Study Questions

1. Where does Aschenbach go on his vacation?

2. Where does he buy the ticket to Venice?

3. What does the old man among the clerks wear that recalls the pilgrim?

4. Why does Aschenbach find the old man repulsive?

5. About what does the old man speak to Aschenbach?

6. What does the gondola remind Aschenbach of?

7. What does the gondolier say when Aschenbach asks him the price of the trip?

8. What mythological figure does the gondolier recall?

9. What is in the boat that pulls alongside the gondola where Aschenbach is seated?

10. Why, according to the boatman, did the gondolier suddenly disappear?

Answers

1. He goes to the island of Pola.

2. He buys it in the dark, cavernous hull of an old ship.

3. He wears a panama, which is a sort of straw hat.

4. He has false teeth and dyed hair, but he is not acting his age.

5. He talks to Aschenbach incoherently about a lover.

6. It reminds him of a coffin.

7. He says, “The signore will pay.”

8. He recalls Charon, the ferryman of the dead in Greek mythology.

9. A troop of singers and musicians, who hold out a hat for money.

10. According to the boatman, the gondolier had no license and disappeared to escape the authorities.