The Magic Mountain - Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

This Study Guide consists of approximately 50 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Magic Mountain.

The Magic Mountain - Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis

This Study Guide consists of approximately 50 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Magic Mountain.
This section contains 451 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Magic Mountain Study Guide

Chapter 2 Summary

This chapter tells Hans' "back story." Both Hans Castorp's parents die between Han's fifth and seventh years of life, his mother from an embolism and his father from pneumonia. For a year and a half, Hans is raised by his grandfather, Hans Lorenz Castorp, a stern, impressive Calvinist businessman whom Hans watches intently. Sometimes after dinner, Hans follows his grandfather into the den, where he asks to be shown the family baptismal bowl, engraved with the names of the family patriarchs for the last few hundred years. Listening to his grandfather recite the names of his ancestors fills Hans with a dreamy, reverential feeling. Hans Lorenz is a strict traditionalist who believes only the aristocracy should govern and who deplores most signs of "progress." He also has a head tremor that he conceals by burying his chin in his old-fashioned collar. Young Hans...

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This section contains 451 words
(approx. 2 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Magic Mountain Study Guide
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