“We have to keep company with supposedly bad characters if we are to survive and not succumb to mental atrophy. People of good character, so called, are the ones who end up boring us to death.”
Murau is artistic, intellectual, and passionate about the aesthetics of artworks which prompts him to self-exile himself in Rome. He despises unsophisticated individuals without an ingenious attitude thus surrounds himself with artists and creatives. He lives as an Italian to disconnect himself from his supposed unsophisticated background and a family he considers artless. As a result, he extends his appreciation for intellect by exalting those close to him such as Spadolini and Maria. In the assertion, he expresses his gravitation towards both individuals considered of high character and bad character. But prominently those of ‘bad character’ who counter certain moral expectations to make living exciting through art.
“When someone dies, his death does not make him a different person, a better character: it does not make him a genius if he was an idiot, or a saint if he was a monster…”
Murau holds the notion that his family is intellectually and morally bankrupt hence he does not contribute to things he considers valuable in life. The death of his parents stirs up mixed emotions regarding how he perceived them and if he was wrong or indeed right. However, as he comes down the moral high horse he suddenly gets back on it since he still finds his parents and siblings as weaklings and idiots. He observes that their death has rendered everyone removed from the reality of who they were when alive. In the statement, Murau despises the unjustified absolution that comes with death but later accepts that their ‘sins’ hold no significance henceforth.
“The thinking person who is idle appears as the greatest threat to those for whom idleness means simply doing nothing, who actually do nothing when they are idle.”
Murau and his uncle Georg are the black sheep in the family since they consider themselves as intellectuals as opposed to the rest. Both sides of this spectrum in the family hate each other and they also interpret this distance in different ways. Murau affirms that his inclination towards thinking and creativity when ‘idle’ is the source of this detest. He criticizes his parents and siblings for being genuinely idle when they are doing nothing as opposed to him who thinks constantly. Thus, the assertion highlights the fear that those who exhibit empty idleness have for those who think, as they might be dangerous.
