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Part 4, Chapter 3: He Tries Out His Conversational French
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Magic Mountain, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time
Coming of Age
Death and Illness
East vs. West
Abstract Ideals vs. Lived Experience
Summary
Analysis
Every other Sunday, there’s a band concert on the terrace of the sanatorium—it’s a way for residents to know that two weeks have passed. The sanatorium’s staff and residents both clearly “honor” Sunday, providing an especially elaborate breakfast that day and setting the tables with flowers. Residents dress up, too. Frau Chauchat wears a lace peignoir. The band concert happens right after breakfast. Most people sit on the steps leading to the garden to listen to the performance. Among them is Hermine Kleefeld, as well as Herr Albin. Hans and Joachim sit at a table by themselves because Hans wants to smoke a cigar—they’ve been tasting better lately. The doctors, Behrens and Krokowski, attend the concert too.
The reason behind the bi-weekly Sunday band concerts adds to the novel’s examination of the subjective and arbitrary nature of time. It shows that people can’t innately feel or keep track of the passage of time: they need external signposts like the Sunday band concerts to tell them how many units of time (in this example, weeks) have passed. This raises the question of why society organizes time into units of measurement like hours, days, and weeks anyway. Another detail to note here is the improved taste of Hans’s cigars, which seems to indicate that his system has recalibrated itself, physically and emotionally, and that he feels increasingly at home at the Berghof.
Themes
Settembrini wanders toward Hans and Joachim’s table and joins them. He explains that he’s only going to drop by briefly—he doesn’t like being forced to do things. He decries his stolen human dignity, and leaving on his own terms gives him an illusion of independence. When Hans asks if Settembrini likes music, he goes off on one of his characteristic philosophical tangents, criticizing the “semi-articulate” and emotional nature of music. He claims to dislike music for “political” reasons but nevertheless praises its ability to move people. Joachim thinks Settembrini is being too high-minded, though: the concerts are nice because they break up the monotony of life at the sanatorium, filling the hours and days with something different.
Settembrini’s critique of the lack of genuine independence that life at the sanatorium offers residents underscores the value he places on personal liberty, and his attack on the “semi-articulate” emotional nature of music gestures toward the value he places on rationality—both of which reinforce his Enlightenment ideals. Joachim’s response that the concerts are good because they fulfill a real purpose (breaking up the monotony of life at the Berghof) emphasizes his character’s pragmatism. Though perhaps not as deep or curious a thinker as Settembrini, the novel casts Joachim’s ability to find meaning and value in real life—that is, in lived experience rather than abstract ideas—in a positive light.
Themes
Settembrini counters that music can also have a dulling effect and argues that this can be politically dangerous. He rambles on. Hans listens for a bit, but he’s tired and struggles to follow along. He watches a young girl sew a button onto the knee of the pants of a young boy. Both are serious ill. Hans thinks the young residents have odd pastimes.
Hans’s inability (or perhaps unwillingness) to follow along with Settembrini’s political and philosophical arguments convey his youth and inexperience. Settembrini has made clear his interest in serving as a mentor and imparting wisdom on the young protagonist, yet his wisdom falls on deaf ears.
Themes
