The Magic Mountain | Teaching Key Figures

Character Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters

Hans Castorp - This character represents one side of the German soul, the Everyman of his time and place: hard-working, conscientious, middle-class and ordinary on the outside but full of secret longings and unexpected attractions and talents.

Lodovico Settembrini - This character is a poor but elegant Italian humanist and Berghof patient.

Clavdia Chauchat - This character is a twenty-some year old Russian patient whose seemingly glamorous impulses lead to a job as the nursemaid to a sick, impotent, rich, old man.

Leo Naphta - This character is the son of a Jewish...
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