Previous
Part 6, Chapter 11
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
In the spring of 1861, Gerda gives birth to her and Thomas’s firstborn, a son. The whole family attends the christening, including Erika, who is now 15 years old; Christian, who travels from Hamburg; and Clara and Tiburtius, who come all the way from Riga. The baby is born alive but prematurely, and he has health complications. Thomas is merely grateful the baby has survived—he knows what a close call it was.
Part 7 continues the novel’s pattern of the extended Buddenbrook clan coming together to celebrate a momentous family occasion, in this case the birth—at last—of an heir. Whether Hanno’s birth marks a turning point for the family or merely contributes to its decline remains to be seen, though the novel’s subtitle (“The Decline of a Family”) indicates that it will be the latter.
Themes
On her way out later, Tony offers Thomas another congratulations. Kissing him on both cheeks, she assures him that it’s “a beautiful day” to be a Buddenbrook. People have said the family is in decline, but they’re wrong: little Johann (whom the family will nickname “Hanno”) here holds the key to the family’s future, and things are looking up.
