The Magic Mountain: Part 5, Chapter 2: “My God, I See It!” Summary & Analysis

The Berghof has been busy lately, recently receiving many new residents, and so it’s a week before Head Nurse Mylendonk orders Hans to report for X-rays. Hans doesn’t mind that it took so long—he knows there are many people here who are sicker than he is. And at the sanatorium, it’s a matter of social etiquette to respect those with more severe illnesses. Hans finds that when he returns to his table in the dining hall for the first time following his three weeks of isolation, hardly anyone pays him any mind—as though he’d been gone for no time at all.

But Hans’s crush on Madame Chauchat has only grown—all throughout his isolation, visions of her floated in front of his eyes. This, in truth, was how his time in bed managed to pass so swiftly. Hans reacted to these visions with a mixture of joy and horror. Joachim, meanwhile, doesn’t talk about Marusya, and so Hans doesn’t say anything to him about his infatuation with Clavdia Chauchat, limiting his conversations about her to his teasing interactions with Fräulein Engelhart.  

One day, Fräulein Engelhart gives Hans some unsettling news: Clavdia has been posing for Behrens in his private residence to have her portrait painted. Upon hearing this, Hans returns to his room to take his temperature and finds that it is 99.9 degrees. Hans has recently noticed something else that has disturbed him—a new patient, a young man from Manheim, has been ogling Clavdia, too, though Clavdia doesn’t seem to pay him any mind. But, the narrator asserts, the narrative is straying too far from the most pressing issue: Hans’s X-ray exam.

Hans “descend[s]” into the basement laboratory for his X-rays. Joachim accompanies him. It’s busy downstairs, and lots of people are waiting. As Hans waits for his turn, he observes that the basement is cloaked in “a kind of artificial twilight,” just like Dr. Krokowski’s office is. Suddenly, Clavdia appears in the waiting area and takes a seat beside the entrance to the laboratory. Hans feels his blood freeze. She asks, in broken German, what time his appointment is at. Joachim and Clavdia complain about the doctor being behind schedule. Hans thinks about Behrens painting Clavdia’s portrait—an interpretation of her exterior. Then he thinks about her being X-rayed, revealing her insides, and he must look away out of “respectability.”

Luckily, the staff seem determined to speed things along, so eventually it’s time for Joachim and Hans to head into the laboratory. To Hans, the room looks like “a photographer’s studio, a darkroom, or an inventor’s workshop and a sorcerer’s laboratory.” Behrens is there and greets them. Joachim immediately removes his clothes. Behrens tells Hans that seeing his insides should put some of his worries to rest. He shows Hans his “private gallery,” presenting a series of black plates that display a series of X-rayed body parts. Then he gets to work with the exam.

Joachim goes first. Behrens turns off the lights and explains that they must wait for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Hans like this and compares it to a moment of silent prayer. Finally, their eyes adjusted, Hans looks at Joachim’s insides displayed upon the viewing apparatus. He sees Joachim’s heart. Doing so—looking at Joachim’s “gaunt memento mori”— both thrills and horrifies Hans. 

It’s Hans’s turn next, and when he looks at his own skeleton on the viewing apparatus, he sees something no  mortal should ever see: “his own grave.” Behrens, noting Hans’s disturbed reaction, admits that the whole thing is a bit creepy. In no time, the exam is over, and Behrens switches the lights back on. In the end, Behrens had been able to see both the old, healed spots on Hans’s lungs and the new ones. Hans confirms this, having seen the X-ray plates himself. And that settles it: he will take his rest cures, monitor his temperature, and wait until he gets better.