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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Aschenbach look at the world differently?

2. How intelligent is Aschenbach?

3. Approximately how old is Aschenbach?

4. The man at the chapel carries a _______.

5. Aschenbach has always led a(n) _____ life.

Short Essay Questions

1. What successes has Aschenbach achieved in life?

2. How does Aschenbach feel when he observes Tadzio is ill and may not live long? Why might he feel this way?

3. How does Aschenbach experience the morning? What are the metaphors he uses?

4. What is wrong with Aschenbach's physical health?

5. How does Aschenbach's vision of Socrates and Phaedrus translate to him and Tadzio?

6. Why does Aschenbach decide to stay? What does this decision mean in terms of a change in Aschenbach?

7. Now that Aschenbach is completely obsessed with Tadzio, how does Aschenbach spend his free time? What does this say about his transformation?

8. How much of Part One is either unspoken or indirect direction?

9. Does Aschenbach look at Tadzio analytically or with glorification?

10. What inspires Aschenbach to travel?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Aschenbach severely disapproves of any falsehood or disguise.

1) Why does he object to this so much?

2) What do falsehood and disguise symbolize to him?

3) What does it mean when Aschenbach begins wearing a disguise himself?

Essay Topic 2

The beginning of "Death In Venice" is full of foreshadowing.

1) Highlight points in the book where Mann and the narrator make abstract foreshadowing.

2) Highlight points in the book where you feel the outcome is predictable, given the concreteness the narrator or Mann has given the reader.

3) Highlight points where the course of the book changes, and what the narrator and Mann had established seem to veer from the reader's predictions.

4) To what point does this predictability work towards?

Essay Topic 3

In "Death In Venice," Mann uses colors to give dimension to characters and to represent themes. Write an essay discussing Mann's use of reoccurring colors to represent the themes and flesh out characters. What do these colors represent? When does Mann chose to use color? How can the development of the story and the transformation of Aschenbach be traced through color?

(see the answer keys)

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