Literary Analysis of The Wardrobe by Paul Thomas Mann: A Deep Dive

This essay provides a comprehensive literary analysis of Paul Thomas Mann's short story, 'The Wardrobe.' The analysis focuses on the symbolic role of the train in depicting the mundane and disheartening aspects of human life. The essay explores how the train, as a means of transport, mirrors the monotony, dejection, and hopelessness in the journey of life, as seen through the eyes of the central character, Albrecht van der Qualen, and other characters. The author artfully describes the dulling aspects of life through various instances, such as the character's apathetic attitude, the somber mood of a woman boarding the train, and the robotic behavior of railway employees. The analysis concludes that Mann uses the train as a symbol to create an inauthentic aura in the story, representing the ordinary humdrum and nuisances of life, and the concealed agitation of the characters. The essay references several academic sources to support its interpretations.

Running head: LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE WARDROBE
LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE WARDROBE
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1LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE WARDROBE
The wardrobe is a short story written by the famous German-origin novelist Paul
Thomas Mann in the year 1899. Paul Thomas Mann has been the recipient of the prestigious
Nobel Prize award in Literature in the year 1929. The story Wardrobe depicts the adventures
of the central character, Albrecht van der Qualen in a train. In this short story, the train plays
a major role in creating the somber mood of the story. In life, humans often tend to ignore the
unimportant and trivial aspects of life. Humans do not have the yearning to uncover the
beautiful and precious joy hidden in the mundane things in life. Similarly, in this short story,
the train represents the dulling and inauthentic aspects of daily life (Ewers). Along with being
a means of transportation, the train also draws the attention of the readers to the monotony,
dejection and hopelessness in the human life journey. The train has been taken as a symbol of
interpretation in this essay. In addition to this, an interpretation of the different aspects of the
train that mirror the dulling aspects of life has been attempted.
The train mentioned in the short story, The Wardrobe, is known to be a European
express train plying from the city of Berlin in Germany to the city of Rome in Italy. The train
witnesses several passengers travelling in its compartments. All the passengers are unique in
their behaviors, thoughts and appearances. The train is a formidable means of transport that
helps people, in huge numbers, to travel to their destinations in much less time than on foot.
The train is a massive structure of transportation as it consists of many compartments.
Apparently, it can appear that the train carries so many people in huge magnitude with such
force and effect; it must symbolize positivity, hope and buoyancy (Fouquet). This might be
the situation in some case, but not in all. The Wardrobe is a brilliant example of such a
depressing and wearisome influence of the train.
In the train pictured in, The Wardrobe, we find many bright instances where the train
mirrors the several mundane facets of human life. When the train first arrives at a not so well
known station, it can be seen that the central character of the story, Albrecht van der Qualen,

2LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE WARDROBE
wakes up from a deep slumber. After waking up, he is pictured as having a foul mood with a
general disdain of the world. He melancholically stares out of the window of the train and
watches the whole world doing trivial and uninteresting things. Here it can be said that the
train journey has altered the disposition of Albert van der Qualen and by this, it has helped to
mirror the dulling aspect of life (Löfgren). When we delve deeper into the storyline, a woman
with a somber mood boards the train. The woman is shown having trouble in carrying a
heavy suitcase to the train. The readers can sense the strain in the atmosphere as soon as the
woman boards the train, though she has not verbally expressed it. The author has artfully
described the perfervid and disquiet look of the woman with the formation of a stiff pout in
the upper lip. Here the dismal arrival of the woman symbolizes murkiness and dreariness of
human existence (Gustafson). The train mirrors again symbolizes the dulling aspect of life.
The central character of the story continues in his train journey. While on his ongoing
journey, Albert van der Qualen does not keep track of the month or the year. He does not
express any interest in anything particular. He keeps on incessantly staring out the window of
his posh compartment in a spiritless and apathetic manner. The journey in the train has made
him completely lackadaisical and insouciant about the general issues and concerns of life. He
appears to be dragging in his life journey. Here, the train again mirrors the dulling aspect of
life. Even the employed men with the railways are also shown to be lacking in activeness,
passion and zeal. The conductor, in particular, just utters the name of the station in a robotic
and unemotional way. This shows that the conductor barely exists to do the job. He has failed
to find happiness and merriment in his work. Here, the train again mirrors the dulling aspect
of life (Aydin). Subsequently, after Albert van der Qualen exits the station, the dim effect of
the train follows him. The exterior premise of the station is characterized with similar
dampness and mind-numbness. The exit of the station gives way to an isolated square where
some hackney coachmen are aimlessly waiting to carry their business. The readers get the

3LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE WARDROBE
feel that the coachmen and Albert van der Qualen symbolizes purposeless and hollowness of
the human life cycle. They are shown to be leading life mechanically without any display of
liveliness and vibrancy. Here, the train again mirrors the dulling aspect of life.
Conclusively, from the above literary analysis, it can be deduced that Paul Thomas
Mann has created a gem out of a gloomy piece of literature. He has artfully symbolized the
train as an object that incites tediousness and repetitiveness. Overall, in the story, The
Wardrobe, Paul Thomas Mann has tried to paint a picture of ordinary humdrum and
nuisances of life and in doing so; he has made the train as his object of purpose.
Unsurprisingly, the train succeeds in creating an inauthentic aura in the story. All the
characters of the story, irrespective of their character importance, represent acute boredom
and concealed agitation. This would have been severely impossible had not the novelist
excluded the concept of the train from the story.

4LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE WARDROBE
References
Aydin, Necati. "A grand theory of human nature and happiness." Humanomics 28.1 (2012):
42-63.
Ewers, Chris. "Genre in Transit: Agatha Christie, Trains, and the Whodunit." Journal of
Narrative Theory 46.1 (2016): 97-120.
Fouquet, Roger. "Trends in income and price elasticities of transport demand (1850–
2010)." Energy Policy 50 (2012): 62-71.
Gustafson, Per. "Travel time and working time: What business travellers do when they travel,
and why." Time & Society 21.2 (2012): 203-222.
Löfgren, Orvar. "Modes and moods of mobility: tourists and commuters." Culture Unbound:
Journal of Current Cultural Research 7.2 (2015): 175-195.
Rafaeli, Anat, and Michael G. Pratt, eds. Artifacts and organizations: Beyond mere
symbolism. Psychology Press, 2013.