“The overblown woman” is the nickname Behrens gives to a Berghof resident whose real name, Hans eventually learns, is Frau Zimmermann. She’s one of the people Hans visits when he’s going through his phase of visiting the Berghof’s “poor sick” in an effort to dignify their suffering. Frau Zimmermann is a nervous-seeming woman who laughs nonstop about her dire condition. The origins of her nickname relate to a botched pneumothorax she had prior to arriving at the Berghof—a doctor tried to refill her oxygen but gave her too much, which caused her heart to constrict and gave her shortness of breath. Frau Zimmermann’s unserious attitude infuriates Behrens. She dies before Hans can visit her a second time.
The Overblown Woman (Frau Zimmermann) Quotes in The Magic Mountain
The The Magic Mountain quotes below are all either spoken by The Overblown Woman (Frau Zimmermann) or refer to The Overblown Woman (Frau Zimmermann). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 5, Chapter 8: Danse Macabre
Quotes
“Just listen, and tell me if it isn’t the funniest thing you’ve ever heard in your life.”
Related Characters:The Overblown Woman (Frau Zimmermann) (speaker), Hans Castorp
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
301
Explanation and Analysis:
Hans, in his quest to dignify death, takes to visiting the Berghof’s sickest residents. Since arriving at the Berghof, he has been disappointed at and bothered by the residents’ and staffs’ blasé, disrespectful, or dismissive attitudes toward death and illness. Hans arrived at the Berghof with certain expectations about what death and illness do to a person’s character, and many of the ill residents at the Berghof have seriously challenged those expectations. Even Hans’s project of visiting residents with the most serious conditions and showing them how people ought to treat sickness has fallen short, with even these most critically Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis
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The Overblown Woman (Frau Zimmermann) Character Timeline in The Magic Mountain
The timeline below shows where the character The Overblown Woman (Frau Zimmermann) appears in The Magic Mountain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 5, Chapter 8: Danse Macabre
...upon Behrens in the hallway. Behrens tells Hans he’s on his way to visit “ Lady Overblown ” and asks if Hans would like to accompany him. Hans follow Behrens into the...
(full context)
Then the Overblown Woman (whose real name is Frau Zimmermann) tells Hans the origins of Behrens’s nickname for her,...
(full context)
Hans isn’t sure what about Behrens’s remark Frau Zimmermann finds so funny—is it that she doesn’t believe him, or is that she simply finds...
(full context)