makes some business decisions that his forefathers would not have made because they did not “Make for a peaceful night’s sleep.” (Advice from his father on making business decisions, p. 173), and these cost him both financially and mentally. Thomas reads a book, a pessimistic book that causes him feel as though his life has not been worth living. He decides to turn his life around, but when pausing to think about what the consequences would be of carrying out his new philosophy, he goes back to his old ways. “When he awakened feeling slightly embarrassed by the intellectual extravagances of the night, he had an inkling of how impossible it would be to carry out his fine intentions…He ...began to ask himself whether his experiences of the previous night were truly for him…His middle class instincts were roused now- and his vanity as well: the fear of being seen as eccentric and ridiculous. Would such ideas really look good on him? Were they proper ideas for him, Senator Thomas Buddenbrook, head of the firm of Johann Buddenbrook?” (637) In some ways, Thomas is arrogant about the way things are changing. When a “merely middle class man” (644) is elected to the Senate, Thomas clearly voices his disapproval. “…Standards are being lowered- yes, the general social niveau of the senate is on its way down...It offends something in me. It’s a matter of decorum, it’s simply bad taste.” (644) Eventually the struggle to maintain the family business, personal appearance, and the status quo is too much. Thomas collapses dead in the street. With the death of Thomas, comes the final blow to the Buddenbrook family’s era of wealth and prestige. His wife says, “You can’t believe how he looked when they brought him in. No one has ever seen even a speck of dust on him, he never allowed that, his whole life long. What vile, insulting mockery ...
