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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. What country is Mr. Kloterjahn especially fond of?

2. How does Mrs. Kloterjahn get on with the other patients in general?

3. What is Mrs. Kloterjahn’s first name?

4. How do the other patients react to Mrs. Kloterjahn?

5. How does the writer react to Mr. Kloterjahn's action in Chapter 3?

Short Essay Questions

1. What seems to be Dr. Leander’s opinion of Mr. Spinell?

2. Why does Mr. Spinell say that he is hypocritical?

3. Why has one of the other patients nicknamed Mr. Spinell the “Rotten Infant”?

4. What is Mr. Spinell like when he is “sociable”?

5. How do we know that Mr. Kloterjahn is an Anglophile?

6. Why is Miss van Osterloh said to feel reproachful towards men?

7. Why does Mr. Spinell say that he is staying at Einfried?

8. When is Mr. Spinell sociable?

9. Why does Mr. Spinell look at beautiful women out of the corner of his eye?

10. What does Mr. Spinell spend most of his time doing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine Mr. Spinell’s character and how he embodies the major themes in Tristan. How does Mann characterize Mr. Spinell? What commentary does Mann seem to be making about artists through the character of Mr. Spinell? What commentary does he seem to be making about society in general?

Essay Topic 2

Mr. Spinell believes that only he, and not Mr. Kloterjahn, understands Gabriele. Why does he believe this? Does Gabriele seem to have the same understanding of their relationship as Mr. Spinell? How does Mann characterize the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Kloterjahn? Who, in the end, really understands her?

Essay Topic 3

Mann uses the third person omniscient perspective in Tristan. What does this point of view add stylistically and thematically to the novella? How would the novella be changed if the perspective were changed?

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