Clavdia's Xrays Analysis

On the surface, the image of Hans appreciating the picture of his beloved as she rides away doesn’t sound out of the ordinary. However, when taking a look at the image this “portrait” provides, it’s a little less than conventional. An X-ray is essentially a picture of a person’s skeleton, and skeletal figures are a big aspect of the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday. During this day, family and friends get together to pray for and remember their passed loved ones, and provide food and drinks to help support their spiritual journey. Hans draws up Clavdia’s x-rays as he sees her ride away in a sleigh, which are known to be used in the sanatorium to transport dead bodies. Although, Madam Chauchat is not dead and is only temporarily leaving the sanatorium, from the author’s use of this image it can be inferred that because of her illness, Clavdia is already a walking corpse. She stated before that she decided to leave because she “[can’t] achieve much more here” (Mann, 332). She knows her clock is ticking and it won’t be long before she takes her last breath. The image of Hans
Usually, portraits of loved ones are actual live images of them, not of their skeletons. In the flatlands this behavior would have been seen as crude and disturbing, but in the sanatorium, where people walk around with death hovering over their shoulders, it’s acceptable and seems oddly appropriate. A portrait is not only a physical picture of a person, it’s also a representation of their persona. In the sanatorium, a person’s illness isn’t merely an aspect; it’s their whole. Their diseases define them. An x-ray thus doesn’t only present picture of a Clavdia’s skeleton, it also presents an image of her true inner self. It’s a record of everything she has been through, after all “illness… turns [people] into only a body” (Mann,