Love
This theme is mostly opened in the relations of Hans and Frau Chauchat. At first these relations may be called “ reciprocation of glances”. And then they don’t actually change a lot: Hans dares to say just some words to his love, before she leaves the hospital. Though the external “extent” of their love is not long, Hans’ feelings concerning this are very deep and vivid. The author describes each movement of his heart, each emotion and thought connected with Frau Chauchat.
This love is not common and simple: it’s rather poetic and elevated than material. This love makes the reader think, what is actually the essence of this feeling: in physical closeness, in time spent together etc, or in subconscious liaison? And in the story the author shows that the first one is not compulsory and vital for “appearing” of love between two people.
Time
This theme is one of the central ones in the story. Time and its interpretations are shown through the prisms of the characters’ views. But though all these interpretations are different in some way, they can actually be joint into one general concept : if life is bright, full of events, it seems that this life is very long; but if “ one day is like all the others, then they are all like one; complete uniformity would make the longest life seem short, and as though it had stolen away from us unawares. ” The vivid proof of this concept is Hans life in the mountains, “up here”, and there – “in the flatlands , down below ” . As for “here”, the reader sees that Hans doesn’t notice those 7 years of living in the mountains, and actually the reader doesn’t notice them as well.
Illness
The theme of illness is very interestingly opens in the story. Though Davos in a sanatorium, some kind of hospital, where people should be treated, here they get ill even more than before. Even Hans, who came just to visit his cousin, being absolutely healthy, turns out to be ill after being in the sanatorium for three weeks. This paradox comes up with an opinion that the author wants to show something deeper and more important under the “mask” of this sanatorium. If to take into account the life of the author, his surroundings, the reader guesses that this building represents the whole of Europe: an ill body, with its ideas, policies, parties, and prominent figures.
