The Magic Mountain

Through his characterization of Frau Stöhr, a patient at the Berghof who sits at the same dining table as Hans and Joachim, Mann satirizes those who feign refinement and education. The satirical nature of this character is evident in a scene in which she complains about the medical treatment that she has received at the sanatorium: 

As for Frau Stöhr in her Scotch-plaid woolen blouse, she had had her checkup that morning and reported about it in her affected, uneducated way, drawing her upper lip back from her rabbitlike teeth. She complained of a rattle on the upper right, and her breathing was reduced just under her left shoulder blade, and the “boss” had told her she would have to stay another five months [...] Moreover, she declared her outrage that the “boss” was not sitting at their table again today. The “retardation” schedule (she apparently meant “rotation”) demanded that the “boss” should be sitting at their table for dinner today [...] 

Cite this Quote

In The Magic Mountain, Mann’s treatment of psychology, and more specifically Freudian psychoanalysis, is frequently satirical. In one notably satirical scene, Dr. Krokowski advertises the benefits of psychoanalysis, which he refers to metaphorically as “psychic dissection,” to the patients at the Berghof: 

It turned out that Dr. Krokowski concluded his lecture with a grand advertisement for psychic dissection—he spread his arms wide, and invited them to come unto him. Come unto me, he said, though not exactly in those words, all ye that labor and are heavy laden! And he left no doubt of his certainty that they all, without exception, labored and were heavy laden. He spoke of hidden suffering, of shame and affliction, of the redemptive effects of analysis; he praised the effects of light piercing the dark unconscious, explained that illness could be transformed again into conscious emotion, admonished them to trust, promised recovery. 

Cite this Quote

Though Settembrini often serves as a voice of reason in the novel, pushing Hans to recognize his growing reliance upon the stifling conveniences and ease of the sanatorium, he is also the occasional object of Mann’s satire. In his debates with Leo Naphta, Settembrini takes up an exaggerated version of his own rationalism, serving as a satirical portrait of what Mann considers to be the limitations of this philosophy when taken to extremes. When describing his work with the Sociological Pathology encyclopedia to Hans, for example, Settembrini claims that:

Humankind must be informed that certain effects can be diminished only when one first recognizes their causes and negates them [...] This is the purpose of our Sociological Pathology, an encyclopedia of some twenty or so volumes that will list and discuss all conceivable instances of human suffering [...] In short, it will list the chemical elements that serve as the basis for all the many mixtures and compounds of human suffering. Taking as its plumb line the dignity and happiness of humankind, it will supply for each and every instance of suffering the means and measures that seem most appropriate for eliminating its causes. 

Cite this Quote