Search all of SparkNotes

Suggestions

Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.

No Fear Shakespeare
Literature
Other Subjects
Teacher
Blog

Help

Search all of SparkNotes

Suggestions

Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.

No Fear Shakespeare
Literature
Other Subjects
Teacher
Blog
Help

Death in Venice

Thomas Mann

Study Guide

Study Guide

Summary
- Plot Overview
- Summary & Analysis
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3a
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5a
- Chapter 5b
- Chapter 5c
- Analysis
Characters
Further Study
- Context
- Full Book Quiz
- Study Questions
- Further Reading
Writing Help

Further Study

Full Book Quiz

Further Study Full Book Quiz

1. On his walk in Munich, Aschenbach passes:

A public library
A bratwurst stand
A stonemasons' yard in which blank gravestones are for sale
An Internet cafe

2. Aschenbach gets an urge to travel after seeing:

A poster in the window of a travel agency
A strange red-haired man dressed as a tourist
A book about Italy
A movie about Italy

3. The first "vision" Aschenbach has is a daydream about:

A sultry, grotesquely fertile, tropical swampland
Bathing on the beach with fourteen-year-old boys
A farm in Iowa
His own funeral

4. Who is the passenger who catches Aschenbach's attention on the boat to Venice?

A polite, slightly plump middle-aged woman
A particularly lewd and rambunctious "young" man who turns out to be wearing a wig and rouge
A red-haired traveling musician

5. Aschenbach rides in a gondola; what is it likened to?

A coffin
A stagecoach
A cradle
A pomegranate

6. What happens when Aschenbach disembarks from the gondola?

He loses his balance and falls into the water.
The gondolier snatches his wallet and paddles away.
He has another daydream.
He goes to get change for the fare but finds the gondolier gone; he is told the man has no license and was escaping the police.

7. Who is with Tadzio when Aschenbach first sees him?

The boy's sisters and governess
The boy's close companion Jashu
Another older man
Secret Security

8. Why does Aschenbach decide to leave Venice?

He is disgusted by his erotic interest in Tadzio and wants to avoid any further contact.
Venice is not inspiring enough for his work.
He knows the overcast, sultry weather is bad for his frail health.
He is homesick for Munich.

9. Why does Aschenbach not leave Venice after all?

His luggage is sent on ahead of him but has been misaddressed; he must stay and wait for it to be returned.
The weather clears up.
He oversleeps and misses his train.
He decides to take up a new career as a gondolier.

10. Aschenbach's first clues that a disease might be spreading in Venice are:

The Italian newspapers' reports tracking the disease
Dead bodies floating in the canals
A dwindling number of tourists and that sweet smell of bactericide
His own death from the cholera

11. Aschenbach mentally compares Tadzio to all of the following EXCEPT:

Hyacinth
Eros
Narcissus
Socrates

12. At the concert given by street musicians at the hotel, Aschenbach's attention is particularly occupied by:

The red-haired guitarist
The buxom blonde tuba player
The organ grinder's monkey
The lovely sunset over the lagoon

13. At the concert, Aschenbach drinks:

Strawberry juice
Pomegranate juice and soda
A good German beer
A cappuccino

14. Who tells Aschenbach the truth about the cholera?

Tadzio
A gondolier
The hotel barber
A British clerk at a travel agency

15. What figures appear to Aschenbach in his second vision of the novella?

Orgiastic worshippers of a "stranger-god"
Tadzio's family
Pink elephants
Strange red-haired men

16. How does Aschenbach change his appearance?

He shaves his head and wears an aviator cap.
He dyes his hair, wears make-up, and dresses elaborately.
He pierces his nose and begins wearing a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.
He goes on a diet.

17. Why does Aschenbach alter his appearance in this way?

He thinks his eighty-year-old parents back in Munich could use a good shock.
He has begun to sense that Tadzio's governess is keeping the boy away from him, and he wants to disguise himself so that he can continue to watch the boy.
The hotel barber convinces him that cosmetics actually present a more "truthful" picture of one's inner self if one still feels young on the inside.
He is bored.

18. Who tries to suffocate Tadzio in the sand?

Aschenbach
Tadzio's sister
A strange red-haired man
Tadzio's playmate Jashu

19. What is the last image of Tadzio that Aschenbach sees?

Tadzio sitting with his family
Tadzio pointing outward and beckoning
Tadzio lying and gasping in the sand
Tadzio eating strawberries

20. What does Aschenbach die of?

Malaria
A broken heart
Cholera
Writer's block

Previous section Context Next section Context Quick Quiz

Popular pages: Death in Venice

Characters CHARACTERS

Take a Study Break

Every Shakespeare Play Summed Up in a Quote from The Office
QUIZ: Are You Living in a Literary Dystopia?
QUIZ: Can You Guess the Book from a Bad One-Sentence Summary?
Pick 10 Books and We'll Guess Whether You're an Introvert or an Extrovert
Greek Mythology Summed Up in John Mulaney Quotes
Every Book on Your English Syllabus, Summed Up in Marvel Quotes
Literary Characters Summed Up in Quotes from The Office

The #1 FREE study site for students

Most Popular
No Fear Shakespeare
Literature Guides
Other Subjects
SparkNotes Blog

More Help
About
Contact Us
How to Cite SparkNotes
Advertise

Find Us On

Copyright © SparkNotes LLC

Terms of Use

|

Privacy

|

Cookie Policy

|

Do Not Sell My Personal Information