhals interjects, stating that Bethsy does have pneumonia. Grabow reaffirms that while it’s important they “localize the illness,” Bethsy should be okay. He suggests Thomas hire a nurse to tend to Bethsy overnight. Before the doctors leave, Thomas asks if it’s necessary to update Christian about Bethsy’s condition right away. The doctors exchange a glance, but Grabow laughs and says there’s no point in telling Christian anything for the time being.
The old Dr. Grabow and the younger Dr. Langhals’s different approaches to discussing Bethsy’s condition reflect a generational divide. Whereas Grabow communicates (perhaps foolishly) optimism in order to quell the family’s anxieties, Langhals is blunter and more realistic about Bethsy’s likelihood of recovery—even if he risks upsetting the family.
Active
Themes
Grabow and Langhals leave. Thomas returns to Bethsy’s room, trying to look cheerful. Tony sits beside Bethsy’s bed, holding Bethsy’s hands. Bethsy asks Thomas what the doctors said—then she falls into a coughing fit. Thomas reassures Bethsy that she’ll be good as new in a few days, but Bethsy sees through this. As her condition worsens over the next few days, she knows she will soon die, and she’s terrified. Thomas summons Christian home from Hamburg.
Thomas’s choice to console and reassure his mother rather than be honest with her about how ill she is echoes Grabow’s approach, and this perhaps indicates that people take comfort in the safety and certainty of the past ways of doing things. When Bethsy sees through the charade, it reveals the futility of clinging to the past. She will die regardless of how delicately the others dance around the subject.
Active
Themes
Bethsy’s condition worsens until at last her death seems imminent—Grabow tells Thomas she may die within minutes, or she may last a few more hours. The family summons Justus Kröger, Bethsy’s cousin. Tony and Erika sit at Bethsy’s bedside and weep. Bethsy remains alive late into the night, oscillating between restlessness and total exhaustion. She dies the following morning.
Active
Themes
