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Part 10, Chapter 1
Themes
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
If Thomas feels dejected about his own life, he finds hope in the future prospects of Hanno. He even wonders if he might live to see the return of the world as it was when Hanno’s grandfather (the consul) was alive. Thomas decides that it’s time to start thinking about steering Hanno away from music—Gerda’s influence—and toward business. Though Thomas would have let one of his sons go off to college, Hanno is all he has, and the Buddenbrook firm needs an heir. And besides, Hanno doesn’t attend school regularly due to his fragile health. Recently Dr. Langhals (who has now taken over Grabow’s practice for good) has prescribed Hanno cod-liver oil, apparently to correct for his “insufficient quantity of corpuscles.”
Despite the mounting setbacks the Buddenbrooks have faced over the past years, Thomas resolves to keep his chin up and hold out hope for the future—specifically, the future that Hanno might help cultivate as heir to the family. In so doing, he considers imposing the same sacrifices on Hanno that Thomas himself was forced to undertake as a boy, like not completing his education and not being permitted to indulge in his passions outside of business. Thomas sees this as an unfortunate sacrifice, but a necessary one.
Themes
Adding to Thomas’s frustration, Hanno refuses to participate in the exercises his physical-education teacher organizes for the male pupils. He also doesn’t mingle with other boys his age, preferring to play music or hang out with Kai. On the occasions when Hanno is forced to swim or go ice-skating, the other boys mock and ridicule him. One time, while swimming, the Hagenström boys decide to torment Hanno by holding him under water. When Kai sees what’s going on, he swims toward Hanno’s tormenters and bites one of them on the leg.
Hanno, unlike Thomas, takes no interest in business. Equally (if not more) upsetting to Thomas is how Hanno’s peers target him for bullying. Where a Buddenbrook might once have been a formidable rival to these sons of competing merchant families, Hanno is seen as a weakling and an underdog. His close relationship with Kai, the son of an eccentric aristocrat, is another source of shame for Thomas, given the condescension with which Hanseaten families like the Buddenbrooks would have looked down on the rural nobility.
Themes
Physical education aside, Thomas also tries to shape Hanno’s mind. He takes Hanno with him to attend business meetings at the harbor so that Hanno might observe Thomas in action. The harbor is Thomas’s favorite place, but Hanno takes no interest in it. When Thomas invites Hanno to accompany him to the “christening” of a new ship set to join their fleet, Hanno feigns interest and accompanies Thomas to the harbor. He watches Thomas break a bottle of champagne over the bow as it sets off on its first voyage.
Despite Hanno’s clear lack of interest, Thomas persists in pushing him to participate in business activities, perhaps foolishly hoping that doing so will inspire Hanno to contribute to his family legacy. The problem is that the family business has been in decline for years now, and exaggerated displays of mirth (as when Thomas breaks the bottle of champagne over a ship to celebrate its first voyage) come off as tacky and forced.
Themes
On special occasions like Palm Sunday, when Thomas makes the social calls expected of him as an important member of the community, Thomas invites Hanno to come along. He wants Hanno to see the skill with which Thomas ingratiates himself with other influential community members, like the local commander. And Hanno does see this—but he also sees the toll it takes on his father. When Hanno and Thomas return to the carriage after each social call, Hanno sees how “a mask slip[s] down over [Thomas’s] face.”
Once again, Thomas’s attempt to inspire Hanno backfires. Rather than take pride in his father’s formidable presence and social grace, Hanno feels pity for the toll these social calls take on Thomas, physically and emotionally. It’s very clear to Hanno that Thomas is putting on a brave face—and he sees this as pitiable rather than admirable behavior.
Themes
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Whenever Hanno asks for a second helping of dessert, Thomas reminds him that he’ll have to become a hardworking merchant if he wants to keep up that lifestyle. Occasionally, when Hanno has had a bit too much to drink, he joins Tony and Christian in mocking “poor Aunt Klothilde.” Thomas finds himself laughing along, egging on Hanno—even as Thomas himself has long abhorred this cruelty toward Klothilde.
Not only does Hanno take no interest in business, but he seems to have inherited his uncle Christian’s taste for luxury and decadence. Moreover, the ease with which he joins in on Tony and Christian’s mocking of “poor Aunt Klothilde” portrays Hanno as careless and meanspirited. If Hanno is the Buddenbrook’s family future, that future doesn’t look all that bright.
Themes
