Essay Questions

Why does Hans not think of returning to his previous life after coming to the sanatorium?

Hans does not think about his work or his previous life because he was happy in the sanatorium in the company of different patients. He studies medical literature, learns about different technologies and gets indulged in philosophical and scientific ideas. He starts thinking about life and death and takes lectures on psychoanalysis. He listens to music there and forgot about his relatives and the life which he was spending before coming to the sanatorium. He considers the life in mountains as the sole form of existence and he becomes oblivious of the time.

What does Joachim think of the life in mountains?

Unlike Hans, his cousin Joachim does not like the life in mountains. Instead, he wanted to go back as soon as possible because he wanted to join military. He considers the time in the mountains as an obstacle in the path of his career so he wanted to give away his treatment and the life in Sanitorium. He runs away from there and joins the military but after some time his condition became worse. He had to come back for his treatment but it was of no avail owing to his aggravated illness. Eventually, he died in the mountains because of his lack of concern for his disease and his passion for military.

What are the perceptions of Hans and Joachim about time?

According to Joachim, time stands still in the mountains and they couldn't measure time in the sanatorium like in the plain. He says, "down there life brings so many changes in a year" but the life in Sanitorium doesn't change. The patients had to follow the same routine I.e. eating, lying and getting examined by the doctors. Hans says about time that "If it seems to a person long then it's long, and if short so it's short and how long or short it really is no one knows." Sometimes time passes in the blink of an while at other moments it doesn't seem to pass so it can't be measured. He thinks that he have spent seven days in the sanatorium while he spent seven years.

Who was Hans and what is his importance in the story?

Hans was an ordinary man who came to the mountains to visit his cousin who was ill. He comes to see Joachim for three weeks but unfortunately he himself gets ill and he had to live for seven years in the sanatorium for his treatment. He leaves the sanatorium as the world war begins. The author has demonstrated him as crawling and painfully moving during the war along with other soldiers. The life in plain was much more miserable for Hans than in mountains. He feels himself free from all the miseries of life there and doesn't want to go back. He meets the mentors of his life during his illness and learns the most valuable lessons of life. Hans life has provided the backdrop of the novel.