33 pages • 1 hour read
The Magic Mountain
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Essay Topics
Why do you think the narrator keeps calling Hans “our hero” despite his plainly unheroic characteristics?
Upon Hans’s arrival to the sanatorium, Hans evinces an extraordinary curiosity about everything, even a morbid cough from down the hall. Does this curiosity serve him well in the end?
How do the competing intellectual positions of Settembrini and Naphta within the sanatorium reflect European ideologies of the early 20th century?
How does the author subtly undermine Settembrini’s eloquently posed ideas? Would Hans be in a better position if he had acted upon the older man’s suggestions?
How does Clavdia Chauchat’s attitude about freedom differ from the other characters in the book?
What distinguishes life on the flatland to life in the sanatorium, especially for Hans? For Joachim?
What is wrong or strange about the way in which Hans Castorp addresses Clavdia Chauchat in their few interactions? What does it say about Hans’s ability to connect?
How would you distinguish Thomas Mann’s attitude towards and perception of death?
Hans comes to recognize the important values of goodness and love when he gets lost on the mountain pass. What is it that prevents him from absorbing that message?
What narratives in contemporary life reflect a view that illness is heroic? How does The Magic Mountain contradict these narratives?
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By Thomas Mann
