Cemetery Traveler

Von Aschenbach sees the traveler in the cemetery at the beginning of the story. He is carrying a rucksack and a walking stick, and wearing a yellow suit with a straw hat. To von Aschenbach, he looks like a foreigner. "His posture conveyed an impression of imperious surveillance, fortitude, even wildness." Like the gondolier and the old fop, the traveler displays his teeth "menacingly." The traveler makes hostile eye contact with von Aschenbach, but von Aschenbach turns away. However, the sight of the stranger induces the writer to reflect on his youth and dream of traveling to exotic places; von Aschenbach resolves to go on a vacation. When von Aschenbach snaps out of his reverie and heads for the train, he discovers that the traveler has disappeared.

Gondolier

The gondolier who takes von Aschenbach from Lido to Venice resembles both the traveler in the cemetery and the...