Death and its Significance
Death, a very dominant theme in literature, but what significance do references to death provide in a story. Why is death used in so many of the pieces of literature we read? The Answer; references to death play a very important part in a story, they can help advance the plot, they provide an atmosphere they contribute to the setting of the story, and many times they help readers predict what is going to happen in the story. Foreshadowing, something that is almost always related to a reference to death. Foreshadowing can be a very useful device as we will see in this essay. The two stories that will be analyzed in this essay are; Death in Venice and Mario and the Magician both of which are written by Thomas Mann. This essay will attempt to analyze how death is presented in both these stories, what role does death play, and how death plays a major role in the development of the story.Death in Venice, a novella written by Mann in 1912; a story which was largely inspired by Mann's own personal experiences, the story is basically about a writer named Aschenbach who has always held his passions in check, never allowing them expression either in his life or in his work. He was what many will call "repressed
Mario was a man, who did not like the views of Cipolla. The epidemic seen in Venice can also be seen as sickness passion that is taking over Aschenbach. In Death in Venice, death as I have shown plays a very important role in plot advancement and in the development of the main character, as readers we should be able to pick up all the imagery and foreshowing. The next thing we know is that Aschenbach is dead. Cipolla ends up mocking the town's people; he humiliates them, and makes them do things against their will. In chapter 3 we are introduced to more references to death. Soon after Aschenbach steps in to the gondola that will take him on the next part of his journey; the black boat is likened to a coffin and linked with death. Aschenbach makes it down to a deserted beach and heads for a sandbar where he rests; for the first time Aschenbach meets eyes with Tadzio, as this occurs, Aschenbach collapses, he sees Tadzio in his mind point outwards to the sea. Aschenbach finds out that an epidemic has spread in Venice; he then decides to stay for he fears that he will not be able to live without Tadzio. As he leaves his hotel for a walk Aschenbach finds a suffocating wind of hot air, he realizes that his health is in danger and decides to leave Venice. There is a specific and political meaning to this scene of death. It is Mann's way of telling us what is going to happen in the whole story. The graveyard of stonemasons, where the dead of our world live, he is passing by them entering the afterlife.
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Acceptance Essays
