La cosa nella letteratura

Throught the times the bed has been more than a place to sleep. In the old days the bed was the place where people were born and the place where people died as well. The bed has also always been the place where sick people rest. Above we can see passages from two different books that evidence two contrasting life moments in bed.

Anna Karenina (1877) is a novel by the russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910). It deals with themes of betrayal, faith, family, marriage, desire, Imperial Russian society and rural vs. city life. The book follows in detail the lives and relationships of several people, centering on an extramarital affair between Anna and the dashing cavalry officer Vronsky, that scandalizes the social circles of Saint Petersburg and forces the young lovers to flee for Italy in a search for happiness. Returning to Russia, their lives further unravel.

In this passage of the novel, Anna enters in the bedroom of her son, who just woke up.

Here the bed is mentioned has the place where a child sleeps, in a picture of love and tenderness between a mother and her son.

The Magic Mountain (1924) is a novel by the german Thomas Mann (1875-1955), which is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of the 20th century German literature. The action takes place at the beginning of the 20th century (in the years immediately preceding the First World War) in a sanatorium in Switzerland. All the patients are living with tuberculosis or in similar conditions, which rules the daily routines, thoughts, and conversations. The disease ends fatally for many of the patients. The protagonist, a young german named Hans Castorp, comes from Hamburg to Berghof Sanatorium to visit his cousin Joachim and, instead of three weeks, ends up staying for seven years. 

In this passage, Joachim, one of the characters, is sentenced to stay in bed for four weeks, since he was a patient in the sanatorium and the bed was the place to recover.

(«four weeks in the "caboose"» here means that Joachim had to rest for four weeks without leaving the bed)

Contrasting with the previous example, here the bed is mentioned has the place of illness and death.