Hans’s neighbors at the Berghof are a Russian husband and wife who have loud sex in their adjacent room, behavior that initially puzzles and then later disgusts Hans when he realizes what they are doing. Fittingly, he finds, the couple sits at the “Bad Russian” table in the dining hall. The couple’s rudeness and blatant sexuality contributes to the book’s negative (and oversimplified) portrayal of Eastern sensibilities.
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The Loud Russian Couple Character Timeline in The Magic Mountain
The timeline below shows where the character The Loud Russian Couple appears in The Magic Mountain. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 2: Room 34
...until they reach Hans’s room, Number 34. Joachim’s room is to the right, and a loud Russian couple is in the room to the left. Hans and Joachim enter the room, which is...
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Part 3, Chapter 1: The Shadow of Respectability
Hans walks out onto his balcony and hears the noisy Russian couple next door, their “Giggles, gasps, grapplings.” It’s clear the couple is having sex, but naïve—or...
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...the cheaply constructed, too-thin walls of his room. Hans has no good feelings toward the Russian couple and grunts something rude about them under his breath. By the time Joachim arrives to...
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Part 3, Chapter 2: Breakfast
...how he slept. Hans grumbles about his strange dreams and about all the noise the Russian couple has been making. He asks about an older woman dressed in black (Tous-les-deux) whom he’d...
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...breakfast, Joachim tells Hans about the sanitorium’s various residents. Hans refuses to meet the noisy Russian couple , whom he despises. Joachim says this is fine—they’re barbarians and sit at the “Bad...
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Part 3, Chapter 5: Clarity of Mind
...feathered hat and old feather boa sitting at the “Bad Russian” table and says they’re Hans’s neighbors . Hans stares at them coldly, something he’d usually never do, and is shocked at...
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Part 3, Chapter 9: Satana Makes Shameful Suggestions
...physical features, and realizes Joachim must have a crush on her. Next door, the rude Russian couple keep Hans awake with their sexual activities. Eventually he does fall asleep, but he has...
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