Buddenbrooks

On a Thursday in October of 1835, the Buddenbrooks, a wealthy merchant family, gather at their new house on Meng Strasse for their weekly family dinner. The immediate family consists of patriarch Johann Buddenbrook and his wife Antoinette; their son Jean Buddenbrook (referred to as “the consul” or “Consul Buddenbrook”) and his wife Bethsy; and Jean and Bethsy’s young children, Thomas, Christian, and Tony. Ida Jungmann, a young woman from West Prussia, serves as the children’s governess. Young cousin Klothilde, the orphaned daughter of a poor distant relative, also lives with the family. Every other Thursday, the Buddenbrooks host a family dinner. These dinners are elaborate affairs, featuring the abundant food and drink, sweets, and cheer befitting of a prosperous and influential family like the Buddenbrooks.

Two and a half years later, in April of 1838, Bethsy and the consul celebrate the birth of a second daughter, Clara. Tony Buddenbrook, meanwhile, has grown into a beautiful (if conceited) girl. She takes pride in her family name and has adopted her elders’ disdain for the middle-class families that have steadily gained influence around town, like the Hagenströms. She often walks to school with Julie Hagenström, though the girls share a mutual dislike for each other. Tony develops a vendetta against Julie’s older brother Hermann when he forces a kiss on her.

Six years after the family moves into the house on Meng Strasse, Antoinette Buddenbrook dies. In his grief, Johann decides to retire, and his son, the consul, takes over the firm. Johann dies soon after, and the consul is touched when Johann’s estranged son Gotthold appears for the funeral. The half-brothers settle their differences, and the consul welcomes Gotthold, his wife, and his three daughters back into the family. At age 16, Thomas leaves school to start working for the firm. He works hard and takes his role as heir seriously and works hard. Tony enrolls in Sesame Weichbrodt’s boarding school. There she befriends Gerda Arnoldsen, an elegant young woman and talented violinist from Amsterdam. She also befriends Armgard von Schilling, the daughter of a squire.

When Tony reaches a marriageable age, her parents select an apparently successful businessman named Grünlich as a potential husband. Tony loathes Grünlich and repeatedly rejects his proposals. The consul sends her to the spa town of Travemünde to relax and think things over. There, she stays with Captain Schwarzkopf and his family. A romance develops between Tony and Captain Schwarzkopf’s son Morten, who is training to be a doctor, though the young lovers clash over Tony’s unexamined privilege and uncritical loyalty to the ruling class. Tony writes to her father to confess her love for Morten. The consul, deeming a commoner like Morten an unsuitable husband for Tony, passes along the information to Grünlich, who appears shortly after to confront the Schwarzkopfs about Morten’s unwitting overstep. Thomas arrives the next day to bring Tony home, and she never sees Morten again.

Upon her return to Meng Strasse, Tony enters her and Grünlich’s future wedding date into the family records, signaling her surrender to her parents’ wishes. Tony and Grünlich marry and move to a villa outside Hamburg. She gives birth to a daughter, Erika, shortly after. The marriage is a disaster. Grünlich immediately spends Tony’s substantial dowry and asks for subsequent loans. Then the consul learns that Grünlich swindled the family to convince them that Tony should marry him. He apparently altered his financial records to appear wealthier and more successful than he really was. The consul refuses to give Grünlich any more money, takes Tony and Erika back to Meng Strasse, and facilitates Tony’s divorce proceedings.

In September of 1855, the consul collapses and dies. Thomas takes over as acting head of the firm and appoints Herr Marcus, the chief clerk, as partner. Bethsy appoints her cousin, Justus Kröger, as Clara’s guardian. In February of 1856, Christian returns to Meng Strasse for the consul’s funeral. Christian has spent the past eight years working abroad in Valparaiso, and he entertains (or appalls) his family with bombastic, unfiltered tales of the shenanigans he got into there. He starts working in the office alongside Thomas, who grows increasingly resentful of Christian’s poor work ethic.

In May, Gotthold dies of a heart attack. Clara marries Pastor Sievert Tiburtius, a clergyman from Riga, and moves with her new husband to his homeland abroad. Thomas moves to Amsterdam to work at the Dutch consulate. There, he crosses paths with Tony’s old schoolmate, Gerda. They strike up a romance, become engaged, marry, and move into a house on Breite Strasse. Tony spends time in the south German city of Munich, where she strikes up a romance with Alois Permaneder, a businessman in the hops industry. Permaneder comes to visit the Buddenbrooks and rattles them all with his roguish manners, but they pretend to accept him for Tony’s sake—and for the sake of the business connection they might gain through Tony’s marriage to him.

Permaneder proposes to Tony, and the couple soon marries. Tony, Permaneder, and Erika settle in Munich, but the marriage is immediately unhappy. Permaneder funnels all Tony’s dowry into investments so that he can retire, and he spends his days hanging out with friends and smoking cigars, completely ignoring Tony. On top of this, Tony struggles to assimilate to Munich’s unfamiliar culture. Then she gives birth to a second child, but the baby dies the same day it is born. The last straw comes later, when Tony catches Permaneder forcing himself on the maid. Ignoring her family’s pleas to give Permaneder (and his connections) a second chance, Tony divorces Permaneder and returns with Erika to Meng Strasse.

In spring of 1861, Gerda gives birth to a son, Hanno—meaning the Buddenbrooks have at last produced an heir, though the baby is born prematurely and suffers a lifetime of health issues. Christian travels from Hamburg, where he has been working, to attend Hanno’s christening. While home, he asks Thomas for another loan, and the brothers get into a fight. The Buddenbrook firm continues to lose money, and Christian’s incessant money problems aren’t helping matters. Thomas is also upset to learn that Christian has apparently fathered a child with a disreputable woman named Aline.

In 1862, one of the oldest merchant senators dies, and Thomas is elected to the senate. To celebrate, he builds a magnificent new house for himself, Gerda, and Hanno to live in. Clara dies of tuberculosis. Thomas suffers more business setbacks as the firms of up-and-coming families like the Hagenströms and Möllendorpfs gain wealth and influence.

Twenty-year-old Erika attracts the attention of Hugo Weinschenk, the director of the Municipal Fire Insurance Company. Weinschenk proposes to Erika, and the couple later marries. Tony moves in with the newlyweds. Erika gives birth to a daughter, Elisabeth, a sickly little girl.

In 1868, Tony pleads with Thomas to offer a deal to her old school friend Armgard’s husband, Herr von Maiboom, who has a gambling problem and is buried in debt. She wants him to buy von Maiboom’s crops at a below-market rate. Thomas struggles with the moral implications of exploiting von Maiboom in this way but ultimately goes through with it. The deal backfires, leading the Buddenbrook firm to suffer yet another financial setback.

Hanno remains a medically frail child. On top of that, he takes entirely after Gerda: he is a poor student and has no interest the family business, preferring to spend his time playing the piano. Hanno’s only friend is Kai, the son of a reclusive count. It’s hinted that they have romantic feelings for each other. Thomas resents his son’s weak disposition and tries to get him interested in the family business, to no avail.

Time passes. Bethsy dies of pneumonia. The Buddenbrook firm’s steady losses force the family to sell the Meng Strasse house, an emotionally devastating development made worse by the fact that the buyer is none other than their nemesis, Hermann Hagenström. Weinschenk is accused of fraud and goes to prison. Though he is eventually released early, he abandons Erika to start a new life in London. Thomas’s health steadily worsens. Per his doctor’s orders, Thomas spends some time in Travemünde.

Thomas’s time in Travemünde does little to improve his health. Moreover, he feels increasingly restless and disillusioned. He has devoted his life to the family business, which has steadily declined in worth and influence over the decades. He suspects his wife Gerda of having an affair, but he can’t bring himself to confront her about it. Thomas’s filial duties have rendered him exhausted and in poor health; he senses he hasn’t much longer to live and realizes he is unprepared to die. Accepting his sad fate, he finalizes his will.

In 1875, Thomas collapses on the street. He is transported home and dies shortly after, devastating his family. In accordance with his will, Thomas’s assets are liquified. Having considered Hanno unfit to carry on the family legacy, Thomas requested that the Buddenbrook firm be dissolved within the year. Tony is devastated. Gerda lets Ida Jungmann go despite Ida’s decades of loyal service to the family. With no one left to stop him, Christian returns to Hamburg and marries Aline. But his already poor health takes a turn for the worse, and Aline institutionalizes him. Tony suspects Aline of conspiring with the doctors to keep Christian institutionalized indefinitely so that she can enjoy the independence his inheritance grants her.

Hanno falls ill with typhus and dies soon after. Six months later, Gerda announces her intentions to return to Amsterdam. Without Thomas’s widow, Tony and Erika (and poor cousin Klothilde) are left destitute and without social standing. As everyone reflects on the dead and laments the decline of the once-glorious Buddenbrooks, Sesame Weichbrodt—Tony’s lifelong friend and mentor—encourages them to take comfort in the hope that they will eventually reunite with all their dearly departed in the afterlife.