The Magic Mountain · Chapter
Banter. Viaticum. Interrupted Mirth explained
Hans Castorp and Joachim walk after breakfast.
What happens
Hans Castorp and Joachim walk after breakfast. Hans lights a cigar and extols its virtues, revealing his dependency. They discuss Hofrat Behrens's blunt manner with a dying patient, which Hans finds shockingly irreverent. Their conversation is interrupted by a group of guests, including Hermine Kleefeld, who emits a strange, hollow whistle from her pneumothorax as she passes Hans, startling him.
Themes in this chapter
Disease and Death
Central discussion of a patient's death, Behrens's irreverent command to 'not behave like that,' and Hans's insistence on the sacredness of the dying. The pneumothorax whistle is a direct, unsettling manifestation of disease.
Spiritual and Intellectual Degeneration
Hans's admitted 'flabby-minded' dependency on tobacco as a crutch for existence, and the casual, almost frivolous atmosphere surrounding the serious matter of death and illness.
Isolation and Community
The fleeting, mocking interaction with the group of guests highlights the peculiar, insular social dynamics of the sanatorium, where illness creates both bonds and bizarre jokes.
Characters to notice
- Hans Castorp
Reveals deep dependency on tobacco; is shocked by Behrens's treatment of the dying; is startled and confused by Hermine Kleefeld's whistle.
- Joachim Ziemssen
Walks with his cousin, explains Behrens's actions and identifies Hermine Kleefeld's pneumothorax as the source of the whistle.
- Hofrat Behrens
Discussed indirectly; his blunt, commanding treatment of a dying patient who 'wouldn't die' is recounted by Joachim.
- Hermine Kleefeld
Passes by in a group; whistles hollowly from her pneumothorax, startling Hans Castorp as a joke.
- Frau Stöhr
Mentioned as the source (the 'Directress') of the story about Behrens and the dying patient.
Key passages
“'Do me the favour not to behave like that,' he said to him; and the patient became quite calm and died as quietly as you please.”
Behrens bluntly commands a dying man to stop making a scene, and the man complies and dies peacefully.
Illustrates Behrens's authoritarian medical manner and the chapter's stark confrontation with death.
“I insist that a dying man is above any chap that is going about and laughing and earning his living and eating his three meals a day. It isn’t good enough.”
Hans passionately argues that a dying person possesses a sacred status that surpasses that of the healthy living.
Highlights Hans's romantic, almost religious view of death, contrasted with the sanatorium's clinical reality.
“She whistled out of her inside as she passed... That was Hermine Kleefeld, she whistles with her pneumothorax.”
A girl emitted a strange whistle from her chest; Joachim explains it comes from a surgical lung collapse (pneumothorax).
A jarring, physical manifestation of disease used for social jest, blurring lines between suffering and humor.