As in Little Herr Friedemann, the Joker learns that a life of aesthetic epicureanism cannot compensate for human isolation.

[2] The protagonist contemplates suicide in a deep despair and plans to kill himself, even if he should live for another six months.

The protagonist overhears his parents talking about his future, his father wanting him to start apprenticeship and his mother wishing him to develop his art.

A description of his travels through Palermo, Rome and other Italian cities, as well as North Africa, Spain, and France, before returning to Germany to a quiet life of contemplation.

At a point during his routine, the previous feelings strongly resurface, and he laments his lack of talent and unhappiness.

On a blue, sunny autumn morning the protagonist takes a walk along the town's main avenue.

As he is walking, he is passed by a carriage driven by a dark woman, alongside her father, who he quickly becomes enamored with.

A short story with autobiographical elements, the author's native Lübeck or the city of Munich in which he lived is the inspiration for the German towns mentioned in the novels.

Mann's father run a business which was eventually liquidated, and the author enjoyed playing with a puppet theater.

The author lived a free-floating life, relying on his family's inheritance, and most of his jobs didn't last more than six months, and once for two years.