Each of the characters Hans meets is a symbol for a strain of thought prevalent in pre-war Germany. Castorp himself is fascinated with ideas of death. Claudia Chauchat is a hedonist. Settembrini is an Italian humanist, secure in his belief that man can be improved through reason. Mann makes all these characters seem effete and sick--their tuberculosis is a sign of social illness. The start of the war is symbol that such aesthetic wanderings must come to an end. The novel provides a look at treatment for tuberculosis at the turn of the century. It is a fairly intimate, if fictional, look at one of the famed mountain spots for recovery. The disease is nearly a character itself, coming and going from the lives of the other characters.