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Part 4, Chapter 10: The Thermometer
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
The narrator notes that the next three weeks of Hans’s stay at the Berghof will require about as many lines or even words as his first three weeks required pages—this is just how “the laws of narrative,” which play with the passage of time, work. Time passes quickly, after all, when one is a bedridden patient. And that’s what Hans has been, per Behrens’s orders.
Once more, the narration focuses on the malleable experience of time. Here, the narrator explicitly notes how “the laws of narrative”—that is, the genre conventions that dictate how one tells a story—are designed to mimic this malleable, subjective experience, spending more pages describing time that seems to drag on and fewer pages describing time that flies by.
Themes
Joachim leaves Hans alone for a day, but on Sunday he comes to his room to ask him about what they should do with the people who are expecting Hans back home. Hans says it’s not a big deal—they’re not expecting him on any particular day. Joachim feels bad—he fears Hans would never have gotten sick if he hadn’t come to visit him. Hans thinks this is ridiculous. He came here for a vacation, and he clearly needed one. And he can’t be the first person this has happened to who’s come here. He thinks that illness probably even runs in the family. Anyway, Hans trusts Behrens, and there’s no point in fearing the worst until he has his X-rays done. Hans is still convinced he’ll be leaving here shortly.
Hans’s reaction to his sudden change of plans is strangely—and, indeed, comically—casual. He was slated to start work when he returned home, after all. What’s more, his sudden trust in Behrens is a far cry from the skepticism he expressed just days before in the doctor’s ability to cure his patients. It’s also curious that Hans, who has repeatedly encountered patients (including Joachim) whose release Behrens has pushed back by months, is so confident he’ll be leaving the Berghof shortly. Whether Hans is in denial or simply woefully naïve about his situation remains unclear.
Themes
Hans takes his meals in bed on Sunday, and Joachim reports back to him about everything that happened that day, including Krokowski’s bi-weekly lecture. Today, he talked about love again, but this time in terms of “basic chemistry”—about a living thing poisoning itself with substances it kept inside the body. Eventually it's Tuesday—the day Hans was originally supposed to leave. Behrens determines that Hans will have to stay longer and that he’ll have more information as soon as possible. Hans writes a letter home to explain the situation and feels content, though still sick.
Krokowski’s lecture reflects Hans’s present situation: his repressed urges and desires, whether they be his self-indulgence or his irrational love for Clavdia, are poisoning him and manifesting as the physical symptoms of illness he’s now experiencing. But Hans is either too naïve or too in denial to recognize this, and the similarity goes right over his head.
Themes
Each day now, an attendant knocks on Hans’s door, addressing him by his room number (34) and rubbing him down with alcohol. His meals are the same elaborate feasts he enjoyed downstairs, though he now takes them in bed. Krokowski visits Hans during his regular afternoon rounds. This first happens on Monday, and it takes Hans by surprise. Krokowski addresses Hans as “comrade” and informs him that the moist spot in his lungs isn’t merely an “organic” problem. Organic problems, the doctor explains, are always symptoms of different, deeper-seated problems. In time, Hans is no longer bothered by Krokowski’s visits. Time, too, begins to pass more quickly for him, with afternoons seamlessly fading into evenings.
When the attendant addresses Hans by his room number, it reflects the gradual loss of self he experiences as he gives in to illness and inaction and accepts his new identity as a resident of the Berghof. He’s no longer Hans Castorp, the young engineer with the promising career ahead of him. Now, he’s defined entirely by his illness. His willingness to sit through Krokowski’s visits and the swiftness with which time passes underscore this transformation.
Themes
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One day, around 10 or 12 days since Hans first became bedridden, Settembrini comes to visit. He turns on the overhead light as he steps into Hans’s room and declares Hans a “poor fellow.” Hans thinks this is rather arrogant—surely he’ll be well and on his way out of here before Settembrini. He asks Hans how he’s doing and then remarks with some amusement on Hans’s choice to let them examine him just before he was set to leave. He also notes Hans’s decision to start keeping track of his temperature before anyone ordered him to do so. Hans jokes along, recalling with some amusement the names by which Settembrini referred to Behrens and Krokowski on Hans’s first day at the Berghof—Rhadamanthus and Minos, two judges of hell.
Here, Settembrini implicitly notes Hans’s ambivalence about staying at the Berghof. Though Hans insists he’ll recover and be on his way in no time, Settembrini points out that Hans chose to be examined right before he was supposed to leave and started keeping track of his temperature before anyone told him to do so. Hans’s choices, Settembrini implies, suggest that Hans had wanted to stay at the Berghof and was looking for excuses to make that happen. Notably, Hans neither confirms nor denies this accusation. Once more, Hans’s mentor tries to help Hans—in this situation, he seems to be trying to make Hans understand his behavior so he can get back on track and return to his life in ordinary society. But once more, Hans obstinately disregards Settembrini’s genuine efforts to help him.
Themes
Settembrini jokes darkly about a patient whom the doctors made sicker than she was before she first arrived at the Berghof. Hans laughs this off but assures Settembrini that Behrens did indeed identify some cavities in Hans’s lungs. Settembrini gleefully replies that sometimes spots that appear to be cavities are merely shadows, and other times real problems don’t show up at all. Finally Hans convinces the man that he is, in fact, truly ill.
Settembrini tries again, this time through humor, to get through to Hans—to make him see that his illness might be more exaggerated and self-indulgent than he believes—and once again, Hans ignores Settembrini.
Themes
After Settembrini asks about his family back home who may be concerned for him, Hans initially speaks favorably of his homeland, but then he goes on a rambling tangent about the comparative crudeness of life “down there” compared to up at the Berghof. Settembrini lets Hans speak until he trails off, then he sighs and cautions Hans about how every young person who stays here for any extended period of time ultimately becomes “lost to life,” unable to do anything but muck about and take their temperature. They become incapable of living any other sort of life.
Settembrini, who has the benefit of age and experience, tries to get through to young and naïve Hans, warning him that he will waste his life if he remains at the Berghof for too long. The notion of becoming “lost to life” is an idea that recurs throughout the novel; ultimately, Hans’s coming-of-age story centers on the question of whether he will become and remain “lost to life,” or whether he will find his way back to the world, complete his self-education and self-awareness, and become a contributing member of society.
Themes
Settembrini remembers one man who got to go home. But upon his arrival, he immediately took to bed and did nothing but take his temperature all day. He claimed, to his frustrated family, that only people who’d lived “up there” would understand. His mother ordered him to go back “up there” then, and so he did—he returned to his “home.” Hans only half listens to this story, though, and dismisses it as another of Settembrini’s meaningless stories. He redirects the subject to his earlier idea about the harsh cruelty of life “down there” and rattles on about that some more, and about his illness. He decides it makes sense that he’s ill now, as he has always felt rather weak. He also thinks that maybe his parents’ early deaths made him more aware of the inherent cruelty of life than other people are.
Settembrini tells this story as a warning to Hans about what his future might look like if he stays at the Berghof for too long. The parallels between this man’s story and Hans’s own situation should be clear, yet Hans disregards it as a silly story, further highlighting his youthful naivety and stubbornness. His idea that life “down there” in ordinary society is harsh and cruel reads as superficial and insincere, given the ease and comfort that characterized Hans’s formative years in Germany. It almost seems that he's searching, desperately, for any argument to defend his choice to stay at the Berghof.
Themes
Settembrini lets Hans speak until he trails off, then he gives him some advice, and this time he does so in a grave tone, offering Hans no opportunity to interject or joke. The only “religious” and dignified way to think of death, Settembrini cautions, is as continuous with life—not to separate it from life or think of it as “in opposition to life.” He cites ancient religions who knew how to properly “honor” death. But once one separates death from life, it becomes “grotesque,” a “depraved force” that can confuse impressionable minds. He compares this relationship to the earlier argument he and Hans had about the combination of sickness and stupidity, and he pleads with Hans to let him continue to instruct him and to correct some of Hans’s flawed ideas about life.
Settembrini senses that Hans has started to assign too much meaning to illness and suffering, acting as though his sudden and unexpected illness has led him to some special, higher grasp on the meaning of life. When Settembrini cautions Hans against thinking about death as being “in opposition to life,” he means that Hans should stop turning to death and illness for answers about life. In Settembrini’s view, the only way to achieve personal enlightenment is through a rational, affirmative embrace of life.
Themes
Suddenly Joachim walks in, interrupting Hans and Settembrini. Hans laughs and explains that Settembrini has been helping him “pass the time.” After Settembrini leaves, Hans remarks on what a “pedagogue” the man is. He’s sure he’d never have understood a word of what Settembrini says if they’d met down below.
Hans’s joke that Settembrini has been helping him to “pass the time” further highlights Hans’s youthful stubbornness. Settembrini has made it clear that he’s urgently trying to help Hans, whose ongoing attraction to death and illness is leading him down a dark path toward self-destruction and confusion. Yet, Hans disregards Settembrini’s concern, apparently convinced that he can confidently make decisions for himself and so demonstrating his stubborn, youthful hubris.
Themes
Time passes. Hans didn’t bring a calendar with him when he initially traveled to see Joachim, and so he has trouble keeping track of the exact date. Now, he has only the concerts that happen every other Sunday to mark the passage of time. Meanwhile, the weather turns summery once more, and Joachim expresses his remorse that Hans, still bedridden, is unable to join him outside to enjoy the sun. But then, toward the end of Behrens’s recommended period of bedrest for Hans, the weather turns gloomy once more. When Behrens examines Hans to determine whether he’s well enough to leave, Hans asks him if he’s well enough to get up. Behrens seems surprised at the question but gives him permission to at least leave his bed going forward. It’s unclear whether the doctor would have said so if Hans hadn’t asked.
In seemingly no time at all, Hans has become just like any other resident of the Berghof, relying on Sunday concerts to gauge the passage of time and having no sense of urgency about leaving the sanatorium. On the other hand, Hans’s suspicion that Behrens might not have given him permission to leave his bed if he hadn’t asked suggests that he still has some lingering doubts about Behrens’s interest in curing him of his illness. Behrens, Hans implies, would be content to let his patients remain sick and bedridden indefinitely: that his patients recover is not one of Behrens’s immediate concerns. But Hans dismisses this suspicion without much thought, suggesting that he himself isn’t in too great a hurry to get better.
Themes
