La Tonya Jordan’s Reviews > The Magic Mountain > Status Update

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Indeed, the Italian paid high tribute to his listeners' fatherland for two inventions: gunpowder, which had turned feudalism's suits of armor into junk, and the printing press, which had made possible the democratic propagation of ideas, or rather, the propagation of democratic ideas.

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'Our beloved Germany is one huge barracks, granted. But a great deal of hard work went into it, and I would not trade our sturdy honesty for the fine manners of other nations. What good are fine manners if I'm being cheated up one side and down the other?'

In Table Talk and Growing Anxiety within Chapter 4 Hans Castorp has an unspoken obsession on Fau Chauchat. He watches her every move. This is noticed by Fraulein Engelhart and she starts to tease Hans Castorp. Fau Chauchat sits at the Good Russian Table. Fraulein Engelhart is one of Hans tablemat.

Hans Castorp or anyone else for that matter knows for sure if Director Behrens was cured of tuberculosis.

In Doubts and Considerations Part of Chapter 4 Director Behrens had the disease tuberculosis and treated himself and others. Can a doctor effectively do this? He does not have the disease anymore. Can Director Behrens be objective? Questions to answer. Hans Castorp thinks not.

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He destroyed illusions, he was merciless in giving knowledge the honor it was due, he left no room for tender faith in the dignity of silver hair or in the angelic purity of little children.

And Dr. Krokowski said: In the form of illness! Any symptom of illness was a masked form of love in action, and illness was merely transformed love.

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In particular, the orator constantly used the word "love" in a gently irresolute sense, so that one was never quite sure whether he meant its sanctified or more passionate and fleshly forms - leaving one feeling slightly nauseated and seasick.

In Analysis in Chapter 4 Dr. Krokowski talks about love, illness, bourgeois, and the connection to the divine. He wants the patients who are non-moribundi, not terminally as of yet, to come to him to be dissected mentally. Hans Castorp is not having any part of this. He is not a patient.

In Hippe Part 4 Hans Castorp has a nose bleed while walking by himself to feel as though he is not a patient. He has a childhood memory. He had to hitch a ride on the back of a wagon to return to the sanatorium because he was too weak to walk. Hippe is a childhood memory. Frau Chauchat reminds Hans Castorp of Hippe a childhood school mate.

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Settembrini said with a smile. "Music is invaluable as the ultimate means for awakening our zeal, a power that draws the mind trained for its effects forward and upward. But literature must precede it. By itself, music cannot draw the world forward. By itself, music cannot draw the world forward. By itself, music is dangerous. And for you in particular, my good engineer, it is absolutely dangerous...."

In Politically Suspect in Chapter 4 Settembrini gives his intellectual explanation of what music is and how it can be dangerous instead of enjoying music as relaxation and enjoyment. The best description of the scene is when Hans Castorp watches the young people enjoying themselves at the concert even though they are deathfully ill.