time…I am making up for my first marriage. It’s my duty, I owe that much to our family name.” (335) Indeed, it is Tony, forever obsessed with Buddenbrook prestige and duty, that manages to keep the family together, encourage the other Buddenbrooks to maintain the family name and reputation. However, with the death of Thomas, Tony realizes that “It’s all over now.” (664)Thomas Buddenbrook is the sole Buddenbrook that keeps the firm and reputation. Like Tony, Thomas meets and falls in love with someone out of his social class, and also decides that his duty as a son is more important fulfilling his own desires. He to believes that familial duty is the highest calling of all. After the death of his disinherited uncle Gotthold, Thomas performs a morbid soliloquy for himself and his uncle. “But one must keep up appearances. You had…to little of the idealism that enables a man to cherish, to nurture, to defend something as abstract as a business with an old family name- and to bring it honor, power, and glory. That requires a quiet enthusiasm that is sweeter and more pleasant, more gratifying that any secret love.” (269, 270) Thomas goes on to become the head of the Buddenbrook firm, as expected of him. He brings the firm new money, invigorates his employees with his enthusiasm for business, and manages to keep the firm’s reputation, despite a steady decline in business. Thomas even manages to makeup for Tony’s marital failures through his marriage to the rich Gerda Arnoldson. Gerda and Thomas are even able to produce an heir to the Buddenbrook family, Hanno. Throughout his life, Thomas manages to maintain his family’s reputation. He believes that the opinion of the public is crucial. As a result, he is fastidious in his appearance and in his actions. It goes so far as to prove eccentric and tiresome. He struggles both personally and professionally. He ...
