The Infant Prodigy by Thomas Mann Analysis

"The infant prodigy entered. The hall became quiet." This a beginning of the short story "The Infant Prodigy" by Thomas Mann.

The audience is hypnotized by awareness of the importance of this event. The author described precisely the place around and atmosphere of the concert. Thomas Mann was a very consecutive in this description. After outer world, he started depicting the inner one.

Let's look how the author described the music:
"This was the realm of music that lay before him. It lay spread out like an inviting ocean, where he might plunge in and blissfully swim, where he might let himself be borne and carried away, where he might go under in night and storm, yet keep the mastery: control, ordain ..."

It sounds wonderful, isn't it?

Thomas Mann depicted the scene from different angles: the thoughts of young prodigy Bibi from the height of his position in music and what others are "thinking all sorts of things in their regular brains".

The reader sees how primitive are the audience’ thoughts about him and his performance:

"the business man with the parrot-nose was thinking. “... Fully fifty seats, twelve marks apiece, that makes six hundred marks ..."

Then there was a young girl who was thinking to herself: “If he kissed me it would be as though my little brother kissed me—no kiss at all"

An officer looked at Bibi's success and thought: “Yes, you are something and I am something, each in his own way.”

A critic thought: “”Look at him, this young beggar of a Bibi. As an individual, he has still to develop, but as a type, he is already quite complete"

When the concert came to the end the wave of ecstasy of the crowd rose. I know this feeling, I experienced it when we applaud the troupe after a good play in a theatre. This is how it was described by Thomas Mann:

"And then the storm became a hurricane ... it went direct to people's marrow and made them shiver down their backs. They were carried away by a helpless compulsion of sheer noise. Loud shouts mingled with the hysterical clapping of hands."

This story represents the excellent example of masterpiece from the Master of the Word - Thomas Mann.




This story was discussed with the teacher Varvara in online school albert-learning.com