ness arrangement that will bring money or honor to the family. In the era of Thomas Mann, not only was this common, but it was expected of the aristocratic and wealthy merchant families in Europe. Mann traces the decline of the family through the actions of primarily Tony and Thomas Buddenbrook. However, this is not because their devotion to family honor led to their downfall. Rather, it serves as a contrast to Christian Buddenbrook in particular, their brother who brought shame upon his family as a direct result of his egotism and lack of sense of familial duty. Mann is very deliberate in showing that the decline of familial duty results in a decline in the family structure as a whole. He also is clear about the inevitability of the decline of the traditional class system in general. Despite loyalty to the family, “flaws”, e.g. people like Christian, Gotthold, etc., in the noble classes, only aid the revolutionary cause. The novel traces not only the decline of the family, but also the transfer of importance from familial duty to duty to oneself, the duty to make “Merit the only crown.” (134)Tony Buddenbrook is portrayed as the most dutiful child in the family. At the age of 18 she marries a man she despises in order to bring honor to the family, and to the Buddenbrook firm. Initially, Tony is adverse to the idea of marrying for fiscal purposes. She wants to wait until she meets someone she loves to make a commitment. Ironically enough, it is not until she falls in love with someone who is not in her social class that she understands the importance of family duty. When Tony meets Morten Schwarzkopf she is still a silly, egocentric child. It is not until they discuss life and politics, particularly the reality of “sitting on the stones”, that Tony begins to see things from an external perspective. “Sitting on the stones” is a metaphor that means that no matter what, one mus...
