The narrative follows the course of a man\'s life from his schoolboy days to his adulthood.
This conflict continues into Tonio\'s adulthood, when he becomes a famous writer livi.
He feels both superior to them in his insights and envious of their innocent vitality.
As a child, he experiences conflicting feelings for the bourgeois people around him.
The son of a north German merchant and a "Southern" mother (Consuelo) with artistic talents, Tonio inherited qualities from both sides of his family.
The narrative follows the course of a man\'s life from his schoolboy days to his adulthood