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Part 3, Chapter 3
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
Consul Buddenbrook confides in Bethsy about how puzzled he is by Tony’s rejection of Grünlich. Tony is young and inexperienced, and marriage to someone as respectable as Grünlich would instantly give her a “place in the world,” which is what she really wants. And even if she doesn’t much care for Grünlich now, the consul has no doubt she would eventually grow to love her husband. But, the consul admits, there are other reasons he’d like Tony to marry Grünlich—for one, Grünlich’s business is doing very well.
The consul’s struggle to empathize with Tony reveals his own priorities in life. He believes that family loyalty is important, yes, but that’s (at least in part) because family loyalty is what enables the Buddenbrooks to get ahead in life, improving their financial and social standing. To the consul, caring about something like love is silly and imprudent.
Themes
Everyone who has heard about Grünlich’s proposal thinks Tony is foolish to say no. Finally, Consul Buddenbrook takes pity on Tony. He suggests they send her away for a nice retreat for the last bit of summer. She can unwind at the harbor pilot Captain Diederich Schwarzkopf’s place in Travemünde (a spa town) while she figures things out.
That most people in Tony’s life think she should seize the opportunity to marry Grünlich shows that the consul isn’t an anomaly—he is merely upholding the accepted norms of his social class. Moreover, the consul demonstrates care for his daughter when he suggests that Tony go away to Travemünde to rest and figure things out.
Themes
