Time

Time is a unit of measurement used every day by humans. Our salaries are based upon the number of hours we work, the newest television episodes come out every Friday night, and it takes approximately ten minutes for a pot of water to boil while cooking dinner. When we do something we are not fond of, time seems to slow down, but when we are enjoying our lives, time seems to be lost. In The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann flawlessly describes human's perception of time.

Mann starts the book by introducing a young man, Hans Castrop, traveling for three weeks to a sanitorium in the mountains of Switzerland to cure himself of disease. He is met by his cousin who tells him that his perception of time will changed while he lives in the mountains, and that "three weeks are just like a day to them". Weeks turn into months, and soon Castrop finds his stay at the sanitorium has lasted for almost two years. Still, he has yet to be cured.

Castrop finds the beauty of the landscape around him very appealing, and eventually decides he wants to climb the mountains. After several days of preparation, Castrop begins his journey. He soon finds himself in a storm, and escapes it unsuccessfully after discovering himself walking in circles. He checks his watch guessing the time to be around 6PM, but finds that it's only 4PM; his struggle with the storm has only lasted for approximately fifteen minutes. Though he attempts to keep himself awake, Castrop eventually falls into a deep slumber.

In Castrop's dream, he finds a beautiful city surrounding him. Trees and other plants are thriving in sunlight, children are playing with each other, and life seems to bustle around him. Two witchlike figures then appear in the sky, and destruction is cast upon the town. Castrop is jarred awake by the nightmare, and realizes he does not want to die. He checks his watch to find that the dream lasted but ten minutes. Forcing him limbs to move, Castrop eventually finds his way back to the sanitorium.

I found The Magic Mountain to be the most enjoyable story assigned for me to read. Sure, you could argue that it's one of the few stories Dr. Davies assigns where the main character isn't confronted by death at the end, but that's not the case here. Instead, I find Mann's view of time not only to be interesting, but very accurate.

When our plane from Newark to Geneva landed three weeks ago, I thought this study abroad program would never end. I now feel like everything I've done while in Switzerland could be accomplished in a period of 24 hours. When I read Mann's writing about how three weeks feels like a day in the mountains, I laughed out loud. It was as if Mann had written the story for me.

Luke